Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
An amendment to the Jomac buildings asbestos abatement owner-contractor agreement was approved Friday by the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety after the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) identified a mistake in the wage rates.
The contract for the removal of the asbestos from the Jomac buildings is with Environmental Management Specialists.
City engineer Aaron Ott explained to the board, “On September 19, we approved and awarded a contract for this work to Environmental Management Specialists, and gathered up some of the post-award paperwork to submit to OCRA, related to the OCRA grant. OCRA identified that there was an administrative mistake in the Davis-Bacon (Act) wage rates that were applied during the bidding process.”
In conjunction with their partners at the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) and city attorney Scott Reust, Ott said they’ve been discussing this over the past several weeks on what the remedy might be.
“Per OCRA’s suggestion, and our best determination of the path forward, we realized that an amendment to the contract to adjust it to cover those proper wage rates we have to meet because of the grant requirements and the federal funds that are involved in this project, would be to amend our contract accordingly,” Ott said. “And the short story is, the bid process wasn’t compromised through this. This administrative error portrayed itself throughout all bidders that we took, so this adjustment would have applied to all the bids, so there wouldn’t have been, in our opinion, no advantage to rebidding the project, and it would have cost us more.”
The contract amendment will increase the cost of the contract by $24,620 from $75,685 to $100,305. Ott said the extra cost is fully covered by OCRA through the grant and there is no cost to the city, which is why they felt following OCRA’s advice would be appropriate.
The board approved the contract amendment 2-0, with Mayor Jeff Grose absent.
The project is related to an OCRA Community Development Block Grant the city is working with Fellowship Missions on.
The physical addresses of the buildings are 1624 and 1600 E. Winona Ave. and Smith Street, Warsaw. They are owned by Fellowship Missions, but the city applied for and received an OCRA grant on Fellowship Missions’ behalf in 2024 for the demolition and asbestos abatement.
Fellowship Missions’ plan for the property is to demolish it, make it into greenspace and then eventually build a new shelter there to replace the current shelter. Once the new shelter is built, the old one will be shut down, demolished and become a parking lot for the new shelter.
Public Works Facility
Ott also presented pay application 6 for $1,077,698.01 from Robinson Construction for the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) public works facility project on West Center Street.
“The majority of this is the metal fabricated building that’s been delivered to the site and stored. It hasn’t been erected yet, but this was strictly for the material purchased and storage,” Ott said.
Board member George Clemens said this was the second large payment. Ott said it’s a large one, but as it’s a large contract they’ll probably see some million-dollar pay applications moving forward.
The total contract sum is $13,298,020.33, with previous approved payments totaling $2,207,532.15. Balance remaining, after pay application 6, is $10,012,790.17.
The board approved the pay application.
Service Anniversaries
Two city employees were recognized for their service anniversaries by Human Resources generalist Montana Gardner.
Ray Behling, building commissioner with the city’s building department, is celebrating 10 years.
“Over the past decade, Ray has played a key role in keeping our community safe and supporting responsible growth through his work in building code enforcement, inspections and plan reviews. He’s known for his knowledge, professionalism and his commitment to customer service,” Gardner said.
With 15 years of service, Angela Howard, Warsaw Police Department senior systems administrator, was the other city employee recognized.
“She works behind the scenes, keeping the police department’s technology running securely and reliably. Her expertise and dedication are essential to daily operations and public safety,” Gardner said.
Other Business
In other business, the board approved:
• The annual contract renewal with Orange Marketing Group for 2026 social media management at $16,380, as requested by the mayor’s office.
• The acceptance of a $4,500 grant from the Kosciusko County Convention Recreation and Visitor Commission, as requested by City Planner Justin Taylor on behalf of the Warsaw Public Arts Commission. The grant will be used with other grants for public art for the America 250 celebration in June.
• For Street Department Superintendent Joe Vetor to have the authority to sign claim vouchers for the street department, as requested by Public Works Director Dustin Dillon.
• A contract with Ace Pest Control Inc. for exterminator services at the public works buildings, as requested by Dillon. The contract is for $74 monthly, as well as spring and fall exterior treatments for $128 each.
• A professional service agreement with ESRI to help move the city’s GIS system from old servers to the cloud, as requested by Dillon. The cost of the ArcGIS Migration is $20,000.
• A three-year contract with ESRI for ArcGIS software and services for $30,200 annually, as requested by Dillon.
• The new hire/change in payroll report, as presented by Gardner. It includes the promotion of Ryan Moore to detective lieutenant at $3,611.94 biweekly; and a rank change for Gordon Allen to detective sergeant at $3,571.04 biweekly, both effective Jan. 4.
• Two travel requests, as presented by Gardner. One is for WPD School Resource Officer Phillip Reed to attend the Indiana Office of School Safety summit in Indianapolis Jan. 5-7; and the other is for Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Battalion Chief Rob Barker to attend the Blue Incident Command Train the Trainer in Benton Harbor, Mich., Jan. 19-23.
