Shaved ice and the sale of a city building were some of the topics on the docket at Friday morning’s Board of Public Works and Safety for Warsaw. Alisha Clayson appeared before the board, which Friday consisted of only city councilmen Jeff Grose and Charlie Smith, asking that a fee be waived for a business she is looking to open. Mayor Joe Thallemer wasn’t at Friday morning’s meeting. Clayson and her family are looking at opening a shaved ice business at the corner of Indiana and Fort Wayne streets in Warsaw. The problem lies in that Clayson is not a resident of Warsaw. She told the board she lives less than a mile from the city limits. Non-residents are required to pay $25 per day, per employee as a itinerant vendor fee. An itinerant vendor is one that doesn’t have a permanent location. Warsaw residents don’t have to pay the $25 fee since they pay city taxes. Clayson asked the board to lower that fee. She presented a spreadsheet showing that if her seasonal business had two employees working five days a week, it would cost her $1,000 per month in fees and would greatly cut into her profit margin. Clayson said her seasonal business would be open from around April to October each year and that a main factor of opening it was to teach her children the value of hard work. “We want to be part of this community,” said Clayson. City Planner Jeremy Skinner told the board he and Clayson had been in contact. Skinner said the issue has come before the board several times in years past and that there have been proposed changes to the ordinance that requires the fee. Smith said he appreciated where Clayson was coming from but moved that it be tabled until the board’s next meeting, June 29. Grose seconded the motion to table Clayson’s request and it was approved. A bid was received for a building owned by the city in Boggs Industrial Park. The building at 420 Little League Drive is currently owned by the city’s parks and recreation department. United Steelworkers Local 7-00809 put in a bid of $90,000, which matched the appraised value. In a letter to the board, USW Local Vice President David Bumbaugh said the offer was contingent on “building inspection” and “city water/sewage hookup”. City attorney Mike Valentine said he thought the language of the two stipulations was too vague and asked the board to table a decision on the bid until Bumbaugh could come in and clarify. Bumbaugh could not be reached for comment as to what the USW was looking to do with the building. The board approved a contract for Tyler Farr to be the opening act for Neal McCoy when he plays in Central Park July 20. The contract was approved pending some language in it be cleaned up, per Valentine. The contract stated Nashville, Tenn., rather than Warsaw. Farr’s pay and hotel stay are being paid solely through donations. A free animal show is coming to Warsaw after the board approved a contract with the Fort Wayne Zoo. The show will take place at a family carnival Aug. 3. Another round of cell phone allowances was approved. The city is moving toward allowances rather than having a contract for city phones. Warsaw Police Chief Scott Whitaker said that nearly all of his department has moved to allowances and that he hopes to cancel WPD’s cell phone contract by June 25. Several city employees saw pay bumps during Friday’s meeting. Patrolmen Trenton Shively, Jordan Foreman and Doug Light will all see higher bi-weekly paychecks. Shively ended his probation period and will move from $1,576.41 bi-weekly to $1,677.04. Foreman moves from $1,438.22 to $1,527.44 after completing a six-month evaluation. Light moves from $1,904.99 to $1,937.55. All three patrolmen hit their maximum salary in their current positions. Cemetery groundskeeper Jacob Johnson will go from $13.04 an hour to $13.28 an hour. The fire department recently hired Jason Neher to its staff. Neher will start with a $1,534.44 bi-weekly paycheck as a probationary firefighter. Layne Sumner had his contract approved as the police department’s chaplain. His salary is not to exceed $513 in a year. The wastewater utility plant had two contracts approved, one with Jones and Henry Engineers for $1,500 and the other with CenturyLink Sales for $1,672.12 for sewer taps and additional phones respectively. A $59,840 contract with Spectra Tech also was approved to put a liner system into manholes. Grand River Construction submitted two pay applications totaling $264,006 for work at a wastewater pump station. The city requested $6,900 in change orders for the new city building. The request was given to Scearce Rudisel Architects and is for site observation of an HVAC system and reinforcing the patio area of the building. The request was approved. Follow staff writer Daniel Riordan on Twitter at @TUNews_Riordan He can be reached at 574-267-3111, Ext. 246.
