Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety approved waiving a late fee for an unpaid wastewater bill for Warsaw Foundry during Friday’s meeting. Mike Petro, Warsaw Foundry vice president, wrote a letter to the city’s wastewater payment office disputing the $17.85 in late fees that were accessed to one of its accounts. He said in the letter he did not receive the wastewater bill in the mail. Petro did not attend Friday’s meeting. Petro said he received two other wastewater bills that he paid, but did not receive the third wastewater bill in the mail. During Friday’s meeting, Mary Lou Plummer, Warsaw Wastewater payment office manager, said the foundry’s bill is always $178.50 per month and is due on the 10th of the month and they had not been late in paying before. Plummer said the wastewater department did not know that Petro had not received the bill until August when the late fee was not paid. Board member Charlie Smith said he did not have a problem with waiving the wastewater fee since Warsaw Foundry has been diligent on paying its bill each month. Member Jeff Grose said he also did not have a problem waiving the bill since Petro responded to the two bills and paid them and did not receive the third bill. “My knee-jerk reaction would be to waive the $17,” Grose said. Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said he does not want to put Plummer in the middle of making the decisions in what to do regarding unpaid wastewater fees. He requested if there are concerns on unpaid wastewater bills that they continue to come before the board of works. “I think in fairness and the fact that he has history of paying, and this was an oversight due to an unforseen circumstance, that we waive the fee,” Thallemer said. Plummer said she was worried that a precedent could be set for waiving wastewater bills, and it would encourage others to not pay their wastewater bills.The board approved writing off a wastewater account balance of $81.50 for Joseph Adams, 315 Academy Court, Warsaw. Adams filed for bankruptcy Aug. 22. In other business, the board approved Warsaw Police Department acquiring a Humvee valued at $46,000 from Jefferson City, Mo. There is no cost to Warsaw for the vehicle, Bryan Sherwin, WPD captain, said Friday. The vehicle will be used for bad weather scenarios, SWAT call outs and training and carrying items to and from the WPD outdoor range. WPD plans to purchase $2,000 in radio and emergency equipment for the vehicle. The Warsaw Street Department was approved to purchase a one-ton dump truck from Lakeside Chevrolet for $26,058.75 and a plow for the truck for $13,940 from W.A. Jones. The truck will replace a 1994 Ford one-ton dump truck that has 231,142 miles. The truck is no longer safe to drive, according to Lacy Francis, street superintendent. The board approved a street closure for a half block of Fort Wayne Street along the police department property behind Owen’s for a training scenario for the Indiana Association of Certified Accident Investigators Wednesday from 1 to 3 p.m. It was approved for Downtown Eatery & Spirits on Oct. 5 to close Center Street from Lake Street to Washington Street for the annual Oktoberfest and a beer tent. The tent will operate from 4 to 11:59 p.m. A $650 contract was approved between the Warsaw Parks department and Creative Comedy, Balloon & Face Art for face painters and balloon artists at Culture Fest that is Sept. 22 from 4 to 8 p.m. in Central Park. A $6,955 contract was approved between the parks department and Dogwood Hills Tree Farm for tree replacement at Central, Mckinley and Richardson-Dubois Park.
