Welcome to summer 2024!  
High school and college graduation ceremonies have concluded, a plethora of youth camps have started, our parks and trails are full of activity, boats moving about on our lakes, and people sitting outside within our downtown enjoying good conversation, great food and drink.
I must admit, along with the higher temperatures and increased sunshine, these past six months have also been energizing and refreshing for me personally. For the first time in 25 years, I am not in a high school classroom during the month of June teaching summer school, but I am enjoying the “learning process” and challenges connected with the honor of being the mayor of Warsaw. Every day brings new and different experiences – constantly reminding me of the great privilege it is to be serving as mayor.
Speaking of new and different experiences, I enjoyed the “great privilege of serving as mayor” last week while sitting in on a Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission meeting. I observed my neighbors serving on that board – from all walks of life – attempting to resolve several different issues placed on their agenda. The one that got my attention late in the meeting was an issue related to downtown parking. After witnessing a very good discussion and the eventual consensus that more must be done moving forward, long-time public servant and current Traffic Administrator Lance Grubbs, stated, “I know of five mayors who have had the same problem. It’s ongoing … hopefully, we come up with something that works.”
Based on the ever-increasing “Living, Working and Playing” I observe daily while looking onto Buffalo and Center streets from my second-floor office window, this is just one of the many “ongoing” issues we must diligently work through and “hopefully come up with something that works” for the overall good of our downtown. (Thank you, Lance, for that reminder last week!)
Please remember, just like the Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission, our city also has 13 other boards and commissions filled with close to 75 of your neighbors addressing countless other “ongoing” issues to hopefully make our entire community a better place for “Living, Working and Playing.” And let’s not forget that most of them are unelected – only wishing to serve and give back to our community.
Whether it is the “ongoing” parking discussion I witnessed last week, helping a family lay to rest a departed loved one, assisting those in great need with affordable housing, maintaining our airport, redeveloping a blighted property, offering recycling, replacing aging equipment for the fire territory, working closely with not-for-profits, approving a rezoning request, or adding more programming at one of our many parks, our 14 boards and commissions – along with our city council – must continue to address these “ongoing” concerns and desired services for our taxpayers. As your mayor, I am once again asking each of them – as well as you – to partner together this summer to offer “something that works” to not only improve our city but also “cultivate” community.
This column “… from the Mayor” will provide brief updates, the sharing of opinions, establishing vision, identifying priorities, and offering potential solutions for residents in our community. You may contact my office via email at [email protected] or by phone at 574-372-9595.
Your Neighbor,
Jeff R. Grose
Mayor of Warsaw