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Quotes for sidewalk removal and replacement on North Grant Street were unsealed at Friday’s Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, with the lowest bidder awarded the job.
Bids were from Milestone Contractors, Fort Wayne, for $189,982.31; Pulver Asphalt Paving, Albion, for $84,130; and Phend & Brown, Milford, for $137,300.
Public Works and Street Superintendent Dustin Dillon looked the bids over during the remainder of the Board of Works meeting and then made a recommendation that the project be awarded to Pulver Asphalt Paving for $84,130. The board approved the recommendation.
Dillon said the improvements on North Grant Street are from Sheridan Street up to the back entrance of Oakwood Cemetery.
Later, Dillon requested permission from the board to solicit sealed bids for milling and resurfacing of roadways in the downtown Warsaw district, which was granted.
The roads include Lake Street, between Center and Main streets; Main Street, between Lake and Buffalo streets; Center Street, from Detroit Street at Indiana Department of Transportation’s right-of-way back to Indiana Street; and Fort Wayne Street from Detroit Street to Buffalo Street.
Dillon said, if possible, he hoped to get the work accomplished this year.
In a different matter, city engineer Aaron Ott presented pay application #1 from Core Mechanical Services for the Warsaw City Hall HVAC improvements.
“This is the first sign of the real work to come on what we’ve been building on for a while here,” he said.
The pay application covers some mobilization activities, material purchases and storage of those needed materials to start the project by Core Mechanical Services.
“They have performed $58,893 worth of work. We’re going to hold a 5% retainer, per contract, so they are asking for a payment in the amount of $55,948.35,” Ott said, recommending the Board of Works approve the pay application.
Mayor Jeff Grose thanked Ott for his efforts, saying it’s been a years-long-plus effort.
“It is a massive project. ARPA funds will be used. I need to thank (city attorney) Scott (Reust), settlement dollars will be used. And then a local income tax supplemental dollar amount will be used to pay for this,” Grose said, noting that they’re looking at starting the work this fall and into spring.
“The entire building will be overhauled. We’ll be in much better shape than where we currently are,” Grose said.
Ott stated, “We should be significantly along by spring. ... It’s probably a year’s worth of work total, but the meat of the work should be completed by spring.”
Councilwoman Diane Quance thanked Ott for recognizing that they needed to replace the HVAC rather than continously trying to replace aging equipment with parts that aren’t readily available.
The Board of Works unanimously approved the pay application.
On Dec. 20, the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety approved a contract with Core Mechanical Services for $1,652,529 for the HVAC work. Of the total cost, $806,604.57 of the city’s ARPA funds have been set aside for the HVAC project at City Hall.
According to past articles, the city filed a lawsuit in regards to an improperly installed HVAC system in City Hall in Kosciusko County Superior I on Oct. 22, 2020. The city of Warsaw entered into an AIA contract dated Dec. 16, 2011, for the remodeling of City Hall. The performance of the contract resulted in the HVAC being improperly installed, installed out of conformity to the contract documents or being negligently installed. According to the complaint, the systems resulted in malfunctions, degradation of other parts of the HVAC system and building installations.
In other business, the Board of Works approved:
• Accepting the deeded ownership of parcel ID 004-055-070, also known as the Harrison Landing detention area, as requested by City Planner Justin Taylor. The parcel is in Block A of the Harrison Landing Subdivision.
Taylor said the parcel is at the corner of CR 225E and Old 30.
“The basin was not turned over to the (Homeowners Association), which is typical of these types of structures that serve the neighborhoods. Sometime in the early 2000s, there was an administrative oversight so the original developer still has ownership of the parcel. They approached the city about the potential of the city taking ownership of that basin. So we reviewed it internally with stormwater, public works, economic development, engineering and planning department and looked at the long-term vision for that corridor,” he said. “As residential developments increase to the north, we decided that it didn’t serve a huge purpose as far as stormwater management to the system. There were little things that we saw that could be improved with ownership of the parcel, but the big thing that made it more appealing for the city to consider taking ownership of this parcel was the potential for intersection improvements at Old Road 30 and 225 East.”
He said after the internal discussion, they decided to bring it to the Board of Works with a favorable recommendation for the city to take ownership of the parcel.
• Payment application #3 from Michiana Contracting for $9,648 for the traffic signal modernization at the intersection of Lake and Main streets, as presented by Dillon.
• A change order for $4,459 for the Prairie and Lake streets stormwater improvements, as presented by Stormwater Utility Superintendent Brian Davison. He said the structure they were going to put in is not going to work, so they redesigned it and “this is the updated cost for what we’re going to have to do to get that in there.”
• A request by Bearded Bigfoot Detailing, 1823 E. Market St., to close Lincoln Street, between Center and Market streets, on Aug. 23 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for an open house that will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Owner Dillon Davis said he moved his business into the former USA Muffler building. For the open house, he said they want to do a cruise-in for anybody. There will be a free lunch for all the participants who bring their vehicle out. There also will be a dj, raffles and a bounce house. The open house also will provide Bearded Bigfoot Detailing to show off their business and what they do, he said.
• The travel requests and the new hire/change in payroll report as presented by Human Resource Director Denny Harlan.
The new hires include Shane Smalley at $21 per hour, effective July 23, and Josh Bahney at $22 per hour, effective Aug. 18, as groundskeepers at Oakwood Cemetery; and Leah Parker as assistant planner in the Warsaw Planning Department at $28 per hour, effective July 28. Smalley and Bahney replace two groundskeepers who left, while Parker replaces Jackson Longenbaugh, who left.
Max Maile is a new member of the Warsaw Plan Commission, effective July 14, and receives $50 per meeting. He replaces the late Jim Gast on the commission.
