Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Construction of a second sewage treatment facility in Warsaw was on the minds of the city council Monday.
The current plant is at or near capacity and city officials believe a second plant is needed.
But council members and Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins expressed concern over the impact on taxpayers.
"I'm cautious on making a commitment," Wiggins said.
If a new sewage treatment plant is built, taxpayers and users could be looking at more expenses out of their own pocketbooks.
"I need some time to look at it and think about it. I want to make the right decision," said Councilman Jerry Patterson. It was the consensus of the council to postpone the decision and take more time to weigh the options.
A proposed annexation was also on the agenda Monday. Several methods of financing the planned non-capital and capital services to the annexed territory were discussed. The area to be annexed is a residential, general commercial and light industrial area. The tract is between U.S. 30E and CR 100N and contains 92.534 acres.
Councilman Bill Rhoades said, "There's a lot of maintenance there. There's more money spent by the city out there than thought." Rhoades said he believes there's a lot of more important places the city can put their money, such as street lights and road repairs.
Capital services for this annexation area include the extension of the sanitary sewer only. The estimated total cost of this sewer project will be approximately $262,400. The city council voted to hold off on a decision just yet.
In other business:
• The council tabled a request from DePuy for annexation. The two tracts of land, containing 15.75 acres, are northwest of DePuy's current facility.
Vacating the adjacent road could be a possibility if the addition is approved. The council decided to look further into this request before making a decision.
• The council approved the cancellation of two outstanding checks. The checks were outstanding for two years as of Dec. 31, 1999. Warsaw Clerk-Treasurer Elaine Call requested that these checks be canceled from the outstanding check list and a receipt be made to the respective funds.
• Call also introduced the issue of purchase order encumbrances, stating, "A lot of these, you'll notice, are blanket purchase orders." She said the correct way to handle these purchase orders is to carry forward only those that did not get paid because of insufficient time before the end of the year. The council approved the purchase order encumbrances.
