By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW – With the HVAC project at Warsaw City Hall winding down, the city is looking to repair the roof of the building next.

At a Board of Public Works and Safety meeting on Friday, Sept. 4, City Engineer Kyle Alger presented an agreement between the city and Basic Elements Design for the development of bidding documents, to include drawings and specifications, for roof repairs to the City Hall building.

“The existing roof membrane is allowing some leaking into the building and has exceeded its useful life,” he said. “The contract is set at $4,500 for architectural services, with final deliverables anticipated before the end of October 2026.”

Mayor Jeff Grose said, “Kyle, appreciate your efforts, and (Public Works Director) Dustin (Dillon). Welcome to City Hall. The HVAC is in, but now we’ve got a lot of issues on the roof, and I appreciate you continuing to address things, and, again, it’s nice to have air conditioning right now.”

Board Member George Clemens said of the roof repairs, “I knew it was inevitable. I’m fine with it.” He made a motion to accept the agreement, Grose seconded it and the motion passed 2-0, with Board Member Diane Quance absent.

Dillon later submitted payment application 10 for $126,080.84 from Core Mechanical for the HVAC improvements and VRF replacement at City Hall. He said the city engineer has inspected the work and certified the pay application, as well.

“A lot of finishing touches going on right now. I talked to Core this morning about doing kind of a walk-through and just getting that punch list together on things. The project is kind of winding down now. There are some drywall things and such going on to cover some stuff up, but we’re getting closer,” Dillon said.

The payment application was approved.

In other business:

• Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner presented a $4,925 pay application from American Structurepoint for the ongoing engineering of Winona Avenue.

“We’re making good progress. We went through three different iterations. We have a group that’s meeting to look at that, and we’re passing that on and we’ll be going out to the businesses,” he said. “We’re working with the Chamber to set up some meetings with WABA, which is the Winona Avenue business group, to present those plans to them and, hopefully, we can keep making progress and have a project to bid sometime in early 2027.”

Grose said he appreciated Skinner’s and the Warsaw Planning Department’s efforts “and this is another sign, looking that direction, moving forward, with efforts to change Winona Avenue. Thank you.” The Board of Works approved the payment.

• Brian Davison, utility superintendent, presented a $17,262 pay application from Wessler Engineering for the drying bed design at the wastewater plant. The construction project will likely take place in spring 2027.

• Paul Heaton, Warsaw Police Department, requested permission to accept the $75,000 Comprehensive Highway Injury Reduction Program (CHIRP) grant through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute for fiscal year 2027, which the Board granted. There’s no local match required, and the grant pays officers overtime to enforce Indiana law for those not wearing safety belts, impaired driving, speeding and bus stop arm violations.

• At the last Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioners meeting on Aug. 11, a request by the Deer Task Force to use a piece of airport property for bow hunting of deer could not be voted on because two of the four board members, President Dan Robinson and Member Ernie Wiggins, recused themselves because of their relationships with some of the archers. The airport board asked the Board of Works to consider the reduction effort at the airport.

Warsaw Police Department Chief Deputy Bryan Sherwin said Friday they looked at the piece of property that’s been brought up in the past. It’s on the east side of the airport and not in a fenced-in area. He didn’t see an issue with allowing the Deer Task Force members to hunt in that area. The Board of Works approved the reduction zone at the Warsaw Municipal Airport as requested by the Deer Task Force.

• Terry Sweeney, Main Street Warsaw Downtown Warsaw development director, presented a road closure request for the 100 block of North Buffalo Street for Fashion Weekend on Oct. 3. The closure will go from 3-11 p.m., with the event going from 7:30-10 p.m. This is the second year for the ticketed event at The Vic, and the road closure is the same as the one in 2025. Clemens made a motion to approve the closure and Grose seconded the motion, but then when Grose asked for any more comments, Sweeney asked the board if they wanted him to talk about the upcoming road closure that they won’t have a lot of notice for.

“We selected an artist to do a mural on the south side of 220 S. Buffalo St., and there would be a road closure on Jefferson Street between Buffalo and Indiana Streets. We won’t know that schedule until there’s some moving parts to it, but I would hope we would know by next meeting, but then it would likely take place early in October,” Sweeney explained. Grose said when it gets closer for Sweeney to contact his office and it’ll get put on the agenda.

• Street Superintendent Joe Vetor requested permission to get sealed bids for the remainder of 2026 and 2027 microsurfacing and crack sealing of various city streets. He said the funding for these projects has been set aside through the Street Department’s main budget and state-funded budgets. The Board approved the request.

• The board approved the two travel requests and new hire/change in payroll reports, as presented by Human Resources Director Denny Harlan.