Instead of paying for six years of sewage and stormwater backbilling for a fifth apartment that the City of Warsaw didn’t know was in Erasmo Garcia’s building at 312 S. Detroit St., Garcia will just pay for about 10 months. His total backbill was reduced to $355.50, which he paid Monday, and beginning in November Garcia will be billed for five apartments at $177.75 per month. For six years at $32.60 per month, Garcia’s backbill would have been $2,347.20 for wastewater and $41.30 for 14 months of stormwater. Wastewater Office Manager Mary Lou Plummer told the City of Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety that, “We were asked by the street department, the waste pick-up guys, about the number of apartments in this property. And we had (building commissioner) Josh Salsgiver give Mr. Garcia a phone call and a letter. And we found out there were five apartments and we had only been billing for four apartments.” Plummer sent Garcia a letter saying they were going to backbill him for six years for that fifth apartment. He’s owned the house for over 10 years, but the state only allows the city for bill for the past six years. Garcia said when he bought the property from a lady, she used to have six apartments in the building, which included one in the basement. He said he remodeled the building, reducing the number of apartments to four and one studio apartment. He stated he did not know until Salsgiver had contacted him that he was only being billed for four apartments. “I never refused to pay anything. It’s not my mistake,” Garcia said, noting that if he had known of the error he would have straightened it out sooner. In response to questioning from Mayor Joe Thallemer and BOW member Jeff Grose, Plummer said prior to this year Garcia received just a lump sum bill for all the apartments. It was not until about this year that the bill included how many apartments were being billed for by the city. Grose asked Garcia if he had other properties within the city that he rents or lives in. Garcia said his other property is in Leesburg. City Planner Jeremy Skinner said they’ve dealt with a few cases like this over the years, which resulted in the bills now listing how many rental units are being charged. “This is precisely the reason we’re trying to go to this rental registration. This helps not only from a public safety standpoint, but also from a billing standpoint,” Thallemer said. Thallemer suggested Plummer go back to when the number of units was put on Garcia’s bill and just charge him for the fifth apartment since then. Grose and BOW member George Clemens agreed and approved billing Garcia for the fifth apartment just back to where the number of units was placed on his bill. By the end of Monday’s meeting, Plummer checked the records and found that the number of units was put on Garcia’s bill in January so Garcia owed $355.50. In other business, the BOW: • Approved the release of a mortgage as requested by Housing Opportunities of Warsaw Director Pam Kennedy. The home has fulfilled the affordability period and the loan associated with the terms described on the mortgage when receiving owner occupied assistance with the city funding. The work to the home in 2013 totaled $8,108, with $6,308 from a Federal Home Loan Bank grant, with $1,260 forgivable over two years, and $540 of the payable with interest in the amount of $14.46 has been paid in full. Kennedy said the homeowner is in the process of refinancing her home now with Lake City Bank. She also told the BOW that HOW applied for and was awarded a new Owner Occupied Grant for Warsaw. She said there are houses on Market Street on a waiting list to get work done. While they asked for $200,000, Kennedy said they were awarded $350,000, but until she gets the official paperwork she said she’s wondering if there was an error or more money was actually awarded. “But that’s quite a few more homes at $350,000 instead of $200,000,” Kennedy said. • Approved an annual agreement between the police and fire departments with Pro Air Midwest Inc. for $1,170 and $2,340 respectively for testing and maintenance on the air tanks for the dive team. • Approved the 2016 contract for traffic control with KEMRAD Inc. for $5,000, as requested by Police Chief Scott Whitaker. • Approved the 2016 interlocal agreement between Kosciusko County and the City of Warsaw for Sun Gard/OSSI Records Management System for $30,000. Whitaker said it is the computer software “that all of us use countywide” and the $30,000 is the city’s portion. • Approved a memorandum of understanding for ice melting materials between Warsaw Community Schools and the City of Warsaw. • Approved the purchase by the municipal airport of two overhead doors from Overhead Door Company for $5,291. The doors will allow for the storage of a fire department foam trailer at the airport. • Approved and signed the 12-month fuel agreement between the Department of Public Works and North Central Co-op as discussed at the BOW’s last meeting. • Approved an increase in an agreement with Avantti Environmental Group for remedial investigation of Walnut Creek from $20,500 to $25,608; an agreement with Gasdova and Associates for SCADATA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) upgrades for $14,160; and an agreement with Monoform for rehabilitation of eight manholes for $14,465 as requested by Brian Davison, utility manager. • Approved $11,335 for A&Z Engineering LLC for right of way acquisition services for the Husky Trail project; $414,794.49 to Niblock Excavating for East Market Street improvements; and $7,000 to A&Z Engineering for a Market Street road design amendment. • Approved an agreement with Peoplelink Staffing Services for the hiring of six to eight people to help the city with fall cleanup and leaf season. • Approved travel requests and new hires/payroll changes. Warren Gruenewald was introduced as the new public works assistant superintendent. • Thallemer swore in George Clemens as a BOW member. Clemens replaces Councilman Charlie Smith, who died in an airplane accident Oct. 2. Thallemer said Clemens is a businessman and former councilman whose experience will be helpful to the board. • Thallemer announced the next regularly scheduled BOW meeting is at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 19.
