Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE – Several community members sent letters to Syracuse Town Council members expressing their support for the town to extend water utility out to the SouthShore housing development and one resident came in person.
Randy Woodcock said he’s been employed by Polywood for 15 years and is also the head coach for girls and boys golf at Wawasee High School. He said he keeps hearing about the need for space and housing, and SouthShore housing development will meet both those needs at no cost to the town. He said Lakeland Youth Center bought 20 acres out there, too.
He said he has four children and has “a vested interest here — this is home. When I hear these things repeatedly, it makes the most sense to allow it,” he said.
Later, before voting on a resolution in support of the SouthShore housing development and authorizing extension of water. Council members shared the letters they received. Councilman Bill Musser shared the letter he received from Brad Jackson, who used to be on the county commission for 20 years. Jackson said in his letter he was in support of the housing development and extending water “because Syracuse and the entire county has a great need for housing.” He said the town has good companies providing jobs, but they need housing in order to improve attraction and retention of those jobs.
Jackson also pointed out new water customers would help the town and the housing would also help the school system, which he claimed has had declines in numbers recently. Jackson pointed out they’d pay out-of-town rates and agreed to an in lieu of annexation agreement. He also mentioned that with farmland disappearing, SouthShore providing a housing development without taking away valuable farmland is also a positive, along with supporting local employers.
They also received letters of support from Ryan Zimmerman at Polywood, Andy Cripe of Main Channel Marina and Doug Haines, acting president of the Kosciusko County Redevelopment Commission, although he wasn’t representing the redevelopments position, only his personal opinion.
Councilman Nathan Scherer, who has some interest in SouthShore, left the room while the discussion was taking place. He returned for the vote on the resolution. Three council members voted in favor of the resolution, Scherer abstained from voting and Larry Siegel wasn’t present, so the resolution passed.
The resolution states in part, “The developer has agreed to design and construct all required water infrastructure in accordance with the town’s engineering standards, specifications and inspection requirements; and whereas the developer will be solely responsible for all costs associated with the engineering, permitting, construction, installation, testing and acceptance of the water infrastructure, and the town shall incur no financial obligation related to such improvements and whereas upon completion of construction and acceptance of the town, the public water infrastructure will become part of the town’s municipal water utility system.”
Bids Opened for Water Project
Ten bids came in for the Huntington Street Water Project, Division A and B. Division A makes improvements to Huntington Street and water lines, and Division B includes some new water mains and lead service replacement lines.
Bidding on the project were: G & G Hauling & Excavating, Warsaw for Division A with a total base bid of $1,999,538.90, HRP Construction, South Bend for Division A with a total base bid of $2,132,925, Selge Construction, Niles, Michigan for Division B with a total base bid of $1,474,385.
Selge Construction, Niles, also bid on Division A with a total base bid of $1,685,270. Fox Construction Corporation, Fort Wayne, bid on Division B with a total base bid of $1,693,426 and Fox Construction also bid on Division A with a total base bid of $2,486,295. C & E Excavating, Elkhart, bid on Division B with a total base bid of $1,670,555 and also bid on Division A with a total base bid of $1,666,265.
KLS Underground, Constantine, Michigan also bid on both divisions with a total base bid of $1,110,370.62 for Division B and a total base bid of $1,328,221.20 for Division A.
Breagan Eicher of Commonwealth Engineers opened the bids and said they would review them and come back with a recommendation.
Public Records Request Ordinance
The council approved an ordinance regarding public records requests. Town Manager David Wilkinson said requests have become much more frequent and some are coming through AI. The ordinance establishes procedures for the staff to follow. Wilkinson said it takes a lot of staff time to determine whether the request is from a person or AI.
Scherer asked if they could require the request be made in person and Town Attorney Jay Rigdon said they couldn’t because someone living further away needs to be able to request the records.
“The purpose is not to make it difficult to receive public records, it’s supposed to make it easier,” he said.
They also have to respond within a certain time frame, so Scherer said his concern was for the burden on the staff. The ordinance was introduced and a motion was made to suspend the rules so they could vote on the ordinance to adopt it, and it passed with no opposition.
In other business, the council:
• Passed a revised ordinance establishing purchasing procedures. The ordinance was introduced last month but the council asked for some tweaks, which were done.
• Approved contracts for the town manager and utility superintendent. The contracts were each for four years. Wilkinson’s base contract amount was $95,400 annually and Utility Superintendent Mark Aurich’s base contract amount was $95,000 annually.
• Approved an amendment to the on-call service agreement with Commonwealth Engineer for an additional $10.000. Aurich said he’s currently working on nine projects with Commonwealth.
• Approved two Polywood tax abatement compliance forms which were missed last month.
• Heard a recommendation from Wilkinson and department heads for security cameras from Imperial Service at a cost of $269,679.88, but the council wanted additional offsite storage, so they’ll bring that back next month.
• Several comments and thanks to all the sponsors and others involved with the 250th celebration held earlier in the month and several suggested making it an annual event, bringing the community together. Volunteers are needed to make that happen. Chamber Director Brent Randall also thanked those involved and said they had a better-than-expected turnout for the Color Run and for the car show.
• Matt Goodyear said leaders are needed for the historical society museum, the Chatauqua Wawasee and for Lakeland Youth Center.
