WARSAW — The Warsaw Board of Works meeting held this morning, Jan. 4, was full of great news to start the new year off right.

Warsaw Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen informed the board that the city recently made the final bond payment for the current city hall building. The building at 102 S. Buffalo St. has been home to city hall since 2013.

“I think this city hall has served our city very well and served our downtown well,” commented Mayor Joseph Thallemer. “I truly feel the city and the community benefited from it and now that it’s paid off it’s a little easier to say that. I’m very thankful that we were able to maintain this building and this downtown. We’re obviously committed to downtown and I think the vibrancy of our downtown is a big reason of why we are all here.”

Today’s meeting was also the first meeting for Scott Reust in his new role as city attorney. Thallemer made it a special point to welcome him before the meeting officially began.

The Warsaw Parks Department dominated the majority of the meeting with five items on the agenda. The board approved a contract of $500 for Kara Schafer to perform painting instructions for Coffee and Canvas classes on Jan. 11, March 8, May 10, Sep. 13 and Nov. 8. The board also approved two contracts for the upcoming daddy-daughter dance, including Our Father’s House for catering services at $6 per person and Derek Tenney for DJ services at $250.

The board accepted a $1,500 grant from KREMC Operation Round-Up. This grant will be used for the annual family carnival. A contract of $1,888.88 per month for nine months with Anderson Property Management was also approved for Central Park maintenance.

In other news:

• The board approved a new road closing request form. It’s thought that using a uniform form for road closing requests will streamline the process.
• A pay application for the Buffalo Street project to Selge Construction was approved.
• The stormwater department was approved for two memorandum of understandings, one with the Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams and one with Paddlers for Conservation. Both agreements covered education and outreach efforts that are required for the department to maintain its MS4 rating.
• A contract with HRP Construction was approved for the airport industrial park sanitary sewer. The bid award was granted during the previous meeting and the contract totals $6,090,000.