County Historical Society Seeking MembersThe Kosciusko County Historical Society is hoping everyone will support their organization by joining them.
Jerry Frush and Sally Hogan, representing the KCHS, appeared before the County Commissioners Tuesday to talk about the Old Jail Museum and encourage everyone to join.
“The museum opened in 1966. And it’s been over there in the old jail after we got this brand new (jail) built,” Frush said.
He said Hogan is the museum’s collections manager. She has put all the museum’s information in the computer. However, the six computers the museum has are going to have to be replaced in the next couple of years, he said, and they’re going to try to get one computer replaced at a time.
“Part of the museum’s goal is to help research family histories and stuff like that. People come in, actually from all over the United States, to try to collect their ancestory history from Kosciusko County,” Frush said.
A few years ago, the county and the museum helped locate all the graves in the county and put them on the computer so people can find out where their family members’ graves are, he said.
“Just a little note on that. We originally just put dates and so forth and a picture of the tombstone. Now they’re going back and entering the actual obituary right on the stones. ... It’s a big job,” Hogan said.
Frush said that’s another reason they need to replace their computers.
During the school year, except this past year because of the pandemic, Frush said they offer tours for school children.
Then there’s The Thaddeus, the magazine that is published four times a year.
“It’s great stories,” Frush said. “... What we’re interested in, is hoping to get more people interested in becoming members.”
The Society has 375 members and has dropped over the last year. Frush attributed that to the pandemic and people not being able to get out and come to the museum.
Commissioner Brad Jackson asked how do people join the Society and the cost. Hogan said membership was $25 a year for a family, and that includes four copies of The Thaddeus. There also are different levels of sponsorships, and the magazine has sponsorships instead of advertising in it.
Commissioner Bob Conley said he gets The Thaddeus and it has a tremendous amount of history in it.
For more information on the Society, museum or how to join, visit the webpage at https://kosciuskohistory.com/.
In other business, the Commissioners:
• Approved a change order totaling $35,495 for the concrete work for the county’s radio tower project, as requested by Todd Durnil, project manager, Pyramid Architecture.
Instead of digging a “45-foot-square, 6-foot hole,” columns will be dug for the three radio towers instead, he said. That will reduce the excavation work.
• Approved a request from Bob Momeyer, county systems administration, to spend $24,500 for radio replacement.
“As you know, we have a work release department on Center Street. It’s connected back to the county wireless radio system. A couple of months back, the radio in the courthouse dome broke and so we were disconnected for a period of time,” Momeyer explained. “We were able to get the system up in a short order and minimal cost with a temporary work-around by connecting work release to the highway department, which is closer than back to us.”
He said they want to replace the main radio that’s broke upstairs at the courthouse so the connection can be re-established and it would be a faster connection than there was in the past.
The temporary connection in place now will serve as a redundancy.
Momeyer said the money is in his budget.
• Approved the virtual meetings policy presented by county attorney Ed Ormsby. It allows one of the commissioners to participate in a meeting virtually as long as they can be heard and seen with everyone else. A commissioner can miss no more than 35% of the meetings, according to the version of the policy the Commissioners approved.
• Approved a right-of-way service agreement for bridge 227 between the Kosciusko County Highway Department and USI, as requested by KCHD Superintendent Steve Moriarty. Construction on the bridge starts in 2024.
Moriarty said the bridge is basically the overpass on Hand Avenue across from the city street department.
• Approved the third quarter report from the Kosciusko Area Bus Service, as requested by KABS General Manager Tony Peterson.
“Through the CARES Act, (Indiana Department of Transportation) asked that we initially use all the state funds first. So for this quarter, we are only using federal funds. We used $162,869,” he said.
• Tabled a request for a vacation of a portion of a public way on EMS D15 Lane until the July 20 Commissioners meeting. The petitioner, Michael Irving, represented by attorney Steve Snyder, wants the vacation to build a garage, but the county wants more time to review the request.
