Stormwater and sewer projects continue to be a big part of the discussion during the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety meetings.
At Friday’s session, Wastewater Utility Manager Brian Davison presented a supplemental to the proposal for engineering design services by Lawson-Fisher Associates for the Osborn stormwater pump station improvements. The cost of the additional services is $12,550.
“This is sort of the next step in the whole (project). We’ve worked on the lines leading to the Osborn station that help drain the Center Lake Park area. That storm line runs to the Osborn pump station. We’re under contract to do some improvements at that pump station, and then this is further improvements either with the pump station and looking at some of the flood control devices that are in there,” Davison explained.
City engineer James Emans said, “Most of these items that we’re working on, the technology from the original build was 1961. Almost all of these are mechanisms that protect the tail water, what’s in the channel, from backing up into the pipe.”
With the technology that’s available now, he said they use passive rubberized gates on the backside to keep the water out, as opposed to a mechanical gate that requires power and circuitry to operate.
“We’re trying to get to a passive system that will eliminate operating costs, and the replacement in the future of these types of gates are a whole lot easier … than a mechanical system,” Emans stated.
The gate will primarily protect Center Lake from backwater of the Tippecanoe River.
“The system we would install now would be passive. They will not have to operate a gate to do that. It will always be protected from backwater,” Emans said.
Since the 1960s, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources has recommended that level of protection, he said. It’s being done currently by manually opening and closing a gate on a daily basis.
“(The passive gate system’s) a giant step forward in trying to protect the lake and the sewer system that services all the way to Colfax Street,” Emans said, adding that it was a massive drainage area. With the new system, he said they’ll never again have to worry about backwater getting into Center Lake.
The engineering costs for the improvements – a total of $48,807 – will come out of the stormwater budget.
“So here’s another example where our citizens are benefitting from that stormwater fee with regards to directly impacting their properties,” Thallemer said. Emans told the board the pumping station has the ability to lower the water level in Center Lake an inch in 24 hours.
Just from the work the stormwater utility has completed already, Parks and Recreation Superintendent Larry Plummer said Central Park has seen a great improvement to its past flooding problems. The board unanimously approved the supplemental.
The Main Street sewer replacement project is completed except paying some final bills. The Board of Works Friday approved a final change order totaling $46,260.20 for Atlas Excavating. That amount corrects quantities of supplies used or not used for the Main Street project, as requested by Davison.
The original contract price for the project was $533,113, but over the course of the project there were two significant change orders, bringing the total final price to $660,084.30.
Davison said for the most part those increases were due to additional work requested by the city.
Thallemer told Davison, “I appreciate all the hard work you guys did, the street department, city engineer. Main Street is getting a lot of great comments. … I know that took a little longer, but I know the residents I talked to understood what we were doing, were patient and now are very happy. So, thank you. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out because that was a big project.”
A final pay application totaling $70,955.96 to Atlas was tabled until the next board meeting at Davison’s request. He said he wants a little bit more information.
In other business, the Board of Works approved:
• An agreement between Wastewater Utility and Broadvoice for phone and Internet service.
• The Public Works agreement with Waste Management of Indiana LLC for dumping fees, $32 per ton 2017 and 2 percent increases in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
• A Buffalo Street redevelopment project pay application in the amount of $4,311.76 for American Structurepoint Inc. for engineering services. The project is in the design phase. Once the design work is completed, the project will be bid out in February or March. Construction may start in the spring.
• An amendment to the city employee dental plan, administered by Dunn & Associates. The amendment revises the definition of dependents on the plan by allowing coverage for “a child for who the employee or employee’s spouse has legal guardianship …”
• An agreement with Boyce/Keystone as requested by Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen for software disaster recovery services for $275.
• Approved Warsaw Police Department agreement’s with Stanley Security for replacement of video surveillance system and access control system for all exterior and interior doors for a total cost of $42,925, plus a $42 monthly fee for maintenance.
At the Dec. 15 Board of Works meeting, an agreement with Stanley Security for electronic security and software at City Hall, totaling $13,277, was approved. The signature pages for that agreement was approved and signed by the board Friday.
• Approved one taxi cab permit for Rocks Taxi, owned by Larry Rock, Tippecanoe. Rocks Taxi been in Warsaw four out of the last six years.
• Announced the Jan. 20 Board of Works meeting has been rescheduled for 10:30 a.m. Jan. 23
