The board sits in front of the new city website introduced. Pictured, from left, are Lynne Christiansen, Mike Valentine, Mayor Joe Thallemer and board member George Clemens. Board member Jeff Grose was absent.

WARSAW — The Board of Works meeting this morning, Oct. 6, was moved to 8:30 a.m. instead of the usual 10:30 a.m. due to a workshop Mayor Joe Thallemer and City Planner Jeremy Skinner needed to attend in Nappanee. Despite the 18 items of new business, the meeting moved quickly.

Skinner presented some exciting news to the board. A bid for the Buffalo Street redevelopment project was ready to be accepted. Skinner recommended the board approve a bid from Selge Construction Company, Inc. based out of Niles, Mich. The board approved.

The bid came in the lowest of four submissions at $2,591,189.94. The engineer’s estimate for the project was around $2.15 million.

“It’s our intent to have the contract ready for Oct. 20 so we can get moving on this project,” said Skinner. “I would imagine a lot of the underground utility work will happen over the next four to five months, with the actual road and sidewalks…to occur in the spring once the weather starts to improve.”

“Just really anxious and gratifying to get this thing going,” commented Thallemer. “This is going to be a transformational project.”

Looking toward other downtown area improvements, the city is looking to add a cycle track on the south side of Market Street from Columbia to Hickory streets. A contract was approved for Lochmueller Group to do a feasibility study and schematic design.

A letter from Assistant City Planner Justin Taylor stated, “This project was listed in Warsaw’s Stellar Communities application. Although Warsaw was not awarded the grant we feel that this project is a vital piece of pedestrian infrastructure and that we should move forward with this study to better understand the scope of the project. Understanding the scope of this project will put us in a good position to locate funding to make this project a reality.”

In other exciting news, the city website has been updated and will now function more effectively on mobile devices. Staci Young commented that the website has moved away from a departmental organization to a more citizen friendly interface focused around a search bar.

In other business:

• Fire Chief Mike Wilson presented an update of information regarding advanced life support service. EMTs will now be able to better utilize their training in emergency situations.
• The board approved contracts with Smarsh for social media archiving. This includes all social media platforms. Also approved is a Google G-Suite upgrade to allow for unlimited cloud storage and email archiving. Likewise, the board approved licensing with Dito (a Google partner) for GAME email encryption.
• The board approved the rental of The Bowling Alley for the annual city employee Christmas party Dec. 12.
• Pay applications for the Buffalo Street project and the CR 300N project were approved.
• Two lease agreements for parking facilities for Phillip J. and Maxine Harris, as well as Stephen P. and Carla A. Harris, were approved. These agreements are renewed every two years. There were no changes.
• The board approved a contract with Wihebrink Landscape Management for rain garden renovation. The board also approved a change order with G&G Hauling for the replanting of trees in the Eisenhower basin.
• Wilson requested the board accept non-matching grants from Kosciusko Foundation and K21 Foundation for heavy rescue equipment. The grants require no city funds and the request was approved.
• The contract with American Elevator was renewed for 2018 to maintain the city hall elevator.
• A contract with Be Relieved Cleaning Services to clean city hall three days a week was approved.

The next standard meeting will be Friday, Oct. 20.