About 1-1/2 years ago, the city applied to the state for recertification of the Warsaw Tech Park.
At the Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday, Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner said the state finally got back to him and was requesting the city and the Redevelopment Commission approve an amendment.
“Looking through the amendment, it does a couple of things,” he said. “It extends the date to June 30, 2027. So I think we submitted this in 2023 for recertification, so it’s four years so that’s why you see the June 30, 2027.”
He said the amendment requires the city to do annual reporting on the Tech Park to be submitted to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) no later than April 15 annually, which Skinner said they’ll work on.
“It labels us as a Level 2 Certified Tech Park, which, I believe, allows us to collect more than the $5 million, but we have to hit the $5 million mark first and then we have another cap after that, that we have to grow the fund to, to collect more, but it does allow us to collect more than that $5 million cap at some point,” Skinner explained, adding that’s about all he could gather from the amendment that the state is requesting.
With the Board of Works approval of the amendment on Friday, it’ll go before the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission at their scheduled meeting at 4 p.m. Monday. Skinner then will resubmit it back to the state.
“We still have, I think, $1 million - $1.5 million maybe to collect to get to that $5 million, and we’re averaging a little over half a million per year. So probably in the next couple years we’ll hit that $5 million cap,” Skinner stated.
In his report later, Warsaw Human Resource Director Denny Harlan told the board that the city has two new employees.
“We had two lateral police officers joining our police force from another entity, so they will be starting on Monday,” he said. “And then we added the board secretary pay ($50 per meeting) to Suzanne Stokes for the park board.”
Councilwoman Diane Quance said it was exciting that they found two new people to join the police force. She made the motion to approve the new hire/change in payroll report that Harlan presented and it was approved 2-0. Board member George Clemens was absent.
The two new probationary patrol officers are Huntley Davis and Ever Guiterrez-Franco. Both begin their duties Sunday at a biweekly pay of $2,500.83.
According to information provided by Warsaw Police Department Chief Scott Whitaker, Guiterrez-Franco was a youth specialist 1 for Elkhart County Juvenile Detention Center from 2021 to 2022; a patrol officer for Goshen Police Department from 2022 to 2024; an Indiana Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) graduate on April 21, 2023; and a Warsaw Community High School graduate in 2008.
Davis worked at Phend & Brown from 2018 to 2022 and the Goshen Police Department from 2022 to 2024. He graduated from ILEA on April 21, 2023, and from WCHS in 2015.
In other business, the board approved:
• Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon’s request to apply for the 2025 Community Crossings Matching Grant through the Indiana Department of Transportation. The grant, if awarded, will pay for 50% of a city road project or projects.
This year, the Public Works Department is applying for grant dollars for two separate projects. One is the full reconstruction of Airport Road for about $921,000 and the other is the mill-and-fill of about five different road segments for $1.225 million. The city’s contribution for both of the projects would be about $1.146 million, which Dillon said was budgeted. Both projects were engineered in 2024 to be ready to go this year.
• A $19,330 pay request to Lynn-Douglas Inc., Carmel, for the Warsaw Chemical cleanup efforts, as requested by Skinner.
“This is just part of our ongoing agreement, that we’ve gotten some refinanced money out of the wastewater loan for two projects - one being Warsaw Chemical and then the sewer project out by the airport,” Skinner said. “So this is just a pay application from Lynn-Douglas Inc. for that ongoing cleanup for the Warsaw Chemical site.”
• A three-year agreement with DITO, the city’s Google partner, that provides the city’s Google Workspace, as requested by Staci Young, assistant to the mayor, and presented by Mayor Jeff Grose. The cost will be $193.20 per license per year and the city will start with 187 licenses, adding licenses as needed on a pro-rated basis. Total cost is $36,128.40 per year.
• A maintenance contract between the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department and Anderson Property Management for $2,222 per month for nine months for a total of $19,998, as requested by Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer.
Plummer said Anderson will maintain the plantings of 24 beds and 27 urns, as well as the new Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion urns. He said Anderson has been doing the maintenance of the beds and urns since 2012 and has not raised their fee until this year, by about $2,998, due to pots in front of the pavilion being changed out two or three times a year and the back plantings.
• The annual agreements with the Center Lake, Pike Lake and Winona Lake associations for $2,500 each, as requested by Plummer. “It’s for preservation, conservation and maintenance of our lakes,” he said.
• The annual contract between the parks department and Wayne Township, as presented by Plummer. The township provides $81,000 to the parks department in exchange for township residents, living outside of the city of Warsaw, to be able to use the city’s facilities, programs and parks. The amount is the same as 2024, and the Wayne Township board already approved the contract.
• A $300 contract with Derek Tenney to be the DJ for Daddy’s Little Sweetheart Dance on Feb. 7-8 at the Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion, as requested by Parks Recreation Director Stephanie Schaefer. Registration for the dance begins Monday, Jan. 6.
• A $40,000 contract with Entertainment Resource Group LLC to provide one national country artist to perform at the country concert at Glover Pavilion on July 18, as requested by Schaefer. She said the amount is the same as the 2024 contract.
The $38,000 contract with Entertainment Resource Group LLC to provide a national rock artist to perform at the rock concert at Glover Pavilion on June 20 also was approved. Schaefer said the cost includes a $500 increase from last year.
The concert announcement will be made on April 1. The rock concert will be announced at 7:20 a.m. on the radio and the park department’s Facebook page, with the country concert announced at 7:45 a.m., she said.
• A change order from Robinson Construction Inc. for the Warsaw Police Department training facility restroom project for a reduction of $1,030, as requested by Whitaker. The fourth and final pay application for $30,239 for the project was then approved.
With the change order and final pay request included, the final total cost of the training facility restroom project was $141,959.
• A pay application for $15,870 from Wessler Engineering for 2024 sanitary sewer and storm rehabilitation services, as requested by Utility Superintendent Brian Davison.
• A travel request for Fire Chief Joel Shilling to attend fire chief executive training in Plainfield Feb. 24-28 at a cost of $400, as requested by Harlan.