Warsaw Common Council’s meeting Monday evening was brief with action on two items on its agenda.

Council members approved to continue the tax abatements for four businesses that have complied with real and personal property as outlined in their original request. The abatement reviews were for Zimmer, Symmetry Medical USA, Wildman Business Group LLC and R & B Investors Partnership.

Zimmer’s compliance request included six properties: Zimmer Production Inc., Zimmer US Inc., and Zimmer Inc., all at 345 Main St.; Zimmer Inc., 210 N. Buffalo St., and Zimmer Inc., 1535 and 1777 W. Center St.

All six properties were given 10-year tax abatement on real and personal property. Four of the properties are in their ninth year of abatement, with one in its eighth year and another in its sixth year.

Jeremy Skinner, city planner, noted the company has fulfilled its compliance on both the personal property and real property. He noted it was originally estimated that 270 jobs would be created, when in fact since 2004 over 760 jobs have been created.

Other compliance reviews were for: Symmetry Medical USA, Inc., 486 W. 350N, Warsaw. One abatement is in its eighth year, the other is in its ninth year. Diane Quance, council member, stated “It is exciting to see how much more it has grown than anticipated.” Symmetry had estimated adding 20 additional jobs but has hired 54 new employees since 2004.

Wildman Business Group LLC, 800 S. Buffalo St., is in it’s first year of abatement. The abatement was granted towards the end of last year with the expected expenditure of $2.1 million in personal property equipment. To date the company has spent approximately $62,000 on personal property equipment.

R & B Investors Partnership, 800 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw, is in its third year of abatement. R & B  has expanded the facility by 12,000 square feet and created an additional 17 jobs since 2012.

During other business the council approved the Comcast Franchise fees for the first quarter. That fee is $13,834.45.

Regional Cities Update

Mayor Joe Thallemer updated council members on the Regional Cities Initiatives. He stated the Kosciusko County Council approved alignment with Fort Wayne last week. The Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership will vote Tuesday to accept Kosciusko County. “Things will move quickly,” Thallemer stated.

The county council will be creating a regional development authority. “No local funds are required to set up the authority,” Thallemer stated. He also explained the city and county can pick and choose the projects to participate in through an inter local agreement. But there is no requirement to participate in any project.

There are 11 counties participating in the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership and each county has one vote, plus all second and third class cities have one vote, making 27 votes available for ratifications. Warsaw will have its own vote, in addition to the county. He noted the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership is the largest in the state. Other partnerships have two to three counties participating.

Thallemer additionally stated Brad Bishop, executive director with OrthoWorx, and Mark Dobson, executive director with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce, have been chosen as representatives to the 30-member advisory board for the RDA.