Study To Assess Use Of Old City Hall As Business Incubator
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety Friday approved a contract with SRKM Architecture to assess the feasibility of using the old city hall as a business incubator. The contract for $5,025 is for site and building plans, as well as preliminary heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical plans. The former city hall at 302 E. High St. has been vacant since December 2012. The new city hall is at 102 S. Buffalo St. At the end of 2010, the city purchased the former National City Bank building on the southwest corner of Center and Buffalo streets for the purpose of renovating it as a new city hall. Jeremy Skinner, assistant city planner, said, “We want to make sure it meets the needs and cost to remodel for these possible uses.” City Council members Diane Quance, Cindy Dobbins and Jerry Frush told the Board of Works they supported the small business incubator idea. Jeff Grose, councilman and BOW member, said the contract is a wise investment. The board also approved a request from Warsaw Parks Department to apply for a grant from the Kosciusko County Convention Recreation and Visitors Commission to install a nine-hole disk golf course at Lucerne Park. The grant amount is $4,800. Tim Dombrosky, assistant city planner, presented the request during Friday’s meeting. “This came about after Little Bighorn’s Golf Course closed and a lot of the players, including myself, were looking for another place to play disk golf,” Dombrosky said. He said he talked to Larry Plummer, parks superintendent, who said a disk golf course happened to be in the parks department’s master plan. “We found a location at Lucerne Park where there is open space, 12 acres of space total,” Dombrosky said. “We see this as a real win-win utilizing the park that is already there and being maintained, and we don’t have to do anything extra other than installing the baskets.” He said the game is played with a disk that is smaller and heavier than a frisbee and is thrown into a basket. Plummer said the YMCA no longer uses Lucerne Park for camps and disk golf is a good use for the park. The board also approved an agreement between Warsaw Community Development Corp. and BOW for the facade and alley improvement matching grant program. The city has budgeted $35,000 for the program. Scott Whitaker, Warsaw Police Dept. chief, informed the board WPD Lt. Brett Richardson retired Friday after 31 years of service. Richardson also served as patrol commander and operations lieutenant. The board also approved: • A street closure all day Monday and Tuesday on Main Street between Maple Avenue and Bronson Street and a half block west of Maple Avenue for the filming of the movie “Nouvelle Vie.” The board also approved closing Country Club Lane between 1105 and 1109 for filming June 29 and 30 and July 7 and 9. The closures are required for placement of trucks and equipment. • Closing Main, Buffalo and Center streets July 14 from 3 to 8 p.m. for a Baseball Players Association World Series event. • Closing Main Street between Detroit and Indiana streets from 7 to 10 a.m. for a merger celebration for Zimmer Biomet. The date is to be announced. • An agreement between Warsaw and Housing Opportunities of Warsaw for services HOW provides. • Writing off an account balance of $152.88 for 731 W. Market St. The previous owner filed bankruptcy. • A $195 contract with Randy Martin to be a caricature artist Aug. 7 for the Family Carnival from 6 to 9 p.m. in Central Park. • A $200 contract with Kenneth Ernsgberger for balloon art from 6 to 9 p.m. during the Family Carnival. • A $335 contract with Broadcast Music Inc. for an annual music license fee for local governmental entities. • A $197,853.75 payment to Niblock Excavating for work on East Market Street improvements. The project is expected to be completed by October. • A $6,983.75 payment to A & Z Engineering for Husky Trail right of way services. • A lease and maintenance agreement for postage meters for WPD and the clerk-treasurer’s office. • Salaries for Joshua Salsgiver, building inspector and code enforcement, at $22.89 an hour; Beth McAfoose, human resources and wastewater utility department janitor at $16.05 an hour; and a plant operator at the wastewater utility department to be announced at a $15.50 an hour.
