Marshall County Government
property practices. These processes are intended to distribute the property tax burden in a uniform and equitable manner. Mass appraisal is used as a process of valuing a group of properties as of a given date, using valid market sale prices, standard methods, employing common data, and allowing for statistical testing.
The County Assessor is a statutory officer who is elected for a term of four years and may be elected without a term limit.
Debra Dunning is the county assessor. Her office can be reached at 574-935-8525.
County Treasurer
The office of the Marshall County Treasurer is a statutory office ordained by the State of Indiana for accepting and maintaining all monetary income to the county. The treasurer is an elected position and holds office for four years.
The responsibilities of the treasurer include: billing and collecting property taxes (real estate, personal, drains, and mobile home), collecting innkeepers tax, issuing tax clearances for mobile home transfer/mobile permits, investing funds, conducting annual real estate tax sale, collecting delinquent property taxes and taxes in judgment, and searching for and collecting delinquent taxes of public employees.
Angie Birchmeier is the county treasurer. Her office can be reached at 574-935-8520.
County Building Commissioner
The Marshall County Building Department has been established by local ordinance in compliance with state code. It grants counties the right to create an agency to assure that construction and modification of all structures within the unincorporated areas meet the minimum standards as established by the State of Indiana. The department administers and enforces building, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical, and plumbing standards for the protection of life, health, environment, public safety, and the conservation of energy in the design and construction of buildings and structures.
The Building Commissioner’s duties include issuing contractor registrations, issuing building permits, performing construction inspections, and issuing certificate of occupancy. Chuck DeWitt is the building commissioner. His office can be reached at 574-9358531.
County Surveyor
The county surveyor is a constitutional officer of the county and is elected to term from the county at large. The primary duties of the surveyor, as in accordance with Indiana Code, are as follows.
The County Surveyor maintains a legal survey record book for all legal surveys within the county. A legal survey is a survey prepared by a registered land surveyor with notice to all adjoining landowners to resolve property disputes.
The County Surveyor must keep and maintain a corner record book showing original government section corners. The surveyor must check and reference at least 5 percent of all corners shown in the Corner Record Book and establish, locate and reference at least 5 percent of all original corners.
The Surveyor is an ex-officio, non voting, member of the County Drainage Board. In this capacity the County Surveyor is the technical authority on the construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of all regulated drains or proposed regulated drains in the county. The Board and Surveyor have jurisdiction over regulated drains. Regulated drains are drains established by either the Commissioners Court or Circuit Court of each county prior to 1965 or the Drainage Board since 1965. These drains are open ditches or tile drains or a combination. These can also be municipal storm sewers.
The County Surveyor is administers the film strip program.
The Surveyor is normally a member of the County Plan Commission. As a member of the Commission, they attend the monthly meeting and hear and make decisions on subdivisions and planning. They are often looked to for techni
cal review of plats.
Craig Cultice is the county surveyor. His office can be reached at 574-935-8530.
Clerk’s Office
The office of the Clerk of Circuit Court is established by the Indiana State Constitution to serve as the record keeper for the constitutionally created Circuit Court.
The clerk is elected by the residents of Marshall County and is limited to serving two consecutive four year terms.
The Clerk’s office accepts filings of commencement of actions in litigation, enters judgments and orders for three courts (Circuit Court, Superior Court I and Superior Court II).
Court filings include Civil, Criminal, Probate, Family, Mental Health, Juvenile and Traffic.
The Clerk’s office responsibilities include collection and disbursement of court costs, fines, judgments, restitution, probation fees, community correction fees and miscellaneous fees. The Clerk also collects and disburses child support payments, issues marriage licenses, makes certified copies of records and is an acceptance agency for passports.
The Clerk is appointed by statute to serve as the Secretary to the County Election Board. The Clerk administers all elections held within the county and maintains all county voter registrations. Marshall County is a Vote Center County and absentee voting is available in the Clerk’s office.
In general, the Clerk is required to perform all official duties imposed by statue or by lawful authority of the court.
Deb VanDeMark is the county clerk. Her office can be reached at 574-936-8922.
Marshall County Courts
There are two Superior Courts and one Circuit Court in Marshall County. Judge Robert O. Bowen presides over Superior Court 1 and
Judge Dean A. Colvin pre
sides over Superior Court
2. Superior Court 1 is located on the third floor of the
County Courthouse while
Superior Court 2 is located on the second floor. All courts are held from 8 a.m. till 4 p.m. Monday through
Friday. They are closed for lunch from 12 p.m. till 1 p.m. and are closed on all major holidays.
Superior Court 1 handles criminal cases like murder, felonies, criminal miscellaneous, and expungement.
The court also handles civil cases like adoption, domestic relations with and without children, and protective orders among other matters.
Superior Court 2 handles criminal cases like criminal misdemeanor, infraction, and several levels of felony. The court also handles civil collections, civil tort, small claims, among other matters.
You can reach Superior Court 1 at 574-935-8740 and Superior Court 2 at 574-935-8763.
Judge Curtis D. Palmer resides over the Circuit Court which covers general jurisdiction. You can reach the court at 574-935-8780.
Cell phones are not allowed inside the Marshall County Courthouse.
County Prosecutor
The primary function of the Marshall County Prosecutor’s Office is to represent the State of Indiana and prosecute individuals charged with the commission of a crime that occurred in Marshall County. Law enforcement agencies throughout the county investigate crimes and submit results to the Prosecutor’s Office for review. E. Nelson Chipman
Should there be enough evidence to prove that a suspect committed a crime, the Prosecutor’s Office then files a criminal information in one of the three courts charging the individual and then prosecutes the case. If the defendant is convicted, he/she will be sentenced by a judge.
The office also assists custodial parents with child support collection and related matters. They also assist victims of crime through consultation and referral to service agencies.
E. Nelson Chipman, Jr. serves as the prosecuting attorney for Marshall County. His office can be reached at 574-935-8666.
Probation Department
The mission of the Probation Department is to provide necessary services to the offender toward reducing criminal/delinquent behavior, while balancing the needs and insuring the safety of the community. Probation is a profession that requires fundamental knowledge of the law, sentencing alternatives, human services and community protection.
The Probation Department can be reached at 574935-8560.
Sheriff’s Department
The Marshall County Sheriff’s Department strives to serve the community through their core values, to uphold and protect the United States and the Indiana Constitution. The department does this for the safety, security of, and preservation of the peace for anyone in the county. They also strive to be the standard and leaders in law enforcement and corrections and to set the bar high for all other agencies in the county.
Matt Hassel is the County Sheriff. He began his career with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department in 1981, when he was hired in a civilian capacity as a jail and communications officer. He also served as County Council President and as Chief of the Bremen Police Department.
You can reach the department at 574-936-3187 or at www.sheriffmarshallcounty. org.
Emergency Management
The County’s Emergency Management strives to protect the citizens and visitors of Marshall County by coordinating and integrating all activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the
capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from threatened or actual natural disasters, man-made disasters or acts of terrorism.
The department encourages both municipalities and residents to create emergency and disaster preparedness plans. Additional resources can be viewed on their page at co.marshall.in.us.
Clyde Avery is the emergency management director. His office can be reached at 574-936-3740.
County Coroner
The County Coroner and his staff are responsible for determining the case and manner of death when a person dies from violence, by casualty, or in a suspicious or unnatural manner.
They are responsible for issuing death certificates and other reports during a death investigation. The department works closely with the families of the deceased during an investigation. It is their responsibility to provide answers that may be asked, and help families coordinate with funeral homes, the Health Department and in some cases, notification of other family members and agencies.
John Grolich is the county coroner. His office can be reached at 574-936-0246.
Highway Department
The County Highway Department is responsible for maintaining 911 miles of county roads, and 114 bridges. That maintenance could mean patching holes on the county highways, grading a gravel road, or plowing snow in the winter.
The Highway Department contributes more to the community than what can be seen. In addition to maintaining the roads, their employees also go the extra
mile to make the county more aesthetically pleasing by picking up trash, clearing away dead animals, trimming trees and mowing the right-of-ways. They also keep the county culverts cleaned.
The Highway Department is located at 9675 King
Road in Plymouth. Jason Peters serves as the supervisor. His office can be reached at 574-936-2181.
Community Corrections
Community Corrections provides cost effective programs utilizing evidence based practices to generate positive change.
They do this with the following components: home detention/GPS Electronic monitoring, jail treatment program, Scram remote alcohol breath testing, and the community transition program.
The defendant must meet certain requirements to qualify for the program. Visit co.marshall.in.us for more details.
Ward Byers is the Community Corrections director of operations. His office can be reached at 574-9358782.
Veteran’s Services Office
The County’s Veteran’s Service Office is responsible for assisting veterans, their spouses, dependents, and survivors with information and assistance concerning Veterans benefits through the Federal and State levels. The office offers assistance in obtaining a DD-214 Military Discharge, filing claims for service connected or non-service connected disabilities, low income
pension benefits, survivor benefits, VA medical care, home loan guarantee, GI Bill benefits, and many others.
Pam Schweizer-Betz is the veteran service officer. Her office can be reached at 574-935-8546.
Health Department
The Marshall County Health Department, in serving the people of Marshall County, helps protect and avoid potentially dangerous threats to the health, safety, and welfare of the community.
The MCHD has immunization clinics by appointment for children from birth
through 18 years of age as well as other clinics.
The environmental division provides a wide variety of services to ensure the health of the people and environment of the county.
Birth, death, and other vital records can be found at the department.
Food licenses are issues and food safety inspections are performed by the department.
Information about Lyme Disease, the Ebola virus, bed bugs, Narcan, and other issues are issued out by the department.
The Health Department has a Board of Health consisting of seven members that meets quarterly. Dr. Byron Holm is the Health Officer, Ashley Garcia is the MCHD Administrator and Lisa Letsinger is the public health nurse. The MCHD can be reached at 574-9358565.