In his seventh State of the City address, Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer recounted numerous highlights, but struck a serious chord as he listed several top concerns, including U.S. 30 traffic.

Thallemer spoke before roughly 120 people Tuesday at Lincoln Elementary as a way of highlighting the one-year-old massive reconstruction of the school.

The two-term, 62-year-old mayor quickly acknowledged the importance and benefits provided by the orthopedic industry, which he said involves 7,700 direct jobs and another 8,000 indirect jobs that help produce about 35 percent of all sales in the sector.

He attributed growth in the industry to “100 years of hard work, conservative values, community collaboration, entrepreneurship, risk taking and a little bit of luck.”

He pointed to several statistics underscoring the city’s continued growth, which he said is a significant indicator of a healthy city. Among those is a 10-percent growth in population in the past eight years, pushing the city to almost 15,000 residents.

Thallemer said he was also informed by George Robertson, the director of economic development for Kosciusko County, that Kosciusko County is growing faster than other rural communities and that the median age is younger than other similar areas.

He also pointed to a conservative outlook and various forms of collaboration for keeping the city tax rate low while undergoing numerous multi-million dollar projects.

The tax rate – $2.57 per $100 of assessed value – ranks the city in the lowest quarter of cities of comparable size.

“That means 75 percent of like-size communities pay more in property taxes than our residents do,” Thallemer said.



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He addressed the hike in sewer rates that began last year and continue this year with a second hike later this year to fund a $41 million two-phase effort to expand and improve upon the city’s sewer treatment infrastructure.

Thallemer estimated that the second hike will result in monthly bills of about $45 for residents.

“By comparison, households in our neighboring communities of Columbia City and Nappanee currently pay over $70 per month per dwelling unit,” he said.

He credited his administration’s focus on using state and federal grants and seeking out low-interest loans, donations and public private partnerships with helping the city tackle big-dollar projects. Participation in a state revolving loan program for the sewer projects will save the city several million dollars, he said.

He pointed to the city’s participation in federal funding for the future Anchorage Road reconstruction and the massive sidewalk improvement plan for areas near Lincoln Elementary.

He also referenced federal support for work on Husky Trail and Market Street.

“That’s a total of almost $9 million of road projects that has been and will save the city over $7.2 million in project costs,” he said.

But much of his address looked at problems confronting the city.

He said state officials are in agreement that significant long-term changes are needed to address growing traffic on U.S. 30.

Local traffic is expected to surpass 30,000 vehicles per day and the percentage share of truck traffic is increasing, he said.

But the number of accidents along the highway – including 127 accidents at Parker and 30 in a six-year span – is pushing the city to seek short-term answers as well as support for talk of eventually constructing a limited access highway that would replace the existing highway.

“While we must plan for the long-term goal of a limited-access freeway, we must continue our search to improve safety in the immediate future,” Thallemer said.

He said local leaders will soon huddle to discuss the issues before planning a series of public meetings.

He said the most critical challenge for Hoosiers and the city of Warsaw is the attraction, training and growth of a skilled workforce.

He credited OrthoWorx and AcceLINX for working to promote job training in orthopedics, but pointed to   workforce housing as a key issue to attracting workers.

“Our industrial partners have suggested that in the near future, our current housing shortage could become critical,” Thallemer said.

He said the median household income has not kept up with rising construction costs.

“We are engaging our local construction industry and lenders to determine how to overcome the barriers to new construction for workforce housing,” he said. “Local solutions could include revision of zoning ordinances to facilitate greater density, development-incentive partnerships and local incentives – all aimed to streamline and incentivize development of workforce housing.”

He said his adminstration is working with state lawmakers to see what can be done to lessen construction burdens when developing non-profit affordable childcare facilities.

Thallemer also addressed the opioid crisis, talked about the impact it’s having on families and law enforcement and said more must be done. He credited the county sheriff’s department for working on establishing a drug rehab program in the jail.

He ended his address by recalling the recent volunteer support that arose in preparing and placing thousands of sandbags during recent flooding.

“The group of 20 or so volunteers showed up for a very physical task with smiles, chatter and energy in wet and cold conditions and they stayed until the last pallet of sandbags was laid,” Thallemer said.

“That, my friends, is the state of our city.”

To view the speech, visit WIOE’s web page or the city’s website.