A new piece of equipment will help the Warsaw Parks & Recreation Department keep Center and Pike Lake beaches clean and the E. coli levels in the water down. The City of Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety Friday gave approval for the Parks Department to purchase a Barber Surf Rake from H. Barber & Sons Inc. for $28,050. Dr. Nate Bosch, Center for Lakes and Streams, suggested the purchase of the piece of equipment to keep the E. coli levels down. Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer told the Board, “It was one of the three top priorities that Nate Bosch and his (group) came up with.” Seagulls and other birds leave droppings on the beach. The droppings then get into the lake, leading to E. coli. Currently, the feces gets buried in the beach’s sand. The rake is pulled behind a tractor, sifting the bird droppings, trash and debris into a hopper. “It allows us to dispose of that instead of it being in the sand and infiltrating into the water and causing E. coli problems in the shallow part,” Plummer said. It will be used on both Pike and Center Lake beaches. Plummer said he’s seen it demonstrated and talked to operators of the piece of equipment and they told him it’s fairly indestructible. Mayor Joe Thallemer said he knows the Center for Lakes and Streams did a thorough investigation on the E. coli problems at the beaches “and this was strongly recommended by them.” The Board of Works also approved a resolution establishing temporary no-parking zones on the west side of North Colfax Street between Center and Clark streets and on the east side of North Colfax between Main and Clark streets. The temporary no-parking zones are needed because of the new Lincoln Elementary School construction. Dump trucks and other heavy trucks can’t pass each other on Colfax Street if there’s parking along the street, according to Warsaw Police Department Lt. Kip Shuter. The resolution went into effective immediately and extends until Dec. 31. The Traffic Commission approved it at its meeting Wednesday. Board member and City Councilman Jeff Grose said there was adequate parking in the area and he did like that there was no parking along the street while construction was occurring. Mayor Joe Thallemer said if down the road the school was OK with allowing parking on Colfax on weekends or at least Sundays, the Board could amend the resolution later on to allow parking on those days. Grose said law enforcement should use their judgment about enforcing the ordinance on weekends if there’s no construction work going on. In other business, the BOW approved: • A pay application for $5,400 for right of way acquisition services provided by A & Z Engineering LLC, as requested by City Planner Jeremy Skinner. Another pay application for $47,730 for right of way acquisitions also was approved. The state will reimburse 80 percent of both of the costs. Property has been purchased from Steven B. and Sonya M. Ashton, 1754 N. Husky Trail, Warsaw, for $15,395; Prism Properties LLC, 11273 N. Syracuse-Webster Road, Syracuse, for $11,590; Bryan S. Brooks, 1519 N. Husky Trail, for $15,975; Bowen Apartments Inc., Warsaw, for $500; Warsaw Family Worship Center Corp., 1250 Husky Trail, for $4,270; for the Husky Trail project also were approved as requested by the Planning Department. • An invoice for $15,719.83 from VS Engineering Inc. for engineering and design work on phase two of the Market Street project, from Bronson to Hickory streets, and an accompanying reimbursement request for Indiana Department of Transportation for 80 percent of the cost. • A payment to American Structurepoint for $19,403.07 for Buffalo Street project design work. • An agreement between Wastewater Utility and Lawson-Fisher Associates for $4,900 for a stormwater pump station inspection. • An agreement between Wastewater Utility and Lochmueller Group for $23,000 for a Combined Sewer Overflow Operational Plan rewrite. • An agreement between Wastewater Utility and D & D electric for $14,400 plus hourly as needed for preventative maintenance and emergency on-call services. • An agreement with Jones & Henry Engineers Ltd. for $16,800 to prepare plan and profile drawings for the installation of a duplex grinder pump station and force main in the general area of Canal Street on city property right of way. • An amendment to an agreement between the BOW and Wessler Engineering for $44,500 for inspection services of an additional 480 sanitary manholes. • An agreement between the Warsaw Police Department and Quine Freeman Heating & Air Conditioning for $620 for an annual HVAC service agreement. • Concert stagehand contracts between the Parks Department and Tad Hefleck, Paul Lafferty, Bret Leach, Brian Neher, Bryan Slusher and Tim Smith for the rock, country and Blues & BBQ summer concerts. The contracts are for $120 each. • An agreement between the WPD and ERAD Group for police equipment for $617. The Board of Works also reviewed the WPD’s 2015 Annual Traffic Report. The report also was presented Wednesday at the Traffic Commission meeting.
