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Warsaw’s code enforcement officials have temporarily found themselves stuck between a landlord and his tenant in a dispute over an eyesore south of Warsaw Community High School on Fisher Avenue (Ind. 15).
According to testimony heard early this month at a code enforcement hearing, the landlord, Brad Eberly, has shown no interest in urging his unnamed tenant to clean up a large amount of organized debris and other items around the home’s exterior. The tenant has indicated he won’t clean up the exterior until his landlord makes some repairs to the house.
Hearing officer Tom Earhart appeared struck by the fact that apparently neither side would cooperate, and took the issue under advisement until a hearing in June.
Parked For Now – Warsaw officials briefly toyed with the idea of testing special parking passes for downtown residents.
A handful of people have approached the city about creating new tags that would allow extensive parking (without moving every two hours) for second-floor dwellings, but at a significantly higher fee which had not yet been determined.
City council mulled it over and chose to shelve the idea for now. If they had interest in the idea, it would have been sent to review with the traffic commission.
Several council members expressed reservations about the idea, including Diane Quance, who said it would make more sense to consider after the Buffalo Street redevelopment project – which will include more housing – is complete.
VICE CHAIR – Kosciusko County Democratic Party chair Brian Smith, who serves as the 2nd District party vice chair, got some official feedback last week after he showed some favoritism to one of the congressional primary candidates on Facebook nearly three months ago.
Smith posted a photo of a Syracuse business that was showing its support for one of the three congressional candidates. He took down the post within a day or so after being criticized.
On Friday, the district leaders voted on whether to replace Smith, but there was not much interest in doing so. The vote was 10-1 in Smith’s favor. As one party official said, the district appears more interested in defeating Rep. Jackie Walorski than beating a dead horse.
Asked for a comment afterward, Smith took a forward-looking approach: “I’m deeply humbled by the 10-1 vote of confidence to continue serving as the 2nd District vice chair. I look forward to re-electing Sen. (Joe) Donnelly, defeating Jackie Walorski, and electing more Democrats down-ballot across northcentral Indiana.”
Moving On – From the personnel file, here are two names you might recognize who are on the move.
Former Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent Robert Haworth confirmed numerous news reports of his departure this week from Elkhart Community Schools.
Haworth has spent six years in Elkhart and his exit comes at the same time the district is implementing a controversial merger of Elkhart Memorial and Central high schools, which he proposed.
He’s headed to a similar post with Vigo County School Corp. in Terre Haute.
Associated Press Reporter Tom LoBianco, who covered Indiana politics during Gov. Mike Pence’s administration, is departing his job as a White House reporter for AP.
LoBianco announced this week he’s leaving after recently signing a deal to write a book about Pence.
