Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Joel Shilling requests approval Monday for a transfer from the Warsaw Common Council to repair the fire department’s ladder truck. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union,

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Repairs to a ladder truck, bathrooms at the police training center and lights on Plaza Drive came before the Warsaw Common Council at their meeting Monday night, May 6.

Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Chief Joel Shilling requested a transfer of $23,000 from equipment and machinery to repairs and maintenance.

“The reason for this is our ladder truck, as it’s aging, we keep finding more and more issues with it,” he said.

There is a swivel where the electric and hydraulic lines and the waterway all pass through to go into the ladder. That swivel is bad so as the firefighters operate the truck, the truck will emergency stop, Shilling said. The fire department has implemented a policy where no fire department personnel shall ride in the bucket.

“We’re hoping to get this replaced fairly quickly,” he said. “We collaborated with the street department shop, and they recommended that it go down to Indianapolis to Pierce to be repaired so this (transfer) just covers those expenses.”

Pierce manufactures custom fire apparatuses.

Councilwoman Diane Quance asked how long would the ladder truck be gone. Shilling said he wasn’t sure.

Councilman Mike Klondaris asked if the truck was inoperable now. Shilling said the truck can operate, it’s just the electronics that control the hydraulics, but it’s not a risk he was willing to take.

Asked if the fire department had a backup ladder truck while theirs is down in Indianapolis getting repaired, Shilling said no.

“We do not have a backup. We do not have a reserve ladder truck. Winona Lake is the next closest one, so they get put on automatic response. So if we get called out or we feel we need an aerial, they’re automatically called as well. So they will be notified when the truck is gone,” he explained.

Council President Jack Wilhite asked if they had another ladder truck on order. Shilling said they do, but it keeps being pushed out by the manufacturer and last he heard it would be over 600 days.

The council unanimously approved the transfer.

Shilling also was formally introduced to the council as the new fire chief. He took over as April 29 and had his ceremonial oath of office Friday.

He told the council it was going good.

“Just working with (administrative assistant) Heather (Vogts) and the personnel at the fire department to just learn my role and what they need from me and how I can help support them,” Shilling said.

He met with all the city department heads and said he had a lot of support from them as well.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” he said.

Warsaw Police Department Chief Scott Whitaker requested approval for two transfers — $85,000 from police salaries to repairs and maintenance and $50,000 from police insurance to repairs and maintenance.

With those transfers, $100,000 will be used toward new restrooms in the WPD training center and the remaining $35,000 is to replenish funds expended due to unforeseen expenses.

“The police department had, in the 2024 budget, … an amount of $50,000 budgeted for the creation of restrooms for the training center we’ve been diligently working on over the last 10-12 years, and we’re at that stage. Obviously, the budget amount was well below,” he said.

They worked with SKRM Architecture and sought bids. The lowest bid came in at just under $150,000.

“So, we were basically underbudgeted by $100,000 for this particular project,” Whitaker said. “In addition to that, we’ve had additional funds that we weren’t anticipating having to expend at the end of last year moving into 2024.”

The total of $135,000 in transfers will cover the expenses, and the council approved them.

The final request before the council Monday was from City Planner Justin Taylor. He presented a request from a developer for the city to take ownership of five existing streetlights on Plaza Drive. The lights collectively total $50 a month in electric costs, but the lights could be swapped out for LEDs, which may lower that cost some. Taylor said the lights are in the city’s right-of-way.

If the city doesn’t take the lights over, the developer won’t continue to pay for them. Taylor said the planning department does see a value in the lights as a safety measure for the area.

The street department inspected the lights, which were installed around 1996, but there are no imminent failures to them as far as the street department could see.

Klondaris said it looked like a commercial operation, not a residential area, so the lights may be just the cost of doing business.

Wanting more information, including how dark it gets on Plaza Drive at night, the council tabled the request for further information