City Awards CR 200S Sewer Project To Warsaw Company

The CR 200S sewer expansion and lift station project was awarded to G & G Hauling & Excavating on Friday by the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety.

Bids were opened Aug. 19. The base bid from G & G Hauling & Excavating, Warsaw, was $1,314,780.46, while the base bid from HRP Construction, South Bend, was $1,483,820.

Wastewater Utility Superintendent Brian Davison said the recommendation was to award the project to G & G as they were the low bidder.

After the Board approved the awarding of the bid, Mayor Joe Thallemer asked when the work will start. Community Economic and Development Director Jeremy Skinner said they don’t have a start date but it probably will be sometime this year. The work will go until August or September 2023.

Later in the meeting, the Board approved an amendment with Wessler Engineering Inc. to the CR 200S sewer expansion project for $1,404.

Davison explained, “This amendment with Wessler Engineering is to use a program called eComm. We’ve used it on many of our projects here lately. It’s just a great way to track all the submittals and change orders and pay requests. And at the end we get a hard drive with all that project information on it as billed. So it’s just a very efficient way to track communication between contractor, engineer, owner. That’s what the amendment is for.”

In presenting a new hire/change in payroll report, Warsaw Human Resources Director Denny Harlan said it was a lengthier report because the Warsaw Police Department has done some promotions. With the promotions, there were a lot of personnel moves, so that’s what the majority of his report was.

Lt. Gordon Allen had a shift transfer, with a pay of $3,048.12 biweekly, as did probationary patrol officers Brandon Fugate ($2,323.22 biweekly) and Dustin Kreft ($2,323.22 biweekly); patrol officers Kevin Kyle ($2,391.56 biweekly), Paige Wood ($2,323.22 biweekly), Lucas VanderHart ($2,414.34 biweekly), Ryan Connors ($2,346 biweekly); probationary patrol officer Ryan Piper ($2,346 biweekly); and Sgt. Jaime De La Fuente ($2,834.56 biweekly). Patrol officer Justin Curtis ($2,551.02 biweekly) also had a shift transfer, but he also had a voluntary rank reduction.

Promotions included Jordan Roberts ($2,536.49 biweekly) to corporal; Christopher Brown ($2,766.22 biweekly) to sergeant; Zackery Smith ($2,559.27 biweekly) to corporal; and Clayton Rieder ($2,743.44 biweekly) to sergeant. Patrol officer Alvaro Aguillon ($2,346 biweekly) ended his probationary period and was given the ceremonial oath of office at the Aug. 19 Board of Works meeting.

Board member George Clemens asked if Justin Curtis was the animal control officer. Harlan said he is and he was on third shift, but he was moved back to first shift to make take care of his extra duties as the animal control officer.

The only two non-police changes in Harlan’s report was in the wastewater treatment utility where Jonathon Hagg had a position transfer with a pay of $23.81 per hour, and in the parks department where Parker Shoemaker was a new hire as a laborer at $18.38 an hour.

In other business, the Board approved:

• The sales purchase agreement with Lassus Brothers Oil to provide the city of Warsaw with 80,000 gallons of 87 octane unleaded gasoline and mid-grade diesel fuel at $2.99 per gallon, as requested by WPD Chief of Police Scott Whitaker.

• For the Street Department to purchase four V-box salt spreaders with controls from Lindco Equipment Sales for $14,565 each, or a total of $58,260, as requested by Superintendent Dustin Dillon.

• For the Street Department to purchase an excavator from B & W Equipment Co. Inc. for $92,643, as requested by Dillon.

• A traffic signal maintenance agreement for the Public Works Department with Michiana Contracting Inc., as requested by Dillon. The agreement is for the labor costs only for routine preventative maintenance and non-routine repairs. The cost is based on hourly pricing and is estimated to be under $25,000.

• For the Street Department to purchase a 16-foot tilt trailer from Bobcat of Warsaw for $17,000, as requested by Dillon.

• A contract with Intemera Clean LLC for office cleaning services at the Warsaw Public Works Department, as requested by Dillon. The contract amount is $75 weekly.

• A pay application of $3,684.24 from Structurepoint for right-of-way services for the Anchorage Road project. The project is an 80/20 Indiana Department of Transportation funded project so the city will pay 100% and then be reimbursed for 80%.

• A contract between the city and The Bowling Alley for the city employee holiday party from 5 to 8 p.m. Dec. 6, as requested by Thallemer. The estimated cost based on 100 children and 225 adults is $5,321.44.

• A contract for $400 with Firehouse Santa for Santa Claus to meet and greet with children on Dec. 2 during the Light Up the Night event. Santa Claus also will appear at the Dec. 10 Santa’s Workshop event to meet and greet with children for another $400. Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department Recreation Director Stephanie Schaefer presented the two contracts.

She also presented a contract for Incredible Bats to provide bats for the Fall Family Fun event on Oct. 7 for $410, which the Board approved. The event is from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lucerne Park.

Laughing Stock Productions will provide three clowns for balloon twisting and entertainment for the Fall Family Fun event on Oct. 7 for $660. That contract also was approved.

• The road closure for High Street between Market and Jefferson streets for the Fall Family Kickoff on Sept. 18. The Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church event will go from noon to 2 p.m., with the road closure being from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.