Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety tabled making a decision on a Warsaw property that has been unbilled for wastewater fees during its meeting Friday. The board requested the city seek building permit records of the property and the topic will be reviewed again at its Aug. 17 meeting. Mary Lou Plummer, wastewater payment office manager, during Friday’s meeting said the city’s records indicate that Charles Allen, of Tippecanoe, who owns the property at 753 W. Market St. was never charged for wastewater service. Plummer said a fire at the location caused her to look into the billing and she found that the data base did not have the address and was not billed for sewage. After sending a letter to Allen of the uncharged wastewater fees, the city found that the apartment was built above the garage by Allen after he bought the property in 2005. Allen was mailed a letter that stated an outstanding balance of $2,290.80 and that he had the option of appealing the amount at the board meeting, and that his monthly bill starting in July was $32.60. Allen has been renting the property as an apartment for the past 4-1/2 years. Allen attended Friday’s meeting and said he remembered filing a building permit with the city. He said he remembers writing a list of plans for the apartment and giving it to the building and planning office for the building permit for the property. City Planner Jeremy Skinner said there is not a reason why the city would not have done an electrical inspection for a separate water meter on a garage. He said wheather the city knows if the property was going to be used as an apartment or loft with restrooms and electricity is unknown. Jeff Grose, board member, said it is difficult for him to make a decision when Allen does not have a record of a building permit for the apartment. Skinner said he still needs to look to see if the building and planning department has a record of a building permit. “The key to me on this is the building and planning department never found a building permit for the apartment,” Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said. Thallemer suggested the city look for a building permit on the apartment. In other business, the board approved a contract for sealing and striping the tennis courts at Bixler Park. The board approved the $8,850 contract with K & M Asphalt Sealing Maintenance Inc. The company will clean and fill cracks, level courts where needed, repaint existing net poles, apply resurfacer to the entire surface, apply color coating to the entire surface, layout and stripe the courts. The board approved a $4,512.50 contract with Earth Exploration to do a geotechnical evaluation at the Warsaw Street Department at 794 W. Center St. The department wants to build an addition to its garbage truck storage facility. The purpose of the services will be to provide an evaluation of the subsurface conditions and assess the impacts of the conditions on the construction of the facility. In other business, the board approved Warsaw Police Department applying for a Victims of Crime Act grant. The department will apply for a 2012-2013 grant through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. The department will request $75,000. The grant assists the city in providing assistance to the victims of serious crimes. The board also approved Brandon Allen to serve as a firefighter at $1,534.44 bi-weekly; Jacob Ponko to serve as a laborer for the street department at $13.04 an hour and Darrell Miller and Gregory Weber to serve as maintenance technicians for the Warsaw Wastewater Treatment Utility facility at $14.73 an hour. The board approved a $10,000 contract between the Warsaw Wastewater Treatment Utility facility for the biosolids facility improvement. The board approved a $182,054.70 payment to Grand River Construction Inc. for Center Street pump station work. The board approved a $2,000 software maintenance agreement for the wastewater office. The board approved a $2,320 contract between the city and Komputrol Software Systems for budget, asset and investment software for the clerk-treasurer’s office.
