Board Of Works OKs Advertising For 6 Road Resurfacing Projects
Board Of Works OKs Advertising For 6 Road Resurfacing Projects
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Board Of Works OKs Advertising For 6 Road Resurfacing ProjectsHalf a dozen road resurfacing projects are going to take place this year in Warsaw thanks to the state’s Community Crossings grant providing for 50% of the costs.
Friday, the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety approved for the advertising of bids for those projects.
City Engineer Aaron Ott, on behalf of the street department, said the bid documents for the Community Crossings project were prepared by VS Engineering and they were ready to advertise and get bids for the road work. He said he and Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon reviewed the documents and agreed they are what they expected to improve the six roadways that have been talked about through the whole process.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said, “Keep in mind this is a big project this summer. There’s going to be a lot going on. It’s going to keep things - we’re going to be hopping with road closures, restrictions. But for the most part, it’s going to really address six roads that are certainly in need of resurfacing.”
Ott agreed the roads are “very much in need” of resurfacing and it was best to have contractors assist with the work because otherwise the road projects would tie up the city’s crews for too much time.
The roads getting the work done will include Center Street from Lake to Indiana streets; Buffalo Street from Market to Main streets; County Farm Road from Salmon Drive to CR 200S; Ranch Road from the railroad tracks to Salmon Drive; Country Club Road from the bridge over the ditch to Winona Lake down to the corporate limits; and Jefferson Street from Bronson Street to Argonne Road. Ott said Jefferson Street was probably the biggest of them all.
“These are all significant projects, so I ask that you consider this and get this signed so we can get this started,” Thallemer said to fellow board members George Clemens and Jeff Grose.
Ott said bids will be opened at the June 19 Board of Works meeting and hopefully they will get bids that are awardable so the construction can get started.
Grose made a motion to approve the advertising of bids, Clemens seconded it and it was approved 3-0.
In other business:
• The board approved two pay claims for the Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion renovation.
The first one was for $556,605.90 to CME Corp. and was for work done in March. The second pay application was for $302,513.40 to CME Corp. for work completed in April.
Giving a brief update on the renovation project, Ott said they are moving along great. There is a lot of interior work being completed now. He said they’re getting the trim up, cabinets are in place, walls are going in and some of the exterior facade work is going in.
“They’ve had tons of progress,” Ott said, adding that they’re still on track for a mid-August completion date. While it’s hoped it will be done by Aug. 17, Ott said they have run into some third-party utility conflicts, specifically with a “NIPSCO electric facility that is taking some time to work through,” and an “Indiana American Water service for fire protection for the facility that is taking a while to work through.” The utility conflicts hasn’t affected the completion schedule yet, but if there’s no resolution soon, it may.
With the second pay application’s approval, Ott said, “it puts us at 54% complete on the project as far as dollars spent.”
Thallemer said that’s significant because once they reach 75% the Zimmer Biomet Foundation will issue the remainder of their grant funds for the renovation. The foundation granted $2.5 million toward the project.
• Thallemer gave Warsaw Police Department officer Marissa Gunning the oath of office. Members of her family and the WPD were there to support her.
“This is always an honor to be able to do this. We don’t take for granted the hard work you put into getting to this point and knowing what you’re going to be doing for this community from this point forward. It’s not an easy job and it’s very necessary, and I’m sure a fulfilling job, and we very much appreciate you standing up and being ready to take the oath of office,” Thallemer said to Gunning.
After the ceremony and photos, Thallemer said the WPD was very close to having a full staff.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do as we grow as a city,” he said.
Police Chief Scott Whitaker later said they’re at 40, with two more officers to go to be at full staff.
• The board approved Pay application No. 4 for $43,750 to Phend & Brown for work on the reconstruction of Lindberg Drive. Dillon said they’re getting very close to having the road project completely finished out.
• Wastewater Treatment Utility Superintendent Brian Davison presented a reimbursement from the State Revolving Fund back to the city.
“This is a reimbursement to ourselves for some pays that we had made. When they sent the bills, they changed the name, the title, of the project, and we didn’t catch that. So we paid them out of our fund and it should have been paid out of SRF funds, so this is just reimbursing us those dollars that we paid,” he said.
The amount was for $43,158. The board approved the SRF disbursement for reimbursement.
• The board approved the closures of Buffalo Street from Center to Main streets and Center Street from Buffalo to Lake streets from 2 to 10 p.m. Sept. 23 for the annual Celebrating Us event. The free event is open to the public and will be 4 to 8 p.m.
It will coincide again with the Kettleheads’ Homebrew Fest, according to Travis McConnell, representing One Warsaw. Homebrew Fest is an annual fundraiser for Combined Community Services.
• The board approved the new hire/change in payroll report, as presented by Human Resource Director Denny Harlan.
The street department hired two more summer seasonal laborers at $17 per hour each, Aiden Binkerd and Galvin Shambaugh. Probationary patrol officer Cody Mangun transferred from first to third shift at the WPD and his biweekly pay is $2,510.91.
