Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose, right, gives Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory firefighter Bryce Good, left, the oath of office Friday during the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety meeting as Good has completed his one-year probationary period.

Text and Photos
By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — City of Warsaw employees are still cleaning up after early Tuesday morning’s storm, July 16, but they’re making headway, Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon told the Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday, July 19.

Mayor Jeff Grose thanked Dillon, his department and other department heads and their departments for dealing with the aftermath of the storm. The storm not only knocked out power for thousands across the state, but also brought down limbs and trees in Warsaw and elsewhere in the county. There were no injuries reported and no tornadoes confirmed in Kosciusko County, though tornadoes were confirmed in Marshall and Elkhart counties.

Grose asked Dillon how they were doing with cleanup.

“This morning we came in. We had roughly 38 or 39 large brush piles left on our system to pick up,” Dillon said.

“Just to give you an overview, by the end of the afternoon on Tuesday there were over 100.”

He said there’s still some final cleanup and residents are still bringing debris out.

“I had a lot of calls from residents thanking us for what we’ve been able to clean up and helping them out and trying to do everything we can to make everybody’s life a little bit easier. Hats off to our team at Public Works, as well as cemetery, parks, all these guys jumping in and helping. Wastewater guys, we had one of their construction crews jump in and help us out on cleaning up stuff that day, so, again, we’ve got a great group of people to work with citywide,” Dillon said.

Some residents were very unfortunate with the storm damage, but he said it could have been a lot worse. “But definitely hate to see anybody go through that with the loss of their trees or falling on houses or cars or whatnot. So we’re trying to make the most of it and help people out as much as we can,” Dillon stated.

If a city resident still has a large branch or tree limb down, Grose asked Dillon what would he recommend they do if it’s a larger pile or larger branch.

“I think they can always call, but what our crews are going to do is they’re still going to go around. We’re not going to go willy-nilly all over the city. We’ll still kind of treat it as your normal trash day of cleaning up. So, if we can work ahead, and we start getting ahead — fantastic! — because of the storm we’ll try to do that as much as possible, but Tuesday we ran a crew all day. That’s everybody outside of trash. That’s all we did was brush. We’ve had two crews going Wednesday. Yesterday was a paving day to try to get caught back up, but today we have plenty of guys out on follow trucks and the gravel truck running, but we should get there,” Dillon answered.

By the end of next week, he said he thought everything should look a lot brighter.

“We’ll get the street sweepers back out, and start cleaning up debris in the street. It’ll go well,” Dillon said. “As long as they put it out on their normal trash day. I mean, they can feel free to call in and we’ll create work orders and put it on the map, just so we don’t miss anybody.”

Also during Friday’s meeting, two sealed bids were opened for the Warsaw Police Department for a security/surveillance camera system, including storage, cameras and other equipment. A bid from Havel, Fort Wayne, came in at $82,483, while a bid from Securitas Technology, Uniontown, Ohio, was $66,540.34.

WPD Capt. Joel Beam requested the bids be taken under advisement for review and then a recommendation will be made to the Board of Works at their next meeting, Aug. 2.

Earlier in the meeting, Grose gave Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory firefighter Bryce Good the oath of office as Good has completed his one-year probationary period.

His fiancee, Kayley Slone, pinned his badge on his uniform. They have two children, Brileigh and Karson Good.
Good, 33, has served as a volunteer firefighter for about 17 years and continues to volunteer with the Burket Fire Department. His career with the WWFT is his first full-time firefighter position.

Three city employees were recognized at the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday for their milestone anniversaries. Shown from left are Andy Wright, parks department, 10 years; Robert Craig, street department, five years; Det. Sgt. Jeff Ticknor, Warsaw Police Department, 15 years; and Mayor Jeff Grose.

Three city employees were recognized for their milestone anniversaries totaling a combined 30 years. Robert Craig, street department has five years; Andy Wright, parks department, 10 years; and Det. Sgt. Jeff Ticknor, WPD, has 15 years.

In other business, the board approved:

• Cardinal Services’ road closure request for South Colfax Street from East Smith Street to the end of their parking lot; East Smith from Colfax to Bay Drive/Winona Avenue; and North Bay Drive from East Smith to Winona Avenue on Sept. 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a ribbon-cutting celebration.

• Anthony Wayne Area Council Boy Scouts of America’s road closure request for Indiana Street between East Center and East Fort Wayne streets on Oct. 12 from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the Lincolnway Cubmobile, which will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Patrick Loebs’ road closure request for East Clark Street between North Lincoln Street and North Lindberg Drive on Oct. 12 from 4 to 11:59 p.m. for a neighborhood block party, which will be from 5 to 11 p.m.

• A pay request from Lynn Douglas Inc. for $20,834 for the ongoing Warsaw Chemical property cleanup, which will be paid out of the refinancing of the wastewater treatment plant bond, as requested by Warsaw Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner. He said the pay application will be submitted to the state for reimbursement.

• Dillon’s request to apply for the 2025 Railroad Grace Crossing Grant on behalf of the Public Works Department. It is a reimburseable grant for up to $50,000.

He said they’re looking at the new thermo-plastic pavement markings on all the road crossings within the city. There’s up to 20 crossings, but he said he was still waiting on a finalized detailed cost estimate, but it’ll cost roughly $1,100 per crossing for a total of about $22,000.

“We’ll pay for it upfront. If we receive the grant, we’ll be reimbursed that $22,000,” Dillon said.

• A travel request for WWFT Fire Marshal Jeremy Williams to attend the 2024 Indiana Fire Investigation Conference in Danville from Aug. 11-14. Cost is $982.

• The new hire and change in payroll report, as presented by Human Resource Director Denny Harlan. The only item on the report was for a title change for Good as he’s no longer a probationary firefighter, but a full-time one as of July 21