Board of Works Approves Contracts for Pier, Parking and Artwork – InkFreeNews.com

Central lake pier

David Sloan
Times Union

WARSAW — To move forward in the bidding process for the demolition of the Central Lake Pier, the Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety on Friday approved a supplemental agreement between the city and A&Z Engineering for the Central Lake Recreation Trail project.

City Planner Justin Taylor explained, “As we discussed in previous meetings and was also described in the document, the original plan for the Center Lake Walking Trail project was to demolish the existing pier. There are a number of problems with this pier.”

He said they ultimately had to cut that demolition from the original trail design, but they have now identified funds and resources to hopefully move forward with demolition of the pier.

An additional agreement in the amount of $10,280 will allow A&Z Engineering, the preliminary design consultant, to assemble the bid documents needed to rebid the pier demolition portion of the project. Under the supplemental agreement, the total engineering contract value for the project will be $177,130.

Mayor Jeff Grose thanked Taylor for his efforts, as well as Parks Superintendent Larry Plummer, City Engineer Aaron Ott and Public Works Superintendent Dustin Dillon. “There are a lot of hands on here, and I really appreciate that from my office,” Grose said.

Councilwoman Diane Quance said demolishing the pier would have great environmental and public safety benefits. She made a motion to approve the supplemental agreement, and the motion was accepted.

Proposals are due and are expected to open at the next board meeting in November.

Taylor then presented a contract with The Parking Whisperer for $9,250, which included a $7,500 consulting fee and $1,750 for the consultant’s travel for a one-time trip to Warsaw.

“They were our consultants. They initially looked at our downtown area through… a venue study that KEDCO did. They have also been working with us to find a provider for our parking services, so we are in the process. This week we will be receiving proposals from vendors interested in providing us with technology to improve parking enforcement, our ability to issue downtown parking permits and how we manage downtown parking for the benefit of merchants,” Taylor said.

The contract with the consultant is for The Parking Whisperer to review city ordinances.

“With the advancements in technology and the capabilities we will have, we will also have more ability to offer permits and different fee structures for parking downtown. So they will look at that, they will look at where we have two-hour parking and where we have free parking and how we model our downtown,” he said. “So, we’re a very experienced consultant, and we’re very excited to be able to propose to them that we update our ordinance as well, as well as part of this whole effort to improve parking regulations downtown.”

Kwans said the city has a variety of residents who use the downtown area, and the city doesn’t want those residents to be afraid of coming downtown.

The Board approved the contract with the consultant.

The third agreement presented by Taylor was a consulting agreement between the Warsaw Public Arts Commission and SmallBox Consulting Inc. in the amount of $9,800, which will be paid through donations and grants received by WPAC.

He said WPAC sought permission to work with SmallBox, an Indianapolis-based consultant. “They will help the Arts Commission add more structure to what they do,” he said of the bylaw, for example.

WPAC has been adding a more robust program over the years, so there seems to be a greater need to structure what they do, he said.

He confirmed that no city funds would be used to implement the contract.

The council approved the agreement.