Warsaw Street Superintendent Dustin Dillon presents a request to the Warsaw Common Council Monday evening, Aug. 18. With the council approving an ordinance to create a Warsaw Department of Public Works and another ordinance creating a director position for that department Monday, Dillon will become the director of the Warsaw Department of Public Works. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Warsaw Common Council approved the necessary ordinances Monday night, Aug. 18, to establish a department of public works and to create a director position for the department.

Human Resource Director Denny Harlan presented the ordinance to establish the department to the council for its second reading. The council approved it on first reading Aug. 4.

“We went through it at the last meeting. We’re getting to the point to where we need to create that infrastructure and position to help us get everybody on the same sheet together and get the work done,” he said.

In order to have an administrator, Harlan explained, the city had to create the department to state code. The department will be an executive department within city government and include and have oversight over the divisions – formerly departments – of building & planning, street maintenance, engineering, wastewater and solid waste. Harlan said there were a lot of questions after the Aug. 4 council meeting.

“I’ll make it clear. This is not a position that we are creating for Dustin Dillon. This is a position that we are creating for the city of Warsaw, we just happen to think we have the best All-Star at the plate already, so we’re going to go ahead and take advantage of that,” he said.

Dillon is the current street/public works superintendent for the city.

Council President Jack Wilhite, who was not present at the last council meeting, said, “This is a result, I believe, of the growth of Warsaw. Any organization, as growth occurs, we have to be willing and able to modify the structure so that things are run efficiently. Sometimes it’s just too much for one person to try to keep track of everything, it’s an old Biblical principle. I think it’s a good step, whether it’s Dustin or anybody. I think the position itself is a good step for us to take.”

City Attorney Scott Reust said when Joe Thallemer was mayor, he worked an extreme number of hours. Now with Jeff Grose as mayor, “he’s truly a full-time mayor. He’s here first thing in the morning … he does a lot of things, but some of the work that he’s forced to do is the stuff that a person in charge of (public works) could be doing and probably could be doing better and more efficient, from the discussions that I’ve been part of because – not for any lack of what Jeff knows – there’s just a lot of technical stuff that the right person knows about … that it’s a tough position to fill. And we need that position so that it doesn’t take all the mayor’s time, but it does take a lot of the mayor’s time currently.”

He said he thinks the department and position will be good for the community.

Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said, “I think I mentioned last time that different ones of us have talked over the last several years that we really felt there needed to be that extra position to help take some of the burden off the mayor and help with some of the intricate details.”

Diane Quance, councilwoman, said she liked the idea of having one place for people to get their questions answered and to know what timelines are.

“I’ve had constituents ask numerous heads of different departments and get different answers just because everybody’s not coordinated when something’s happening or how it’s happening or what the timetable is going to be. All of those kinds of things,” she said. “And we also certainly don’t want to do work and then do it over again. We’ve been doing a much better job since these departments have started meeting together of not laying down a new street and then tearing it up because wastewater had to do something that somebody else didn’t know about. So we’ve been doing a much better job of all of that so things are better for all of our residents.”

She said the department and director are the next step in making the city more accessible and transparent to the people who use the city’s services.

“Better communication, better efficiency, probably a long-term cost savings – it’s a lay-up, to steal a Mayor Grose term. That’s a lay-up,” said Councilman Josh Finch, who then made the motion to approve the ordinance creating the Department of Public Works on second reading. Councilman Jerry Frush seconded the motion and it passed 6-0, with Councilman Mike Klondaris absent.

A little later in the meeting, Harlan presented an ordinance to amend the 2025 city of Warsaw general salary ordinance to add the position of director of public works. The maximum biweekly salary for the position, according to the ordinance, is $3,653.85.

“So, now that we have a department of public works, we would like to name a director to the department of public works. In order to do that, we need to add that to the general salary ordinance for 2025. So, what this is, is just adding the director of public works on your salary ordinances. It’ll still be under the street department, for now, and then I also included the job description there that you guys can look over if you so please,” Harlan stated.

The two-page job description includes a position summary, appointment status, key responsibilities, qualifications and requirements and work environment. The city council approved the ordinance on first and second reading.

In other business, the council:

• Approved on second reading a sign ordinance clarifying the enforcement process for sign violations in the public right-of-way. It allows for code enforcement staff to immediately remove signs posted within the public right-of-way that are deemed a nuisance or a threat to public safety. The council approved it on first reading, as presented by City Planner Justin Taylor, at their Aug. 4 meeting.

• Approved a resolution to transfer $39,000 from the Railroad Crossing Grant fund to general reimbursement fund, as requested by Dillon. He explained, “This is for the 2025 railroad reimbursement grant. I applied for this grant last fall actually to update all of our pavement markings with new Thermoplastic at every one of our railroad crossings. So, this is a completely reimbursable grant through INDOT.” The grant was received and put in a grant fund, so the transfer was needed to put the grant funds into an appropriation where they can be used.

• Was presented with a petition for voluntary annexation by Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner for Chandler and Erin Williams. He told the council it didn’t take any action by them other than acknowledge that the petition was submitted to them. He said that then starts a clock for him to get certain steps completed by a certain date, or otherwise the petitioners can walk over to the county courthouse and file a request with the courts to force the annexation. The three parcels the Williams are petitioning for the city to annex in are approximately bordered by Husky Trail to the east, Canterbury Lane to the north and Rattington Circle to the west. Parcel 1 is also known as 1649 Husky Trail, with parcel 2 also known as 1627 Husky Trail. Parcel 3 doesn’t have an address listed in the petition. Skinner said he’ll be working with the Williams over the next 1-1/2 months to complete the annexation process, at which point there will be a public hearing and an ordinance presented for the council to approve. Quance asked if there were public services adjacent to the property, and Skinner said there were.