Almost half of the items on the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety agenda Thursday were for the Anchorage Road improvement project.
The Board of Works meeting was rescheduled to Thursday because of Good Friday today.
The first Anchorage Road item was a request from Warsaw Community Economic and Development Director Jeremy Skinner for the Board to approve the donations of three right-of-way parcels for the project. Two of the parcels were donated from Horizon Bank and the third was from Compass LP, appraised at $9,930; $3,920; and $28,790, respectively.
Skinner said Horizon and Compass agreed to donate the parcels and, in return, the city of Warsaw agreed to take over the road that runs between the two properties.
“There’s commercial development back there. That road is currently private and it’s our intent, as part of the process, to accept that road - a portion of that road - into the city streets,” he told the Board.
He has talked with Street Superintendent Dustin Dillon about it and they will look at the road to see what needs to be done to it to bring it up to city standards.
The road currently does not have a name, Skinner and Dillon said after the meeting, but the city will have to give it one once the city takes it over.
The Board unanimously accepted the donations of the three right-of-way parcels.
Skinner then presented a pay application for $3,994.14 from Structurepoint for right-of-way acquisition appraisal and purchasing services for the Anchorage Road project. The money will come out of the Economic Development Income Tax fund.
As the project is an 80/20 Indiana Department of Transportation-funded project, the city will pay 20% throughout the project and be reimbursed the other 80% for each phase of the project over the next four years.
The pay application was approved.
Skinner then presented another pay application from Structurepoint for $8,282.35 for engineering services.
“So we had four different contracts. If you’re dealing with INDOT projects, you have the engineering and right-of-way services, you have the construction engineering and then you have the final construction contract. So the PE (preliminary engineering) was the first contract we signed and that is, obviously, the engineering and design of the roadway that also will need to be built and bid. So this was our first contract we signed with Structurepoint. There’s still obviously some engineering work that occur up until the final letting because they have to finalize the final plans, submit them to INDOT and get them approved and so forth. And then they will be able to bid that,” Skinner explained to the Board.
That pay application also was approved 3-0.
The final item Skinner presented for the Anchorage Road project was a purchase of a right-of-way parcel for $43,500 from Ting Rui Zhen. The money for this acquisition will come out of the Northern TIF (tax increment finance) District. Skinner said the Redevelopment Commission approved it at their meeting Monday.
The cap from INDOT on the acquisitions is roughly $250,000, Skinner said, so as long as the acquisitions remain under that amount the city will be reimbursed 80% of the costs.
The Board of Works approved the purchase of the parcel.
Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Lt. Drew Shilling brought a request before the Board for the fire department to host Dive Rescue International classes again this summer. WWFT hosted four Dive Rescue International classes in summer 2021 and those went over “really well,” Shilling said. The WWFT Board approved the request at its meeting April 5.
The divers for the 2021 classes came from as far as Massachusetts, New York and Wisconsin, Shilling said.
“The instructors really liked what we had to offer as far as our bodies of water and amenities, so we decided to try it again this year,” he said.
This year, they are looking at hosting three classes: Hummingbird Sonar Technician, Light Salvage and Recovery, and HazMat Diving.
“There is no cost for us to bring Dive Rescue International as far as, they provide airfare for their instructors, they cover the hotel. We still, for our members that attend the class, we still have to pay the registration fee, but for every 10 paid spots, we get five spots free for being a host,” Shilling said. “It’s a good way for our guys to get good training without having to send them outside of the city.”
The classes will be Aug. 13-20 and will take place at the Fireman’s Building, Pike Lake and Warsaw Community High School pool. Shilling said the high school has always been very accommodating to the fire territory, and that the beach will not be closed down during any training.
The Board of Works unanimously approved for the WWFT to host the classes.
Wastewater Utility Superintendent Brian Davison presented a pay application of $106,490 from Kokosing Industrial Inc. for the wastewater plant expansion project. It was the 123rd pay application for the project.
Davison said the claim was for work completed on the collection system and checked by engineers.
After the Board approved the payment, Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer told Davison, “When that project happened, it was a $30 million project - talking about how it’s the biggest project the city (has), but I also think it’s the most amount of pay apps the Board of Works has ever seen!”
Davison replied, “Hopefully, we’re nearing the end, but as with everything, they’re having trouble getting equipment and parts and so it’s been a slower process than anticipated. We’re getting there!”
