Traffic signals on Center Street at the railroad crossing weren’t on the Warsaw Common Council’s agenda, but as many residents are frustrated with them, the issue was brought up by Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins at the Council’s meeting.
“Question: Do we have any update on when they’re going to put the sensors in the roadway?” she asked.
Mayor Joe Thallemer responded, “I believe the asphalt is all down, and I believe all the sensors are in the ground. There are still some timing issues. I think I know what you are referring to.”
Dobbins said, “It’s taken me as long as 14 minutes to come from Park and Center downtown. Just, there’s a lot of uproar right now. I think it’s kind of hurting business in general. People are boycotting downtown apparently.”
Thallemer said Community Development Coordinator Jeremy Skinner has been in touch with the Indiana Department of Transportation and “we are at their mercy. We are doing everything we can. The cost, the implementation have all been out of our hands. Basically, it’s the railroad and INDOT.”
Skinner said he’s talked with INDOT a few times. Initially, he said, they told him they were still working through some timing issues. “The last conversation I had was through an email with them, sharing the same concerns that you’re sharing. Talked to them about some things I think they need to look at. And, basically, they sent me a very long email – which I’ll share with you – back saying they’re not going to do anything until all of the project is done,” Skinner told Dobbins. “Now, that’s not to say we can’t continue and I think I’ll have a conversation with Joe to see what our next steps are.”
He said he forwarded that email on to the mayor last week but they haven’t had the opportunity to sit down and discuss their next steps. “But I would agree with you and probably a lot of the community that … the timing is not working. There’s some things they need to work on. I’m sure they know that. The sooner the better for us. I don’t know what the holdup on their end is. I feel like all the equipment is there. I know. I’ve seen it. I know I’ve heard from other people. The gate’s down, a train is going through and the light is green – that is not supposed to be happening. I know it’s not working the way it was intended to. We’ll continue to try to work with INDOT to make it work the way we think it should,” Skinner said.
He stated it’s not the city’s project and the city doesn’t have direct control over it, but the city is sharing its frustrations with INDOT the same way the community is sharing its frustrations with the city.
“I know it’s not easy. I think everyone thinks it’s something the City Council and the mayor can do something about, and we really can’t do anything about it,” Dobbins said.
Skinner said he’s made some phone calls and had some conversations via email with INDOT. “I think they are trying to work it out. I hope they put a little more emergency into it than what they are. I think they are wanting all of (Ind.) 15 to be done before they mess with the timing, which, from our end, we’d rather not. Fix the timing now,” Skinner said.
Councilman Jeff Grose said part of his frustration, too, was “just the maintaining of the tracks, too.” He said the Main Street railroad crossing looks “really bad.”
Skinner said it’s been a very long project and was supposed to have been done in 2020, and now it’s still not really close to being done. Thallemer said the genesis of the project was in 2013 when the first money for the railroad crossings improvement project was awarded.
Skinner said there was a number of railroad issues. “The last conversation I had with them, a week ago, they did call and tell me they wanted to change the design. I told them we weren’t going to accept the change of the design because everybody had looked at it. The community expects it to be what we talked about. Apparently, the railroad is claiming it never saw the plans, so it’s going to hold up the project even longer. So, if you think it’s been a while now, it could be another six months,” Skinner said.
Thallemer said he knows it’s a concern and they’ve worked hard with INDOT. It’s not an easy fix and there’s still asphalting to be done.
“Still lots of asphalt needs to be laid. They need to do the whole other side of Hickory Street that they haven’t done,” Skinner said.
Resident Kim Hart asked about the Bronson Street railroad crossing and if any pressure was being put on to fix that.
Thallemer said he met with CF & E and they have a plan to rehabilitate several crossings, with Bronson being one of them. Unfortunately, he said it wasn’t until 2022.
“They are going to rehabilitate Detroit Street crossing. I wish they could have done that while we were doing all the asphalting, but, again, we’re at their mercy. So the Detroit Street crossing will be repaired at some point, but there are several crossings starting east of town coming this way they acknowledge need to be redone, but they don’t have the money to do it until next year,” Thallemer said.
In other business, the Council approved:
• Warsaw Police Department Chief Scott Whitaker’s request to transfer $75,000 from health insurance to repairs and maintenance due to unforeseen plumbing and sewage drainage issues and to replenish funds for the material purchase for the 10-bay garage roof.
• A resolution approving the plan amendment to the Northern Tax Increment Finance District to include Cross PVD and Coating as a taxpayer. The Redevelopment Commission approved a resolution for the amendment at its meeting earlier this month, and the Plan Commission approved their resolution that approved the Redevelopment Commission’s resolution. The Council’s resolution approves the Plan Commission’s resolution, and it will go back before the Redevelopment Commission in June for final approval.
• The continuation of a tax abatement for Instrumental Machine & Development Inc. This is the second year of their abatement. Instrumental estimated at around $1.1 million in personal property improvements and has hired seven additional employees since 2019.
• The continuation of a tax abatement for Symmetry Medical/Tecomet. Symmetry had some tax abatement in 2005, but then Tecomet purchased Symmetry “three or four years ago now,” Skinner said. They had a 10-year abatement for real and personal property, and spent around $10.7 million in personal and real property improvements. They also estimated adding 107 additional jobs, but currently have not added any since filing in 2015. This is their sixth year of the abatement.
• The continuation of a tax abatement for Texmo Precision Castings, which the city inherited from the county when it was annexed into the city. Skinner said they’re in their fifth year for real and personal property improvements estimated at around $4.7 million. They’ve spent $2.8 million in real property and $2.4 million in personal property improvements and have hired 17 additional employees since 2016.
• The continuation of a tax abatement on real property along Capital Drive for Wishbone Medical LLC. The three-year tax abatement on a vacant building was approved in 2020. So far, Wishbone spent $98,000 in building improvements of $200,000 planned and hired an additional four employees.
Skinner recommended all the tax abatements be approved, which the Council did.
