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Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety approved a road closure Friday for Main Street Warsaw (MSW) to install a mural.
Terry Sweeney, downtown development director for MSW, said they were requesting the closure of North Jefferson Street between Buffalo and Lake streets to install a mural on the south side of the building at 220 S. Buffalo St.
Sweeney said MSW has contacted the neighboring property owners.
Mayor Jeff Grose read off the request days of Sept. 22 to 24 and Oct. 1 to 7. Sweeney said that might change depending on scheduling, but MSW will communicate with the neighboring property owners if that happens.
Board of Works member Diane Quance said she noticed MSW was working with Presby Preschool. Board member George Clemens asked if cars picking up or dropping off for the preschool go back that far. Sweeney said no, but MSW wanted to make the preschool aware of that in case they do queue longer than that. They’ve put no parking signs on the south side of Lake Street, going south from Jefferson Street to Winona Avenue.
Clemens said there could be a park in that area some day and that’ll be good with the mural.
In August, the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission approved purchasing a piece of property at Buffalo and Jefferson streets to potentially turn into a park. At that meeting, Sweeney said the park is planned to be the first fully fenced park the Parks Department has in the city. It will be accessible to people of all abilities.
Quance said she thought it was exciting to get another mural in downtown Warsaw and she really enjoys the others that were installed.
Earlier in the meeting, two city employees were recognized for service anniversaries.
Human Resources Generalist Montana Gardner said Suzanne Stokes and Christopher Holsclaw are both Warsaw Parks Department employees.
Stokes is an administrative assistant with the Parks Department and is celebrating five years with the city. Gardner said Stokes is someone you can count on and is helpful and efficient, noting Stokes’ sense of humor and good heart.
Last year, Parks and Recreation Department Superintendent Larry Plummer recognized Stokes with the Best Teammate Award. Gardner said what Plummer said sums it up the best, calling Stokes the backbone of the Parks Department’s daily operations and helping wherever she’s needed and handling challenging interactions with patience and grace.
Holsclaw is celebrating 35 years with the city, all of which have been with the Parks Department. He has collected a lot of stories throughout his years.
Holsclaw is informally known as the Parks trash guy, “which is a title I know he takes pride in,” Gardner said. He likes things clean, organized and taken care of, but he’s also a person people go to when they need help. He was recently promoted to a supervisory role, “which in a lot of ways just puts a title to a position he’s already been filling for quite some time.”
He also takes care of people. He knows people throughout the community and has a way of connecting with people who use the parks, especially kids, Gardner said. He pays attention to people, lends a helping hand and generally takes care of others.
Gardner brought up an incident on Sept. 1, where someone had a medical emergency at Central Park and Holsclaw performed CPR using an AED. His actions, along with others’, helped save the person’s life, Gardner said.
In other business, the board:
• Approved permission for the Public Works Department to apply for the 2027 Community Crossings Matching Grant through the Indiana Department of Transportation.
Public Works Director Dustin Dillon said they have an engineered project that is a reconstruction of roadways, stormlines, curb and gutter, as well sidewalks. It will be another neighborhood-type project, but Dillon didn’t want to release which neighbors yet until the grant was accepted.
The project cost is estimated at $2,045,000, and the CCMG is a 50/50 grant, so they are going for the maximum of $1 million for the year.
Dillon said if they get this grant, they will have used a little over $4.4 million in grant money, for a total of about $8 million worth of projects, in the last six years.
• Approved a pay application to Lynn Douglas Inc. for $28,661 for the Warsaw Chemical ground water cleanup.
• Approved permission for the Warsaw Police Department to apply for Kosciusko County Community Foundation and Kosciusko REMC Op Round Up grants for treadmills for the Training Center.
• Approved for the WPD to apply for a Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Use Site Based Grant for handheld mass spectrometry chemical systems for $94,158.
