Language Matters' Language Call Center Looking To Expand

The Language Matters Language Call Center has been so successful in the city of Warsaw that it’s looking to expand out into the county and into other towns.
At Friday’s Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, Mayor Jeff Grose requested permission to apply for a $42,000 grant from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation to expand the Call Center’s boundaries.
In the second paragraph of Grose’s letter to the Board of Works, which he read, he states, “The city of Warsaw’s call center has served many residents with not only translation and interpretation, but also navigation within the community. Through the growth of the Language Call Center, it has become clear that residents beyond the city of Warsaw have similar navigation needs or needs that cross multiple jurisdictional boundaries. This is one more way to further support my priorities of strengthening intergovernmental relations, earning citizen trust and engagement, and promoting good government communitywide.”
If the grant is awarded, Grose said the project would include introducing other Kosciusko County towns and government entities to the Call Center.
“Here is what Language Matters can do: It will train those entities to utilize the Call Center, if there’s interest, and educate non-English-speaking community members about the expanded availability of navigation services throughout our entire community, not just Warsaw, but those in Warsaw that leave our jurisdiction; those outside our jurisdiction who come in,” Grose said.
He said it is a grant request, and the grant application has to go through a public entity like the city. Grose said he encouraged Language Matters co-founder and CEO Lucas Fonseca to move forward and supports Fonseca’s efforts to get those grant dollars.
The Board approved the grant application 3-0.
Public Works Department Superintendent Dustin Dillon presented the board with a $121,635.63 pay application from Michiana Contracting for the traffic signal modernization ongoing work at the intersection of Lake and Main streets completed thus far. The project was approved Nov. 15 by the Board.
“The project seems to be on the time schedule allotted and moving along very quickly,” Dillon said.
Councilwoman Diane Quance asked when the project will be completed.
Dillon said that according to the schedule Michiana Contracting gave, it’s on the path to be completed by July 10. The poles were delivered last week and they’re moving along, he said.
Quance said she’s received questions from people about when they can go down that sidewalk again.
The pay application was approved 3-0.
In other business, the board approved:
• An agreement with Superior Excavating Soils & Services LLC for the disposal of the city’s brush, leaves and bagged yard waste, as presented by Dillon. The cost for the proposal is $3,000 per month for a total of $36,000.
“This is something new that we’re trying with a lot of the upgrades and stuff at the Public Works facility. Space is going to become very crucial as that process starts,” Dillon said. “Right now, if you come by the Public Works facility, there is a large pile of brush that we take in from picking up yard waste and brush. Also, in the fall, the amount of leaves that come in.”
He said they teamed up with Superior Excavating, ran through some possible scenarios and came up with a solution that the Public Works will haul the material directly to Superior Excavating. That will free up some space at the current Public Works facility.
“Typically, we’re budgeting for about $50,000 a year and grinding all this waste. Now it’s just paying to get rid of it. It’s a win-win on space saver and also as far as financially,” Dillon stated.
It’s a one-year trial.
• A memorandum of understanding between Kosciusko County and the city for Grose to sign, as presented by Warsaw Municipal Airport Manager Nick King.
The MOU states the $500,000 budgeted for 2025 by the county for the airport will be used toward the airport’s runway 9-27 rehabilitation project that the airport is starting. King said phase one of three phases is starting this year and is just over a million-dollar project. The airport will be picking up the remaining costs of the project.
The county commissioners approved it at their meeting Tuesday.
• Pay application 4 from Niblock Excavating for $44,944.34 for the reconstruction of Lincoln Street in Hodges Addition, phase 3, as well as the final pay application from Niblock Excavating for $105,842.48 for the reconstruction, as presented by Dillon.
The cost for all phases was a total of “just a tick over $3 million,” Dillon told the Board. “It looks great. It’s a great connection to the trail” and safer out there for the community.
• The final pay application - number 133 - from Kokosing Industrial Inc. for $17,827 for the wastewater treatment plant expansion, as presented by Utility Superintendent Brian Davison. The expansion was started in February 2020, he said.
“This will close that project,” Davison said.
Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen stated, “After this payment, there’s still going to be a lot left on that loan.”
Davison said he knows some of the loan money was able to be used through economic development for other projects in the city. Grose said he will get in touch with Warsaw Community Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner about it.
• The three travel requests and the new hire/change in payroll report, as presented by Montana Gardner, Human Resource generalist.
The new hire/change in payroll report included: Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory firefighter Delton Moore at $2,363.71 biweekly as he’s came to the end of his probationary period; Dylan Johnson as a part-time new hire firefighter/EMT at the WWFT for $16.31 per hour; a title change and merit increase for Dalis Owens at the Warsaw Police Department at $25 per hour as the community compliance officer, previously parking code enforcement; and 14 merit increases for city employees at Oakwood Cemetery and the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department.
• The outdoor seating plan for The Fallen Rabbit, 105 E. Center St., as presented by the Warsaw Planning Department.
• Warsaw Police Department Chief of Police Scott Whitaker’s request to apply for a Kosciusko REMC grant for $2,500 for personal protective equipment upgrades for the Emergency Response Team (ERT), and a $10,000 grant through the Kosciusko County Community Foundation for personal projective equipment upgrades for the ERT.
• A street sweeping contract between the city and the Indiana Department of Transportation for the city to provide street sweeping services twice a year to portions of Ind. 15 and Ind. 25 that are within the corporate city limits, as presented by Dillon. The contract is for 48 months with the state to pay $1,440 annually. The contract is for July 1 through June 30, 2029.
• A contract between the Warsaw Stormwater Utility and the United States Department of the Interior for the annual joint funding agreement for operations of the Pike Lake stream gage for $4,400, as presented by Davison.
• The notice to proceed with G & G Hauling & Excavating Inc. on the Prairie and Lake streets storm improvements project, as requested by Davison. He said the project was bid and approved back in November 2024, but there’s been some utility conflicts to work through. G & G is shooting to start in early August after NIPSCO and Indiana American Water are finished with their work.
• Davison’s request to purchase a 2026 Ford F600 4x2 Chassis Cab from Kerlin Motor Co. for $55,599.86; and two 2026 F-Series SD F350 from Model 1 Ford for a total of $113,637.10. The funds for the truck purchases was budgeted for this year, he said.