Four sealed bids were received and opened for CR 300N road improvements at the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety meeting Friday.
The base bid from Star Excavating, Huntington, was $1,585,645; Beer & Slabaugh, Nappanee, $810,582.50; Phend & Brown, Milford, $724,224.60; and Niblock Excavating, Bristol, provided a base bid of $853,438.25.
Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon asked the board to take all the bids under review. He will return to the board at their next meeting, Feb. 21, with a recommendation.
“I’d like to thank all the bidders. It’s tremendous to have that much interest in a project, so thank you to all the bidders that put in a bid. We greatly appreciate working with all you guys,” he said.
The board approved a motion to table the bids for further review.
According to the advertisement for bids, the project is partially funded with Community Crossings Grant Funds from the state and consists of chip and sealing CR 300N from CR 200W to CR 150. The project also includes full-depth HMA (hot mix asphalt) reconstruction and curb and gutter at the intersection of CR 200W and CR 300N, and will include new pavement markings, signs, small drainage improvements and site restoration.
Warsaw Planning Department Assistant City Planner Jackson Longenbaugh presented the board a proposal from Dogwood Hills Tree Farm for $14,155 for the removal of 15 trees downtown, replacing eight of those trees.
“We’re working, continuing to remove the Bradford pear trees, that are not good for our downtown environment,” he said. “Slowly but surely, we’ll get to a variety of species downtown.”
He said the 15 trees will be fully removed, including grinding the stumps.
“They created a plan for us back in 2023, and some of these areas should not even have a tree in them at all due to visibility concerns or utility lines. Some, they’re recommending not to replace at all,” Longenbaugh said. “There are two by chance that hopefully will be transplanted to a park. He thought they were in good enough condition to be saved, so we’ll hopefully get that done.”
The board approved the contract.
In other business, the board approved:
• A contract with Be Relieved LLC for City Hall cleaning for $22,920 for 2025, as requested by Human Resource Director Denny Harlan.
He said City Hall lost its maintenance technician and the city decided to look at other options. As Gene Garver, Be Relieved, has done a great job in the past, Harlan said they wanted to contract with him to care and clean City Hall.
• Accepting a K21 Health Foundation grant for $57,428 for the purchase of a Deep Trekker PIVOT Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), as requested by Warsaw-Wayne Fire Protection Territory (WWFT) Capt. and Assistant Dive Commander Drew Shilling. The grant will completely cover the cost of the ROV, as well as two days of training for up to 10 people. The fire territory’s board approved the grant acceptance at their meeting Tuesday.
• A contract between the WWFT and Birch Kaufman LLC for legal representation for the fire territory, as requested by Fire Chief Joel Shilling. As the territory’s previous attorney, Andrew Grossnickle, stepped down at the end of 2024, Jack Birch from Birch Kaufman LLC will serve as the new WWFT attorney. The contract is for a $3,000 retainer fee and an hourly rate of $250 per hour for up to 10 hours. The fire territory board approved the contract on Tuesday.
• Accepting a $7,000 grant for 2025 from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation for the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department, as requested by Recreation Director Stephanie Schaefer. The grant funds will be used to support musical artists for the 2025 Summer Concert Series.
Schaefer thanked the Community Foundation for making those summer concerts possible with the funding. “I can’t do it without them,” she stated.
• A contract with Derek Tenney to serve as the DJ for the Mommy and Son Dance from 6 to 8 p.m. May 2 at the Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion for $250, as requested by Schaefer.
• Pay app No. 3 from Wessler Engineering for $7,048.18 for the 2024 sanitary and storm sewer rehabilitation, as requested by Utility Superintendent Brian Davison.
• The signing of the agreement with Insight Pipe Contracting LLC, along with the notice to proceed, for $376,303.50 for the sanitary sewer and stormwater rehabilitation, as requested by Davison. The board previously awarded the bid to Insight.
• An agreement with WSP USA Inc. for an amount not to exceed $20,000, as requested by Davison. Of the $20,000, he said $7,000 was for WSP to be a presenter at the utility’s Green Infrastructure Workshop, with the remainder being for an on-call agreement if the utility needs WSP’s services.
• A contract with Grace and Lilly Center Lakes & Streams for an amount not to exceed $18,480, as requested by Davison. The funds are for educational programming as required by the city’s MS4 permit.
• Four travel requests, as presented by Harlan. Two were from the Warsaw Police Department to send a couple officers to the Drug Enforcement Agency conference; one from the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory (WWFT) for ice diving training; and one for the city engineer to go to the Purdue Road School.
• The new hire/change in payroll report, as presented by Harlan. The sole item on the report was for Public Works equipment operator Jeremey Hackworth, who went from having a Class B CDL license to having a Class A license. With the extra pay for the license upgrade, he’ll make $27.34 per hour.
• The street department’s request to obtain sealed quotes for asphalt and concrete materials for the 2025 construction season.