City of Warsaw Board of Works and Public Safety approved several promotions within the Warsaw Police Department and Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Thursday. Human Resources Director Jennifer Whitaker asked the board for permission to promote Brooke Murphy to fire department battalion chief. His biweekly salary will be $2,244.41, and the effective date is March 27. “We have four officers at the police department that’s part of the realignment that we have been working on. It’s also tied in with the reviewing of job descriptions and this actually has been a project for a couple of years. This year we are really concentrating on those job descriptions, and this is just part of that whole plan. It was discussed in our wage and benefit committee last year,” she said. The dollar impact to the budget will not be that much to cause concerns, she added, noting that some of the realignment will be done this year and some next year. As part of the realignment plan, Detective Bradley Kellar will be promoted to detective sergeant, with a biweekly salary of $1,997.95; and Detective Ronald Nethaway will be promoted to detective sergeant with a biweekly salary of $2,015.70. Chief Scott Whitaker said it was based on their performance and the recommendation of their deputy chief. Officers Kip Shuter and Joel Beam will be elevated from lieutenants to captains. Beam’s biweekly salary will be $2,341.04, and Shuter’s will be $2,464.95. Whitaker said the promotions are the “first phase of the reorganization of the restructuring of rank.” Both Shuter and Beam are part of the WPD administration, with the other police administrators being Whitaker and Deputy Chief Bryan Sherwin. All WPD changes are effective March 27. “With that being said, in the future, 2017, for the budget, I will be proposing an elevation of rank for the current patrol sergeants to get elevated to lieutenant and then the current corporals will be able to apply and interview for the sergeant positions. So we’ll have a rank structure that’s – currently we have two corporals and sergeants on each shift, and to have the same rank on that shift, it makes sense to have an actual tier and rank,” Whitaker explained. Whitaker said the rank of captain is in the salary ordinance but hadn’t been filled. “When we realigned the chief with the deputy chief, the rank of captain has just been hanging open the last four years,” she said. Operations captain will be Shuter while Beam will be captain over the patrol division. Whitaker said the realignment and having captains will help with officer training and mentoring. The board approved the promotions and elevations as requested. In other business, the board approved: • A subrecipient agreement between the city and Housing Opportunities of Warsaw for a $200,000 grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. “This is standard fare. We’ve been involved with these for as long as I can remember. That money actually comes in and has to come through us but it’s being administered by Housing Opportunities,” city attorney Mike Valentine said. Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen told the board it was the same grant that HOW Executive Director Pam Kennedy told the city council about at its March 7 meeting. • The release of a lien against property at 3521 Lake City Highway, owned by Hari Om Inc. City Planner Jeremy Skinner said the $1,000 owed was paid. The lien was placed against the property in 2003. • An agreement between Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory and Wildman Uniform & Linen for mat and shop towel rental. The service agreements for stations 1 and 2 were up for renewal. The agreement is for two years. Fire Chief Mike Wilson said the Fire Territory already approved it. • An agreement between Wildman Uniform & Linen and the Wastewater Utility Department for uniforms, rugs and other items. Utility Manager Brian Davison said Wildman cleans their uniforms and everyone has 11 sets. Five are being washed, five are in employees’ closets and they wear one. • A new Canon copier from Sands Office Equipment and the maintenance agreement associated with it. Half of the cost ($3,304.81) of the copier will come from wastewater, with the other half ($3,304.80) coming from stormwater. Davison said the maintenance agreement is $1,000 less per year for a new one compared to the old one. He said the current copy machine was purchased in 2008 and was a used machine then. “They can no longer get parts to repair it so they’re scavenging parts from old ones they have in their warehouse at this time. It’s breaking down frequently,” he said. • Heard from Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen that her office does audit the city’s utility bills. She said a company, Realgy, also watches the city’s expenses on utilities.
