Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - CEO Peggy Friday and Board President Brad Jackson, of the Kosciusko County Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO), went before the Syracuse Council Tuesday to give an update and submit a request for the town to support them with 5.5% of their Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) funds, but they left without the council taking any action.
Friday touted KEDCO’s successes over the last year, including what she called the two biggest - bringing a brand new orthopedic manufacturer to the county and bringing Slate Auto - an electric vehicle company backed by Jeff Bezos - to Warsaw, bringing nearly 2,000 jobs. She also said they’ve met with Plug and Play to have a location in the county. She said they have a memo of understanding with Club 720 and seven communities to bring attainable housing, which she said was in the $300,000-$350,000 price range to the county.
Friday said they are asking all the communities in the county to invest in them by donating 5.5% of their EDIT funds. After the meeting, Clerk-Treasurer Virginia Cazier, who didn’t have the figures in front of her, said she thought that would amount to a little over $17,000.
“We do a lot with the manufacturing and agriculture communities. Our mission is to create wealth for our people and our businesses in the county. I think we’ve done a good job over the last year,” Friday said.
Jackson said he’s lived in Syracuse since his high school days and knows there’s always been a thing about Warsaw and the rest of the county, but he said, “A rising tide raises all the ships. What’s good for Warsaw is good for Kosciusko County.”
Jackson told the council they almost lost Polywood a while back and Polywood officials support KEDCO. Councilman Larry Siegel asked how KEDCO brought Slate Auto to Warsaw. Friday responded by telling them about all the meetings they had and how they helped with abatement.
Jackson said, “I can tell you without KEDCO, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Siegel asked what they were doing to help Polywood now. Friday responded by helping to get housing because Polywood officials want their employees to be able to find housing in town. Jackson said Polywood is landlocked so finding a way to get them more land so they could expand would help retain them.
There was more discussion back and forth and Siegel said he wanted to sit down and talk to Jackson. No action was taken.
At the end of the meeting, after the KEDCO representatives were gone, Councilwoman Cindy Kaiser brought up that KEDCO was asking for an amount for their services. Council President Nate Scherer said he thought Siegel had questions before considering the matter and Scherer raised concerns about not knowing what the impact of Indiana Senate Bill 1 is going to have on the town’s finances, so they did decide to table the matter.
Redistricting Ordinance
The council voted at the last meeting to change the council districts to three districts and two at-large seats. They had an ordinance to vote on and were given four potential redistricting maps to choose from and make a part of the ordinance. Councilman Paul Stoelting, who will be up for re-election in 2026 so his seat will be one of the at-large seats, said map four was the most representative if they added in the 200 people that were not included before and should be in district three.
Scherer liked map two and said it didn’t matter because it was based on the last census and asked town attorney Jay Rigdon for confirmation. Rigdon said the reason for redistricting was to include any changes town officials knew about since the last census. Stoelting made a motion to pass the ordinance, including map four. The ordinance states beginning with the election in 2026 and 2027 there shall be three districts and two at-large council seats and the seats up for re-election will be the at-large seats. Until then, the current council will continue representing their current districts. The ordinance passed 3-1 with Siegel voting against it. Councilman Bill Musser was not present.
When the redistricting occurs, Kaiser will represent district one, Musser will represent district two and Scherer will represent district three.
The council passed two other ordinances - one regarding additional appropriations in the amount of $51,555 - $46,000 in new equipment and $5,555 in the garage and motor fund - to pay for a new police vehicle from the general fund.
They also passed an ordinance updating the Fair Housing ordinance. Town Manager David Wilkinson said it was a requirement for the Office of Community and Rural Affairs grant and Michiana Area Council of Government helped with updating the language to meet federal standards.
Siegel said he didn’t mind signing it, but he asked Wilkinson to highlight the differences for him and send it to him. Wilkinson said he would.
Town Manager Report
Wilkinson brought up two issues for the council to consider.
He asked if they made a decision regarding closing the alley by the hardware store uptown and making it pedestrian only. The owner of the hardware store was present, and he said he was not in favor of it at this time. He said they need to keep it open as an emergency outlet and that he receives deliveries back there and often lets customers park there while they load their purchases. He also said he checked with a couple of neighboring businesses, and one said he wasn’t contacted and wouldn’t be in favor of closing the alley. He also said owners of the Down Under restaurant were not in favor of closing it either. He said that would make it about 50-50 of those wanting to close it and those wanting to keep it open.
Siegel asked if anyone on the council was in favor of closing it. Kaiser said she was in favor of it at first until she heard from the gentleman who was present. Siegel made a motion to leave the alley open. Rigdon said a motion was not necessary since they weren’t changing anything, but there was no second and the motion died.
Wilkinson also told the council he was having a really hard time replacing a part-time building inspector and after talking to Police Chief Jim Layne, they are confident there is enough work, especially with large construction projects coming up in town, to keep a full-time inspector busy. The council wanted to know what salary he was thinking about, and he said he wanted to see their interest and if they were open to it, he’d put a salary package together for them. The council advised him to do so.
Public Comment
Matt Goodnight spoke up during the public comment section to praise the police department and emergency services personnel and firefighters for their response two weeks ago to a tragic incident.
He said, “We appreciate your efforts to save a life. This is part of the public service we don’t see and when they interact with citizens in cases like this it’s on the worst day of their lives, so I just wanted to thank you.”
In other business:
• The council approved 17 tax abatement compliance forms.
• Scherer appointed Jason Miller to fill a vacancy on the zoning board.
• Heard the 11th annual Mudtastic will be held Saturday and 250 are registered and they were expecting 300.
• Heard the Farmer’s Market has been averaging 20 vendors, which is up from last year as are the shoppers.
• Heard utility employee John Montgomery celebrated his 35th anniversary working at the town.
• Fire Chief Mickey Scott thanked the public for their support of the photo fundraiser.
• Heard the fire department pork chop, chicken and corn on the cob sale will take place on July 5 starting at 10 a.m. The pork chops and chicken will be $7 each and corn-on-the-cob will be $1 customers can drive through.
• Fireworks at Syracuse Lake will be on July 4 and fireworks on Wawasee Lake will be on July 5.
• Heard Clerk Dept. employee Kim Richardson will be retiring June 27 and Cazier invited the council to come to a luncheon that day.
