City Planner Jeremy Skinner describes the two road projects to the council.

WARSAW — Warsaw Mayor Joseph Thallemer had some exciting news to share at the beginning of the Warsaw Common Council meeting held last night, Feb. 20. Warsaw was awarded $3.7 million for two different federal road projects.

“We’re going to start this meeting with some really, really, really good news. We have been involved with federal road projects and since I’ve been mayor we’ve had two federal road projects,” began Thallemer. “Last fall, we applied for two federal road projects and we received them both.”

The two projects include the reconstruction of Anchorage Road for $2.6 million and a sidewalk project in the Lincoln Elementary School area for $1.1 million.

These projects will be 80 percent funded through the federal grants awarded and the city will fund the remaining 20 percent. The hope is these projects would start construction in late 2021.

A public hearing was held for the disposition of the old city hall building at 302 E. Market St. Two appraisals were received and valued the building between $183,000 and $208,000.

“Well I believe something needs to be done with it, personally,” said Council Member Jerry Frush. “And if this is what we have to do to get the ball started, we need to get it going.”

After clarifying a few points regarding the statutes that the city must follow, the council unanimously approved to move forward with the disposition of the building.

The Warsaw Board of Works will set a minimum bid amount at their next meeting on March 2. After that, a 60 day bidding period will be advertised. Interested bidders will be allowed to visit the building and the place their bids with the Warsaw Planning Department. All bids will be open to the public and available for viewing.

In other news:

• A stormwater utility report was presented to the council which revealed the departments future plans and goals.
• An amendment to the stormwater quality management plan was approved on second reading.
• The council approved a resolution involving the IDHS Infrastructure Maintenance Grant, which would move funds from a grant back into the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory operating fund.