City Working To Keep Up With Growth, Thallemer Says
Mayor Joe Thallemer delivers the annual State of the City address Wednesday, March 9, at the Center Lake Pavilion in Warsaw. InkFreeNews photo by Dan Spalding.
Rob Parker, CEO of the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce, stands alongside Mayor Joe Thallemer and a new logo for the newly rebranded Main Street Warsaw program, formerly known as Warsaw Community Development. InkFreeNews photo by Dan Spalding.
By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews
WARSAW – Two things have paralleled each other over roughly the past ten years in Warsaw:
Joe Thallemer was first elected mayor in 2011 at the same time the city began a decade-long pattern of growth, which now makes it one of the fastest-growing rural cities in Indiana, with a whopping 16.7% growth in population in ten years.
While the mayor certainly is not responsible for all of the growth, those two facts are intertwined and will surely be part of Thallemer’s eventual legacy many years down the road.
That was evident on Wednesday, March 9, when Thallemer delivered his 11th consecutive State of the City speech that highlighted a mix of recent accomplishments and updates on new initiatives intended to respond to and spur more growth.
Thallemer touted numbers from the recent US Census Bureau report, showing the city was growing in population four times the average of the state growth rate. That translates into an additional 2,205 residents over that time.
In that same period, greatly due to annexation and economic development, the city saw its tax base grow by 34%.
But Thallemer acknowledged that growth means more services.
“Growth requires expansion of essential public services, more housing units, better transportation, public safety, and broadening the private sector to provide more goods and services,” Thallemer told an audience assembled at Center Lake Pavilion.
“I couldn’t be any more honored to face the challenges of our future, than together, with this community,” he said.
“It’s a whole lot better than looking at our future from a different trajectory,” he added.
The new census report also underscored an increasingly diverse community with significant increases in the numbers of Asians, Hispanics and African Americans in the area.
“The expansion of our population is a clear indicator of the opportunity that exists in Warsaw for everyone, and we embrace it,” Thallemer said.
He also noted that city finances remain in good shape.
“Compared to other similar-sized Hoosier communities, Thallemer said, the city’s tax rate, outstanding debt, and debt per capita are all significantly below the average of the cohort.
Possibly the biggest accomplishment in the past year is the number of new residential developments coming to fruition in the city. Increasing the availability of housing has been a top priority for Thallemer’s administration in recent years.
On Wednesday, he rattled off a half dozen residential development projects that are well underway and will add hundreds of new homes within city limits.
One of those is the new senior housing apartment complex, 802 Center, which opened recently on East Center Street and includes 72 units.
On top of that, there are also plans for two mixed-use projects that include apartments.
One plan in the works will lead to the construction of a parking garage, up to 100 apartments and possibly retail at the old Owens site on West Market Street.
At the same time, the city is also working to develop the old Gatke property – one of the biggest eyesores in the city – that would also be a mix-use concept with upward of 70 apartments.
Another upcoming project: the old Arnolt Property on Argonne Road will be the future site of a 62-unit multi-family complex. Construction is expected to start this year and comes after the city worked to line up a $1.1 million housing grant through the state and a half million dollar EPA environmental clean-up grant, Thallemer said.
The mixed-use project on North Buffalo Street, which is controlled by a developer, continues to move slowly and would include apartments overlooking Center Lake.
As a result of annexation, the city has also been able to set the stage for three more residential neighborhoods. These include Alta Vista, a 94-lot subdivision off US 30 East; Granite Ridge is a 40-acre development near Park Ridge and Green Briar, and a single-family housing development is in the works along CR 300N. Together, those three developments span 150 acres and will result in 300 new single-family homes, Thallemer said.
The state of city speech also comes on the heels of recent good news from the local orthopedic industry involving Danco Medical, Nextremity Solutions and Medtronic.
Thallemer pointed directly to how the city has worked to support the growth of Nextremity Solutions and Wishbone Medical.
The city supported both of these home-grown orthopedic businesses, he said, with performance-based incentives tied to job growth.
The support quickly paid off when Nextremity was acquired by Swiss manufacturer Medartis, who will base their extremities business, including Research and Development, US operations in Warsaw, Thallemer said.
To keep up with the demand of services, the city completed work on a $30 million wastewater treatment plant and Thallemer said Wednesday that the city hopes to construct a new facility for Public Works next year.
In another matter, Thallemer said the city will continue to review city employee salaries to make sure they are competitive.
Last year, the city council approved a rare 10-percent mid-year hike in the base salary of city police officers. The move resulted in the hiring of seven officers, he said.
Wednesday’s speech marked a return to Center Lake Pavilion where Thallmer delivered a speech two years ago, literally hours before the country began a lockdown as the pandemic gained steam.
Thallemer warned that some revenue sources hurt by the pandemic will continue to impact city finances.
The speech was hosted by Main Street Warsaw, which was recently established, replacing the old Warsaw Community Development Corporation.
Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce CEO Rob Parker said the mission will remain the same.
