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Warsaw Takes Advantage Of Free Transportation Study
BY DAVID A. BEALL, Times-Union Staff Writer
The Warsaw Board of Works and Public Safety took advantage of an offer recently accepted by Winona Lake - an offer for a free transportation study by the Fort Wayne engineering firm, Bonar Group.
Hoping to possibly land a city infrastructure contract, funded by the Federal Transportation Efficiency Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) in the future, Bonar is offering to conduct a study of the city's transportation assets and help develop a transportation plan based on that study.
"My initial thought was that you get what you pay for, but they're doing this in hopes of getting future work," Mayor Ernie Wiggins said.
City Planner Jeff Noffsinger said that while the city recently completed a similar study, Bonar's offer might be useful in examining areas outside the town that might fall into future undetermined annexation plans.
"Our community has less to gain from this than some others, but we can use it to look at some roads outside the city that we may be annexing in the next couple of years," he said.
The board unanimously approved accepting the Bonar offer.
The board also approved a second engineering contract, this one with Jones & Henry Engineers, for the engineering and design of the sewer portion of the Logan Street project.
The cost of the second contract is $16,000.
In other business, the board approved $22,000 for the musical groups Classic Rock All-Stars and '70s Revisited for a rock concert in Central Park on June 25. The board also approved a $4,000 payment to the groups' booking agent, Kevin Roberts.
The board approved the lease of a new Pitney-Bowes postage machine for the clerk-treasurer's office for $230 per month.
Finally, the board approved a $10,538.25 payment to the law firm Valentine & Miner for legal services provided. Most of the payment covers work done on collection of past due sewer bills and litigation, according to city attorney Michael Valentine.
The city's monthly legal bills range between $6,000 and $15,000 per month, he said.
