The Allen County Commissioners voted May 2 to repeal current floodplain regulations and adopt Title 21, the Floodplain Management Ordinance, shifting floodplain-administrator responsibilities from the Department of Planning Services to the Allen County Surveyor’s Office, with an effective date of June 1, 2025.

County planning official Dave Schaub told commissioners, “This set of floodplain amendments is proposed to realign duties between Allen County Departments for more efficient government procedures and remove floodplain administrator duties from the Department of Planning Services and convey the floodplain administrator duties to the Allen County Surveyors Office.” He said the draft ordinance includes a summary of proposed 2025 amendments and that the change will require parallel amendments to the ordinances of Grabill, Huntertown, Monroeville and Woodburn to keep local rules aligned.

Mike Frutchie of the Surveyor’s Office explained the rationale for the transfer, saying the county’s rapid development in low-lying areas has increased demand for engineering review: “That engineering piece is crucial … we have so much development in the floodplain in Allen County,” and moving duties to the Surveyor’s Office will use in-house hydrology and engineering expertise and the Surveyor’s field staff for post‑flood evaluations. Commissioners praised the change as a way to make permitting reviews more efficient and responsive for residents and developers.

No vote counts were recorded in the public audio; the chair called for a motion to repeal the existing floodplain regulation, a second was given, and the motion carried by voice vote. Immediately afterward the board moved to establish and adopt Title 21 and again approved the ordinance by voice vote. The stated effective date is June 1, 2025.

The record includes references to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as background for floodplain responsibilities; the transcript notes that floodplain functions can reside in planning, building, or surveyor offices depending on the county. The commissioners and staff said the change is intended to reduce the need for outside consulting, speed reviews and improve post‑flood response using the Surveyor’s existing field capabilities.

The commissioners directed staff to proceed with ordinance adoption and coordinated amendments to the named municipal ordinances; the transcript does not record additional formal instructions or timelines for those municipal updates.