While the new signals and improvements have been done at the intersection of Buffalo and Center Streets in downtown Warsaw, some additional work has to be completed.
At Friday’s Board of Works Meeting, City Engineer James Emans mentioned that the ramp on the southwest side of the intersection next to City Hall needs to be redone. He said the contractors did what the city had asked, but did not notice an angle change on it and that it was missing the curbed gutter line.
The city is asking the designer to review it and come up with another design. This will also go along the ADA compliance needed for the crosswalks. Mayor Joe Thallemer said during the meeting that the ADA requirements are what created a concern in the first place. If all crosswalks do not meet those ADA standards, the city could lose federal funding.
Towards the end of the meeting, Chris Plack was sworn in by Mayor Thallemer to the Oakwood Cemetery board. He begins in February.
Other happening’s at Friday’s meeting:
• An agreement between the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department and Warsaw-Wayne Township. The township will pay the city $75,000 for township residents and children to have access to the parks and parks programs.
Of the $75,000, an amount of $26,000 will be used as a direct rent or lease payment offset for those organizations renting or leasing space in the Pete Thorn Building on North Park Avenue.
Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer explained the Wayne Township Board wanted something to put their money toward. The $26,000 allocated by the township board will help offset the rent for the Senior Center so it can keep its rent low. He said this is the fourth year for the allocation, and this is the second year the township has provided $75,000 to the city, up from $72,500 a couple of years ago.
• A letter of engagement with bakertilly for bakertilly to continue to work on the city’s comprehensive financial plan. The amount is not to exceed $30,000. Thallemer said 2019 was the first year the city had the plan.
“The whole idea here is that we’re projecting (our spending) three to four years in the future and this gives us a big advantage when we sit down and do the budget,” he said.
• A contract with Anderson Property Management to plant and maintain 18 satellite beds and 21 urns at Central Park for $1,888.88 per month for nine months, as requested by Plummer.
• An agreement between Warsaw Community Schools and the city for ice-melting materials, as requested by Beeler.
• A contract for $10,000 with Christopher B. Burke Engineering LLC to conduct a detailed facility and existing stormwater pollution prevention plan audit and assessment for the Warsaw Municipal Airport, as requested by Utilities Superintendent Brian Davison.
“The airport is a little bit unique just because of what they do and some of the chemicals they use for de-icing,” Davison said in explaining why the airport had a contract separate from the rest of the city.
A second contract approved with Burke Engineering for $15,000 will conduct a detailed facility and existing stormwater pollution prevention plan audit for the fire and police departments, Oakwood Cemetery, Wastewater Treatment Utility, Public Works and Parks and Recreation.
• An annual contract for $20,000 with Christopher B. Burke Engineering LLC for Burke Engineering to provide ongoing, on-call services.
• A change order for the sewer rehabilitation project, as requested by Davison. It’s a deduction of $57,867.19.
Davison said, “We removed some work, and moved it into replacement instead of lining. Some of it, pipe diameters changed, and so it was less expensive or more expensive to do. Overall, it’s a deduct of that amount.”
He said it should close out the project, with a final payment and a work completion certificate at the Jan. 17 Board of Works meeting.
He later added that $10 million was borrowed from the State Revolving Fund (SRF) for the sewer rehabilitation projects, but “we ended up with some monies unspent of that original loan amount. So what we’re looking at doing is, to maximize those dollars that we’re able to get at that very low interest rate, is using some of those funds and then we budgeted funds for (this) year to continue some of these lining projects, so we’re looking at adding that to our money and putting out more projects for (this) year to continue this.”
He said the SRF was fine with that.
Thallemer said that first SRF loan was what triggered the increase in wastewater fees and was all for improvements of pipes, lining, reconstruction and replacement.
“We’ve been able to stretch that almost 100,000 feet, I feel, of repaired infrastructure, and that’s significant,” Thallemer said.
Davison said he was hoping to do another $350,000 to $400,000 worth of lining this year.
• A claim of $1,065,416 from Kokosing Industrial Inc. for the sewer plant expansion, supported by the SRF grant. Thallemer reminded the board it’s a $30 million project.
“We’re roughly at the half-way point,” Davison said.
• A claim of $49,378 from Wessler Engineering, through the SRF, for the engineering during the construction and construction oversight of the plant expansion.
• A claim of $66,310 from Insituform Technologies USA LLC for work completed on the sewer rehabilitation project.
