City Officials Take Oaths; Mayor Stresses Census Importance
January 7, 2020 at 4:00 a.m.
City Officials Take Oaths; Mayor Stresses Census Importance
By David [email protected]
It also provided an opportunity for Mayor Joe Thallemer to talk about the importance of the U.S. Census this year.
Kosciusko County Circuit Court Judge Mike Reed individually gave the seven council members, Thallemer and Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen the oaths of office to begin the business aspect of Monday’s meeting.
After the oaths, Thallemer said, “I think we all feel it’s an honor and a privilege to be able to take the oath of office as an elected official for this community.”
He said many of them have served many years, with Councilman Josh Finch “just jumping in.” Finch was elected to the council in November.
“We’re really excited to have you with us,” Thallemer told Finch, “but the responsibilities of hard work have paid off. And I think it’s exciting that everyone that is sitting up here has the confidence of an electorate that they’re going to represent to continue to move this community forward.”
He pledged to work the next four years as hard as he has the last eight years, adding that he knows the council will as well. Thallemer then said they have a “big to-do list.”
“We’ve got to look at what U.S. 30 is going to look like in 20 years. We’re going to use every tool and collaboration we can to work through this workforce challenge that’s got us. We need to not only confront the drug crisis, but the mental health concerns of this community, and we’re going to use the resources we already have to do that,” he said.
Thallemer said they will look at the organizational review of the city.
“With the growth we’ve experienced, with the expansion of not only our population but our footprint, there are things that probably we’re not doing as well as we could,” he said.
He noted that the city will soon have strategy sessions to look at the goals of the community. A consultant will look at the various city departments and see what needs to be done to make them more efficient. The first session, for just the council, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Jan. 29, with a break at 5 p.m. and continued to 7 or 7:30 p.m. The second day will start at 8 a.m. with the council and department heads to come up with a strategic plan and a “new direction” for the city, Thallemer said.
“I just want to stress that as elected officials, we can not do this alone. We need the strength of our departments, and the guidance of our citizens, to do what is good for Warsaw,” Thallemer said.
Before nominating Councilman Jack Wilhite for city council president for 2020, Councilwoman Diane Quance, who served as president in 2019, said, “Thank you to the council for your hard work. I want to thank you, especially, for stepping up as we formed task groups in the last few years and we’ve been able to contribute a lot, I think, to good governing and to good communication as we’ve gone through this.”
Wilhite was unanimously elected to serve as council president for this year. He later thanked the council for putting their confidence in him to lead as president.
“I will do my best to discharge those duties as well,” Wilhite said. “We’ve had a few rough patches in the past few years, and I am in great hopes that we can unify and come out of this as a stronger, wiser council for Warsaw. I’m very humbled and appreciative of your support.”
On starting his first year on the council, Finch said, “I would just like to say I’m honored and privileged to work with all of you. I’m really excited to see what the next four years brings, and just work as hard as I can to represent the constituents and obviously just work hand in hand with you all.”
Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins thanked Quance for her leadership the last few years, while Councilman Jerry Frush thanked the citizens who came to him with a problem. Mike Klondaris, councilman, applauded Thallemer’s leadership and talked about all the growth of the city.
“With that growth has come a lot of growing pains: traffic, trains, sewage. And I think, new council, new beginning, new four years, I really, really hope that we can tackle some of these problems. It’s going to be so interesting to see what the Census tells us about our community,” Klondaris said, suggesting that the population had to be more than 14,500.
Thallemer was glad to hear Klondaris mention the U.S. Census, which takes place every 10 years and will take place this year.
“The Census is something that is critical to our community. A lot of programs that are funded federally and statewide are based on our Census. We had a visit from the regional office in Chicago, several visits. We were made aware that we don’t do so well when it comes to participation in the Census,” Thallemer said.
He said the Census Bureau is looking for workers, and provides a “pretty decent” pay. Brochures are available at the sewage collection desk at city hall.
“We’re going to pull a lot of groups together and try to identify areas that are undercounted. As of April 1, where one lives ... they need to be counted,” Thallemer said, noting the count will affect the city getting its fair share of dollars to take care of roads and administer programs. “We’ve got a few tracts in the area that were under 75% participation. That’s a red flag for the Census Bureau. They came down to talk to us about that.”
He said there will be meetings to talk to and educate the public on the U.S. Census.
“Our population has estimated to have grown, but those numbers mean nothing until we get the proper count,” Thallemer said.
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It also provided an opportunity for Mayor Joe Thallemer to talk about the importance of the U.S. Census this year.
Kosciusko County Circuit Court Judge Mike Reed individually gave the seven council members, Thallemer and Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen the oaths of office to begin the business aspect of Monday’s meeting.
After the oaths, Thallemer said, “I think we all feel it’s an honor and a privilege to be able to take the oath of office as an elected official for this community.”
He said many of them have served many years, with Councilman Josh Finch “just jumping in.” Finch was elected to the council in November.
“We’re really excited to have you with us,” Thallemer told Finch, “but the responsibilities of hard work have paid off. And I think it’s exciting that everyone that is sitting up here has the confidence of an electorate that they’re going to represent to continue to move this community forward.”
He pledged to work the next four years as hard as he has the last eight years, adding that he knows the council will as well. Thallemer then said they have a “big to-do list.”
“We’ve got to look at what U.S. 30 is going to look like in 20 years. We’re going to use every tool and collaboration we can to work through this workforce challenge that’s got us. We need to not only confront the drug crisis, but the mental health concerns of this community, and we’re going to use the resources we already have to do that,” he said.
Thallemer said they will look at the organizational review of the city.
“With the growth we’ve experienced, with the expansion of not only our population but our footprint, there are things that probably we’re not doing as well as we could,” he said.
He noted that the city will soon have strategy sessions to look at the goals of the community. A consultant will look at the various city departments and see what needs to be done to make them more efficient. The first session, for just the council, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Jan. 29, with a break at 5 p.m. and continued to 7 or 7:30 p.m. The second day will start at 8 a.m. with the council and department heads to come up with a strategic plan and a “new direction” for the city, Thallemer said.
“I just want to stress that as elected officials, we can not do this alone. We need the strength of our departments, and the guidance of our citizens, to do what is good for Warsaw,” Thallemer said.
Before nominating Councilman Jack Wilhite for city council president for 2020, Councilwoman Diane Quance, who served as president in 2019, said, “Thank you to the council for your hard work. I want to thank you, especially, for stepping up as we formed task groups in the last few years and we’ve been able to contribute a lot, I think, to good governing and to good communication as we’ve gone through this.”
Wilhite was unanimously elected to serve as council president for this year. He later thanked the council for putting their confidence in him to lead as president.
“I will do my best to discharge those duties as well,” Wilhite said. “We’ve had a few rough patches in the past few years, and I am in great hopes that we can unify and come out of this as a stronger, wiser council for Warsaw. I’m very humbled and appreciative of your support.”
On starting his first year on the council, Finch said, “I would just like to say I’m honored and privileged to work with all of you. I’m really excited to see what the next four years brings, and just work as hard as I can to represent the constituents and obviously just work hand in hand with you all.”
Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins thanked Quance for her leadership the last few years, while Councilman Jerry Frush thanked the citizens who came to him with a problem. Mike Klondaris, councilman, applauded Thallemer’s leadership and talked about all the growth of the city.
“With that growth has come a lot of growing pains: traffic, trains, sewage. And I think, new council, new beginning, new four years, I really, really hope that we can tackle some of these problems. It’s going to be so interesting to see what the Census tells us about our community,” Klondaris said, suggesting that the population had to be more than 14,500.
Thallemer was glad to hear Klondaris mention the U.S. Census, which takes place every 10 years and will take place this year.
“The Census is something that is critical to our community. A lot of programs that are funded federally and statewide are based on our Census. We had a visit from the regional office in Chicago, several visits. We were made aware that we don’t do so well when it comes to participation in the Census,” Thallemer said.
He said the Census Bureau is looking for workers, and provides a “pretty decent” pay. Brochures are available at the sewage collection desk at city hall.
“We’re going to pull a lot of groups together and try to identify areas that are undercounted. As of April 1, where one lives ... they need to be counted,” Thallemer said, noting the count will affect the city getting its fair share of dollars to take care of roads and administer programs. “We’ve got a few tracts in the area that were under 75% participation. That’s a red flag for the Census Bureau. They came down to talk to us about that.”
He said there will be meetings to talk to and educate the public on the U.S. Census.
“Our population has estimated to have grown, but those numbers mean nothing until we get the proper count,” Thallemer said.
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