The parking garage project memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the city and county that Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose told the Common Council about Monday night was approved by the Kosciusko County Commissioners Tuesday morning.
County attorney Ed Ormsby read portions of the MOU to the commissioners during their meeting, saying, “The county and the city have an interest in and support a parking garage and related infrastructure built in the downtown Warsaw area to alleviate parking congestion and to foster economic development in downtown Warsaw that will benefit both the county and the city.”
The OrthoWorx Vision Committee has developed a roadmap of projects for use of the $30 million approved and available from the state of Indiana for the Orthopedic Industry Retention Initiative (OIRI), and one of those projects is a parking garage project with a contribution of $5 million of the OIRI funds, he said.
The parking garage project is estimated to cost approximately $15 million. The county and the city both support $5 million of the OIRI funds going toward the project.
The city of Warsaw is willing to contribute $2 million to $3 million to the project, the MOU states. The county and the city will agree upon the city’s right to use a certain number of parking spots in the parking garage, based on the amount of contribution versus the cost of construction of those spots.
The MOU states the county is willing to pay for the remainder of the project and to own the parking garage. The county and the city also will agree upon a provider to run and manage the parking garage, as well as on-street parking in the downtown to ensure compatible and best-utilization parking.
In making the motion to approve the MOU, Commissioner Brad Jackson said, “This is something we’ve talked about for 30 years actually. I think (former commissioner) Eddie Creighton really was the one pushing this 30 years ago, so I think it’s probably time so I make that motion.”
Commissioner Cary Groninger provided the second to the motion, and it passed 3-0.
No other details of the parking garage - such as where it will be located, square footage, how many levels it will be, etc. - were discussed.
The second ordinance that Ormsby presented, which the commissioners also unanimously approved, expands the county redevelopment commission from five to seven members.
The county council previously established the county redevelopment commission on Feb. 6, 1997, with five members.
The county redevelopment commission this year requested its membership increase from five to seven. The county executive (commissioners) shall appoint four members, with the county fiscal body (county council) appointing three, according to the ordinance. Each redevelopment commissioner shall serve for one year from the first day of January after the commissioners’ appointment and until the commissioners’ successor is appointed and has qualified. The county executive shall also appoint an individual to serve as a nonvoting adviser to the redevelopment commission, whose term will be for two years.
Finally, Ormsby presented to the commissioners the renewal of his letter of engagement to serve as the county attorney for 2025, which the commissioners unanimously approved.