Elkhart County commissioners approve paving contract, accept courthouse substantial completion and clear multiple county actions

Elkhart County commissioners on Sept. 15 approved a series of routine and project-specific items, including awarding a 2025 paving contract, accepting a certificate of substantial completion for the new county courts facility, approving a federal preliminary engineering agreement for a bridge, and granting a noise-ordinance variance for a fireworks display at a local speedway.

The actions matter because they finalize contracts and budgets that affect county roads, an ongoing courthouse construction project and local public-safety and economic-development operations.

In the meeting’s highway business section, Kyle Wagner of the Elkhart County Highway Department recommended awarding the 2025-2 paving contract to Niblock Excavating for $2,397,221. "Our recommendation is giving Niblock Excavating the award at $2,397,221," Wagner said. Commissioners voted to approve the award and the related performance and payment bond.

The board also approved a long list of nonregulatory signage changes and additions at multiple county-road intersections, including revised stop-ahead placements, dual stop signs, "cross traffic does not stop" placards, upgraded retroreflective strips beneath stop signs, school warning signs near Deer Trail School on County Road 13, and advanced warning signage for the Peanut roundabout. The highway department presented engineering findings that in many locations recommended additional signage rather than changes to…