St. Joseph County Council

A St. Joseph County Sheriff Department investigation in 2022 found that 82-year-old James Belkiewitz owned four massage parlors where Chinese women who had been trafficked were being forced to work and were living at the businesses. A new county council ordinance aims to stop such situations.

After receiving the St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission's unfavorable recommendation Tuesday, the rezoning request needed for a data center near New Carlisle goes to the county council for a final vote Sept. 23.

St. Joseph County parks officials, after the county council approved $2.1 million of funding in June, are eager to finally build a park on Anderson Park land they've owned for 22 years. They hope to receive bids again at a special meeting Sept. 30.

The St. Joseph County Council-passed zoning change would force solar developers to compensate property owners within a mile if their property values decline after a solar farm starts operating.

Republican Dan Schaetzle's bill, passed by the St. Joseph County Council July 8, requires solar farm developers to compensate property owners within a mile if their property values decline after the solar panels are installed.

The council voted along party lines, 5-4 Republican, to eliminate all references to "affirmative action" and racial minority hiring practices from the county's 17-year-old property tax abatement ordinance.

St. Joseph County Council Republicans Amy Drake and Andy Rutten say its time for the county to follow the Supreme Court's and Trump administration's leads on ending affirmative action.

St. Joseph County Council President Dan Schaetzle insists he remains a Republican but the local and now state party disagree, saying he's no longer "in good standing" for at least two years.

St. Joseph County parks bought the Anderson Road farmland in 1999 when Granger was growing rapidly but had never found the money to develop a park there.

The county bought the land at Anderson and Beech roads in 2000 for a park but has never earmarked money to develop it.