Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The city of Warsaw continues its investment in the long-term health and effectiveness of its employees through the Vital InSight leadership development experience.
At Friday’s Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, Warsaw Human Resource Director requested to move forward with another contract with Vital InSight with Executive Director Scott Greene, for a cost of $10,950.
“We’ve done this, this year. We’ve had two cohorts. This is the second phase of our leadership training. We started about four years ago with what is lovingly called our book club, our phase one. And then phase two has been these classes with Scott, and he has had nothing but great, positive feedback from our employees. Been a 35% increase in our participants’ vitality. This is doing a survey with them, from before and then after the class,” Harlan said.
“What it really does is help them understand what it takes for them to take care of themselves in order to take better care of our people, and that has been awesome.”
He said Mayor Jeff Grose has gone through the program as well.
“We want to get this going for another year and see if we can dig down deeper into some more of our employees,” Harlan said.
Grose said Harlan’s efforts to promote a positive and better culture is going well from his office. All the department heads and higher administrative staff went through the program in the fall, and then another group went through it in the spring.
“It’s been nice to be able to pour into our employees and see that that is benefitting the city. We have reduced our turnover. When I post job openings, we never have issues with getting enough applications. We have plenty of people to choose from, which is good for our department heads. Overall, it’s just been an amazing experience to just be able to do that,” Harlan stated, adding that it’s been transformative for the city’s workforce.
According to documents provided, the new contract would provide Vital InSight to an additional cohort in fall 2026 and spring 2027. The two 12-week experiences are “designed to help participants build the personal clarity, energy, resilience and self-awareness required to lead well without burning out.”
Grose said he highly recommended the program and the city continue to offer it. The Board of Works approved the contract 3-0.
Harlan also recognized four city employees for their milestone service anniversaries on Friday.
Jesse Shelton, street department, and Michelle Stegmiller, wastewater treatment utility, each have five years.
Quinten Stamper and Chief Joel Shilling, both with the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory, each have 10 years.
In other business, the Board:
• Approved three travel requests, as presented by Harlan. They included Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Training Chief Max Kinsey going to Avon July 14-15 for a practical fire/arson scene search and evidence recovery training for $655; and Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen (for $1,182) and clerk Kelly Geiger (for $1,067) going to Michigan City July 12-15 for the 2026 ILMCT annual conference.
• Approved the new hire and change in payroll report, as presented by Harlan. It included a new mechanic hire for the street department, Aydin Honeycutt, full-time at $21 per hour.
