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The asbestos removal part of the Jomac buildings demolition has been completed.
Friday, City Planner Justin Taylor presented the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety a payment request from Environmental Management Specialists Inc. for $100,305 for work completed on the asbestos abatement at the Jomac buildings.
“So we’re making progress over at the Jomac building site to get that project completed. This is the first pay app from our asbestos removal contract with Environmental Management Specialists, and it’s for the full contracted amount of $100,305,” Taylor said.
He reminded the board those are not city funds, but grant dollars from the Office of Community and Rural Affairs.
The physical addresses of the buildings are 1624 and 1600 E. Winona Ave. and Smith Street, Warsaw. They are owned by Fellowship Missions, but the city applied for and received an OCRA grant on Fellowship Missions’ behalf in 2024 for the demolition and asbestos abatement.
Fellowship Missions’ plan for the property is to demolish it, make it into greenspace and then eventually build a new shelter there to replace the current shelter. Once the new shelter is built, the old one will be shut down, demolished and become a parking lot for the new shelter.
For the demolition of the buildings, G & G Hauling & Excavating was the lowest bidder at $322,896.
Councilwoman Diane Quance asked Taylor if he inspected the asbestos removal and the work was done.
“I didn’t walk through, because I wouldn’t know if all the asbestos was removed, but we do have a manifest that shows that 8 cubic yards of asbestos was removed and disposed of. They also had submitted a certificate of verification for visual inspection, so we are confident in the documentation that they provided us that their work is completed,” Taylor stated.
The Board of Works unanimously approved the payment.
In other business, the board approved:
• An on-call engineering agreement with Engineering Resources Inc. to provide assistance and expertise for civil engineering needs as they arise, as requested by Public Works Director Dustin Dillon.
The amount is $178 per hour, not to exceed $20,000.
The city’s previous engineer, Aaron Ott, had his last day with the city on Jan. 23 and now is associated with Engineering Resources Inc. Ott worked for the city for about three years.
The service primarily will be cross-utilized between Community Economic and Development, Building & Planning, the street and wastewater and stormwater departments, with the ability to be used by any other city department as needed.
“This will help ensure the civil engineering needs can still be met with continuity and insight of all of our current ongoing projects within the city,” Dillon said.
• An agreement for $69,300 with Wessler Engineering for wastewater treatment plant drying beds, as requested by Utility Manager Brian Davison. He said they will be using State Revolving Fund dollars from the plant’s original expansion.
• For Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department Recreation Director Stephanie Schaefer to apply for the Indiana Arts Commission fiscal year 2027 Spring Arts Project support grant in the amount of $4,000. If awarded, she said the funds will be used to continue to support the city’s Summer Concert Series.
• The new hire and change in payroll report, as presented by Human Resource Director Denny Harlan.
Among those were merit increases for the two mechanics at the street department, Eldon Long ($26.88 per hour) and Chadd Brown ($25.77 per hour); a new firefighter joining the fire department as a lateral transfer, Dylan Childers ($2,600 biweekly); two promotions in the fire department, Brent Fifer ($3,255 biweekly) to captain and Kyle Martin ($2,925 biweekly) to lieutenant; and the addition of a $500 stipend for Tabitha Langford, Warsaw Police Department, for serving as the Traffic Commission administrative assistant.
• A second WorkOne host site agreement, as presented by Harlan. The first agreement was approved at the board’s last meeting. The second agreement is for Jaxon Stratton to work as a laborer with the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department for a maximum of 20 hours per week at $16 per hour, for a maximum of 200 hours. WorkOne pays the wages so youth can get some work experience.
• The 10 travel requests, as presented by Harlan.
Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Joel Shilling invited the board and the public to the push-in ceremony for the fire department’s new ladder truck. The ceremony will be 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12 at station 13, 2204 E. Center St., Warsaw.
