WARSAW — The city of Warsaw is moving to restructure several departments with oversight by one person.

The consolidation of building & planning, street maintenance, engineering, and wastewater was initially approved on Monday, but still has a few steps to go before finalized.

The goal is to improve communications and coordination of departments that are already closely connected, said Mayor Jeff Grose.

Much of the plan was outlined by Denny Harlan, director of Human Resources at Monday's city council meeting.

“The concern we had for it and the reason we wanted to bring them all together is just so we have a centralized leadership," Harlan said.

Grose credited a lot of work by Harlan’s office, the mayor’s office, the wage committee, and individual discussions with council members over the past six to eight months led to the ordinance.

He said Dustin Dillon, the existing superintendent of public works, would become director of the new collection of departments, which would be known as Public Works.

If finalized, somebody else would move into Dillon's current role.

The department will be an executive department within city government and will have oversight over the newly aligned "divisions."

The change would help promote short- and long-term planning, consistency with project management, and improved budgeting.

An ordinance establishing a Department of Public Works was approved unanimously  Monday on first reading by the City Council.

City Council member Cindy Dobbins weighed in on the proposal.

"I just know over the past several years, actually, different council members and in conjunction with myself, we've had conversations where maybe there should be a — for the lack of a better term — city manager. This would kind of be the same situation. I think we all realize that the mayor can't possibly coordinate all of that," Dobbins said.

"No offense," Dobbins added, looking at Grose. "It's a huge, huge job to keep all these balls up in the air."

The changes would require a new salary ordinance.

A second reading of the plan will be considered at the council's Aug. 18 meeting.

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WARSAW — The Public Works Department of the City of Warsaw, along with Borden Waste-Away Services/Integra and Waste Management, is pleased to offer expanded services to the residents of Warsaw in celebration of Earth Week.

The following services will be made available to residents Monday, April 21, through Friday, April 25.

Loose Leaf Pickup: Large piles of leaves can be raked to the curb or alley. They will be
picked up on your regular trash day and need to be out by 7 a.m. Please do not put
sticks or other trash in the leaf piles. Small piles will need to be bagged or boxed and
will be picked up on your regular trash day. As a reminder, leaves cannot be raked into the streets and gutter lines. This clogs the stormwater catch basins and creates drainage issues that can lead to flooding.

Large-item drop-off: Waste Management has offered to place four thirty-yard containers at their local transfer station. Residents (IDs will be checked to verify addresses) can drop off items at no charge, but that does not include truck loads from rental property cleanouts. Waste Management will donate the dumping fees and is excited to offer residents assistance in disposing of their spring cleaning items. This service will be free of charge to the residents residing within the Corporate City Limits of Warsaw.

Waste Management’s transfer station is at 2352 N. Boeing Road, Warsaw. Hours are 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Borden Waste Away/Integra Shredding will host a community shred drive day. This will be a “drive-through” service from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22. Integra will have a shred truck at the Public Works Department, 794 W, Center St. City employees will load your papers in totes and Integra will shred the documents on the spot.

Paper Lawn & Leaf Bags: Paper lawn and leaf bags will be available for City residents for
pick up at the Public Works Department at 794 W. Center St. Residents (IDs will be checked to verify addresses) are invited to pick up six (6) bundles of paper lawn and leaf bags for natural debris pickup. Hours for distribution will be regular business hours. Which are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday–Friday.

Earth Week in 2025 runs from April 16 to 22. Earth Day itself, the main event of the week, is on April 22. 

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WARSAW — The city of Warsaw unveiled plans on Monday to construct a new public works facility that would be three times bigger.

The existing West Center Street facility, built in 1960, includes a series of cobbled-together buildings and a small office space that are undersized. The lack of space has required the city to keep many of its vehicles outdoors.

The new facility would put everything under one roof and would triple the department's footprint.

The department has a growing fleet of vehicles, expanded duties over the years and a lack of sufficient space for its mechanics.

"Our biggest challenge is capacity issues," said Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon. "If you want to come out and figure out how to put ten gallons of stuff in a five-gallon bucket, we'll certainly show you ..."

To accommodate the proposed project, the city has acquired three houses to the east along West Center Street.

The future building would be east of the existing office and construction is expected to span two years.

Tentative plans have been under consideration for months. Bakertilly Municipal Advisors gave city officials an in-depth proposal in December that outlined three proposals ranging from $6.5 million to $13.4 million.

Officials have embraced the $13.4 million plan and expressed a desire to reduce the price tag as the proposal is fine-tuned in the coming months.

Bakertilly's proposal also references a "not to exceed" $14 million figure in case the price of construction, for some reason, rises in the next few months.

If the price tag rises above that maximum level, it would force the city to re-do the financial plan.

Officials want the plan finalized this summer in hopes of beginning construction.

The worst-case scenario with this project, he said there’d be an addition of 6 to 7 cents on the property tax rate, but officials expressed confidence that that would not happen.

The city's assessed value is expected to continue to rise in the next few years and would help offset any increase in the tax rate, which has fallen about eight cents in recent years.

The city can also turn to EDIT and TIF money as a backup source to finance part of the plan and will see a few bond issues expire in the next few years, further reducing the city's financial constraints.

"If we don’t achieve the growth we need to cover that 6 to 7 cents in assessed valuation, we could use TIF, (or) EDIT to buy those down," said Jeremy Skinner, the city's director of community and economic development.

"At the end of the day, the intent is to keep this project net neutral on the tax rate,” he said.

Construction would span two years and Dillon said they hope to begin work this year.  Completion would happen in 2027.

Almost all existing structures would be demolished after construction is complete, Dillon said.

City Councilman Mike Klondaris pointed out that the city in recent years has upgraded several city departments, including constructing a new wastewater plant, parks office and fire station on the south side and he thinks the proposal put forth Monday is a "well thought out plan."

On Monday, the redevelopment commission and city council both took the first steps by approving plans to host two public hearings on the plan in the coming weeks.

[caption id="attachment_104734" align="aligncenter" width="843"] The three properties east of the Warsaw Street Department on West Center Street have been purchased by the city for the future construction of a new street department. News Now Warsaw photo by Dan Spalding.[/caption]

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WARSAW — Summertime is road improvement season in Indiana and Warsaw is gearing up for some more big projects in the coming weeks.

The city Just finished up 30 road segments with its micro-surfacing, which included part of Market Street.

Eight road segments were also repaved, but there is more to come.

More work includes paving on some of the busiest streets later this summer. Much of that work is being done with support from the Community Crossings state grant fund.

That will include part of Ranch Road, Country Club Road, Jefferson Street (from Bronson to Argonne) as well as the part of Center and Buffalo streets near city hall, according to Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon, who talked about the Public Works Department during an appearance on the public affairs show, In The Know.

Other paving will include work on Indiana Avenue and High Street later this year, he said.

Specific dates for the work have not been released yet.

Asked to grade the city streets, Dillon pointed to a survey the city participates in that shows the city graded at 5.8 compared to the state average of 5.0.

Eight is considered very good.

"This year our goal was to get to a 6.5," Dillon said. "My ultimate goal is to get to a 7 ... if you got roads 7-10 throughout the city, that's pretty phenomenal," he said.

Dillon also talked about the replacement of decorative street lights in downtown, a project that begins the week of Aug. 7 week and is expected to continue for a few weeks.

Small segments of street parking near the lights will be blocked off as city workers replace old light posts with new ones.

Dillon said he doesn't think the process will cause too much inconvenience for motorists.

"There should be very minor disruptions," Dillon said.

Mayor Joe Thallemer also participated in the show. He discussed the upcoming budget process and the future of the old Marsh property.

* * *

In The Know can be heard at the following times:

News Now Warsaw (99.7 FM and 1480 AM):

Fridays at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Saturdays at 7 a.m. 

Sundays at 7 a.m. & 2 p.m.

WRSW (107.3):

Sundays at 6 a.m.

Willie (103.5 FM):

Sundays at 6 a.m.

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