The Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety was rescheduled from Friday to Monday. In attendance were members Mayor Joe Thallemer and George Clemens and Clerk-Treasurer Lynn Christiansen. Member City Councilman Jeff Grose attended virtually.
A request by the Kosciusko County Historical Society to close streets for the Dillinger Raid event was tabled at the March 19 meeting. Society representative Greg Steffe appeared Monday to discuss the request. He said the two-day event will include an open house at the Jail Museum, historic tours, a two-day classic car show, travel along Dillinger’s route, crafts and food vendors.
Closures were approved on Indiana Street between Main and Center streets Sept. 11 and 12, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
Human Resource Director Jennifer Whitaker, also attending virtually, presented a travel request for police officer Zackery Smith to attend a passenger vehicle drug interdiction seminar in Kokomo at an estimated cost of $488 for three days in June, which was approved.
Whitaker presented several recent hires and noted the seasonal part-time hourly rates might change pending the common council’s approval of a salary ordinance amendment to be considered Monday night.
The recent hires or changes in position include part-time employees: Ira Werker, campground manager, for $18 per hour, and Becky Bailey, Blake Bolland, Tayla Jones and Angela Barker as recreation leaders at $15 per hour; Alex Vuittonet as a park laborer at $15 per hour; and firefighters Jordan Yoder, Nicholas Cole and Benjamin Cablya at $15.15 per hour.
Full-time employees and their positions were given as: Jacob Ihrie, assistant city planner, $24 per hour; Robert Hurford, building inspector, $25 per hour; Charles Hodges, street department equipment operator, $16 per hour; Taylor See, street department equipment operator, $17.75 per hour; Jason Nichols, wastewater treatment plant maintenance tech, $22.96 per hour; and police department personnel: Sgt. Phillip Hawks, assigned to 1st shift at $2,360.71 bi-weekly; Paige Wood and Mason Metzinger, probationary patrol officers at $1,840.54 each bi-weekly; Justin Curtis, promotion to corporal, $2,436.86 bi-weekly; and Phillip Reed, promotion to sergeant, $2,460.76 bi-weekly.
Parks Recreation Director Sheila Wieringa asked that the March contract with Zach Day be voided and a new contract accepted, which was approved. Day will perform for $1,800 on June 11 during the summer blues concert. The earlier contract did not include Day’s costs for providing his own sound equipment.
Community Development Coordinator Jeremy Skinner presented notice to proceed with right-of-way acquisition along Anchorage Road with services provided by American Structurepoint. This is an 80% state, 20% local payment agreement and the Indiana Department of Transportation has approved this phase of the work. The funds will initially come from the city’s Northern TIF district and economic income tax funds until reimbursement by the state.
Skinner also presented a pay application, No. 19, from Structurepoint for preliminary engineering design on Anchorage Road for $17,388.63, which was approved. This portion of the project also is an 80/20 state/city split.
City Planner Justin Taylor presented a pay application, No. 10, for $117,074.75 to Seige Construction for work on the Buffalo Street plaza. The project continues and should be completed this spring. Money for the project comes from a Regional Cities grant.
The Board approved a memorandum of understanding between the city and the Michiana Area Council of Governments for the procurement of two electric vehicle charging stations as presented by Taylor. The charging equipment is provided through a grant awarded to the city and facilitated by MACOG.
Electric vehicle drivers will be able to charge up for two hours at the Central Park stations. Taylor has said the location is designed to bring tourists to the downtown area.
Thallemer asked if the spaces had been reviewed by the Traffic Commission and Taylor said that will be in the future.
“We don’t see it as taking away spaces,” Taylor said, “just designated them for EVs.”
Thallemer also was concerned about the city’s power costs. Leah Thill, of MACOG, attending virtually, said other cities have experienced costs of about $1 per hour.
She added that people can pay for a charge with a credit card or through an app. She advised the city to be vigilant about the two-hour charging period or charge more if someone sits there all day charging.
James Emans, city engineer, presented a contract of execution from Hawk Enterprises. The company was awarded the traffic signal modernization job at Center and Lake streets and Center and Indiana streets during the March 19 meeting. Hawk was the low bidder at $443,314.39.
The board also approved a contract of execution with USI Consultants, related to the Center Street traffic signal modernization project, of an amount not to exceed $9,400. The company will oversee the project.
The board approved a special claim for AutoPlex of $35,354; regular claims of $1,079,642.38; pension payments of $36,047.56; and pre-paid claims of $52,135.72.
Grose noted that he was attending from 1,400 miles away while vacationing on spring break and thanked Thallemer for the city’s efforts making the virtual technology available.
The next board of works meeting is April 16 at 11:15 a.m.
