LAGRANGE – LaGrange County Commissioners wrapped up a lot of loose ends and cleared up pending business at their annual year-end meeting Thursday morning.
Commissioners gave their approval for a highway department project to rebuild several roads in the southwest corner of the county, approving contracts worth more than $3 million to firms hired to rebuild those roads.
They also approved several LaGrange County Engineers projects to replace old and failing culverts under a handful of county roads, including a $58,000 job on CR 750W.
Commissioners also voted to approve a request from Gary Mast, the county courthouse maintenance supervisor, to purchase and install three new natural gas generators in each of the county’s three main buildings, the courthouse, the county annex building and the center of justice. The new generators will protect those buildings and the sensitive computer and elevator systems they use from power outages. Mast said the generators will start up within seconds of a power outage.
The generators will be purchased from the South Milford firm, JO Mory, at a cost of almost $350,000. Mory’s technicians will not only install the devices, but also wire them into the buildings. Commissioners chose to pay for the generators using money from the American Rescue Plan Act funds it received from the federal government.
Unfortunately, due to ongoing problems with the country’s supply chain, Mory asked to be given up to 44 weeks to complete the project.
In other business, the commissioner approved a new contract between the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Office and Motorola to update the software used in the department’s communications system. That contract comes for $357,855 and is good for five years. Motorola devices are the heart of the department’s communications network.
Commissioners also approved a contract between Sheriff-elect Tracy Harker and the county for his services as sheriff. Additionally, commissioners approved three contracts related to cafeteria services at the LaGrange County Jail. These contracts provide food service for inmates at the jail, operation of a canteen for inmates, and a lobby kiosk that can be used by family members to deposit money into accounts that inmates use at the jail to pay for supplies and foods.
The LaGrange County Parks and Recreation Department received approval to use up to $6,800 in user fees to purchase new archery targets for the archery area at Pine Knob Park. Commissioners also approved a request by the parks department to apply for two grants to help it offset the costs involved in hosting the annual Maple Syrup Days celebration at the Maple Woods Nature Center.
Commissioners also approved a request from the LaGrange County District Attorney’s Office to spend $4,000 from a discretionary line in its pretrial diversion fund to pay for a new LaGrange Police Department K-9 officer and attend a class two-week tracking training in Elkhart County. .
Commissioners also approved a request by the LaGrange County Highway Department to purchase a new pickup truck to be used by the county engineer from Shepherd’s Chevrolet in Kendallville for $40,135. LaGrange County Highway Department Superintendent Aaron Fugate told commissioners he solicited bids from three different vendors, but Shepherd’s was the only vendor that had the truck in stock and ready to go. Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the purchase.
They also allowed Fugate to sell two old used vehicles owned by the highway department using an online auction site.
