Author Archives: amandaguzman@goshencity.com

Lane closure on Main St. and College Ave.

As part of the Goshen College Westlawn Renovation project, the designated right-hand turn lane on Main Street at College Avenue will be closed starting this Tuesday, April 9th. Vehicles continuing north and those turning east onto College Avenue will both use the same lane. The lane restriction is expected to last approximately two months. Please be mindful of potential traffic delays in this area and plan your commute accordingly.

Poison Hemlock

We want to raise awareness regarding the presence of poison hemlock, a highly invasive and toxic plant species in our area. Poison hemlock not only poses a significant health risk to humans, pets, and livestock if ingested but also presents dangers to skin and respiratory health upon contact or inhalation.

It is crucial to exercise caution when encountering this plant. Despite its aggressive nature and resilience, it can be removed manually with gloves and patience. However, it is imperative to dispose of it properly by placing it in the trash. Do not burn poison hemlock as it releases harmful toxins into the air, posing further health risks.

Poison hemlock is classified a noxious weed. A noxious weed refers to any plant species that is invasive, harmful, or detrimental to ecosystems, agriculture, human health, or the economy. These weeds typically outcompete native vegetation, reducing biodiversity and causing ecological imbalances. They can also cause significant economic losses by reducing crop yields, clogging waterways, and interfering with infrastructure. Control and eradication efforts are often necessary to manage the spread and impact of noxious weeds.

A noxious weed refers to any plant species that is invasive, harmful, or detrimental to ecosystems, agriculture, human health, or the economy. These weeds typically outcompete native vegetation, reducing biodiversity and causing ecological imbalances. They can also cause significant economic losses by reducing crop yields, clogging waterways, and interfering with infrastructure. Control and eradication efforts are often necessary to manage the spread and impact of noxious weeds.

For those interested in learning more about identifying and effectively managing poison hemlock, we recommend referring to the comprehensive guide provided in the 2023 issue of the Purdue University Landscape Report: Purdue University Landscape Report on Poison Hemlock.

Invitation for Bids

 PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF ONE (1) DIESEL GENERATOR SET 

INVITATION 

The City of Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety is soliciting sealed offers for the purchase and installation of one (1) diesel generator set. 

Offers are also being solicited for an optional item. The city reserves the right to select the optional offer. 

The Specification Documents may be obtained from the City of Goshen’s Clerk-Treasurer’s Office, 202 South Fifth St., Goshen, IN 46528 or the City of Goshen’s current Bidding Opportunities portal at https://goshenindiana.org/bidding-opportunities. The City shall not be responsible for documents obtained from any other source. 

Offers shall be submitted in accordance with the Instructions to Bidders and all contractual terms and conditions that are included in the Specification Documents. In addition to price, offers will be evaluated based on whether the bidder is responsible, and if the bidder’s offer is responsive. 

Offers shall be filed with the City of Goshen Clerk-Treasurer’s Office, 202 South Fifth Street, Goshen, IN 46528 until 3:45 p.m. April 11, 2024 at which time all offers received will be taken to the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting to be publicly opened and read aloud. The Board meeting will be held in City Court Room/Council Chambers at the Goshen Police & Court Building, 111 East Jefferson Street, Goshen. 

The City of Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety reserves the right to reject any and all offers, delete any portions thereof, to waive any informalities or irregularities in any bid received, and to award a contract, consistent with Indiana law, to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder. Award of contract is contingent on the availability of funds. 

Invitation for bids

FOR THE PURCHASE OF TWO (2) CHASSIS/CAB UNITS 

The City of Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety is soliciting sealed offers for two (2) 2024 or newer chassis/cab units for use in the City of Goshen’s Water & Sewer Department. The Board of Public Works and Safety is hereinafter referred to as “City”. 

The Specification Documents may be obtained from the City of Goshen’s Clerk-Treasurer’s Office, 202 South Fifth St., Goshen, IN 46528 or the City of Goshen’s current Bidding Opportunities portal at https://goshenindiana.org/bidding-opportunities. The City shall not be responsible for documents obtained from any other source. 

Offers shall be submitted in accordance with the Instructions to Bidders and all contractual terms and conditions that are included in the Specification Documents. In addition to price, offers will be evaluated based on whether the Bidder is responsible, and if the Bidder’s offer is responsive. 

Offers shall be filed with the City of Goshen Clerk-Treasurer’s Office, 202 South Fifth Street, Goshen, IN 46528 until 3:45 p.m. April 25, 2024 at which time all offers received will be taken to the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting to be publicly opened and read aloud. The Board meeting will be held in City Court Room/Council Chambers at the Goshen Police & Court Building, 111 East Jefferson Street, Goshen. 

The City of Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety reserves the right to reject any and all offers, delete any portions thereof, to waive any informalities or irregularities in any bid received, and to award a contract, consistent with Indiana law, to the lowest responsible and responsive Bidder. Award of contract is contingent on the availability of funds. 

Invitation for bids

 CITY OF GOSHEN INVITATION FOR BIDS 

FOR THE PURCHASE OF MINI EXCAVATOR 

The City of Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety is soliciting sealed offers for a 2023 or newer mini excavator for use in the City of Goshen’s Cemeteries Department. The Board of Public Works and Safety is hereinafter referred to as “City”. 

Offers are also being solicited for the following optional item. The City reserves the right to select the optional offer. Offers for the optional item are not conditional on offers offered for the mini excavator. 

The Specification Documents may be obtained from the City of Goshen’s Clerk-Treasurer’s Office, 202 South Fifth St., Goshen, IN 46528 or the City of Goshen’s current Bidding Opportunities portal at https://goshenindiana.org/bidding-opportunities. The City shall not be responsible for documents obtained from any other source. 

Offers shall be submitted in accordance with the Instructions to Bidders and all contractual terms and conditions that are included in the Specification Documents. In addition to price, offers will be evaluated based on whether the Bidder is responsible, and if the Bidder’s offer is responsive. 

Offers shall be filed with the City of Goshen Clerk-Treasurer’s Office, 202 South Fifth Street, Goshen, IN 46528 until 1:45 p.m. December 11, 2023 at which time all offers received will be taken to the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting to be publicly opened and read aloud. The Board meeting will be held in City Court Room/Council Chambers at the Goshen Police & Court Building, 111 East Jefferson Street, Goshen. 

The City of Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety reserves the right to reject any and all offers, delete any portions thereof, to waive any informalities or irregularities in any bid received, and to award a contract, consistent with Indiana law, to the lowest responsible and responsive Bidder. Award of contract is contingent on the availability of funds. 

Invitation for bids

 CITY OF GOSHEN INVITATION FOR QUOTES 

FOR THE PURCHASE OF HYDRAULIC EXTRICATION TOOLS 

The City of Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety is soliciting sealed quotes for various hydraulic extrication tools for use in the City of Goshen’s Fire Department. The Board of Public Works and Safety is hereinafter referred to as “City”. 

Offers shall be submitted in accordance with the Instructions to Quoters and all contractual terms and conditions that are included in the Specification Documents. In addition to price, offers will be evaluated based on whether the Quoter is responsible, and if the Quoter’s offer is responsive. 

Offers shall be filed with the City of Goshen Clerk-Treasurer’s Office, 202 South Fifth Street, Goshen, IN 46528 until 3:45 p.m. April 4, 2024 at which time all offers received will be taken to the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting to be publicly opened and read aloud. The Board meeting will be held in City Court Room/Council Chambers at the Goshen Police & Court Building, 111 East Jefferson Street, Goshen. 

The City of Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety reserves the right to reject any and all offers, delete any portions thereof, to waive any informalities or irregularities in any bid received, and to award a contract, consistent with Indiana law, to the lowest responsible and responsive Quoter. Award of contract is contingent on the availability of funds. 

Boil Order for Lincolnway E

In Consultation with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, it has been de-termined that the water customers should boil their drinking water. This precautionary measure is recommended because a water main valve will be shut off to do repairs in your area. 

It is recommended that all cooking and drinking water be brought to a complete boil for five (5) minutes before using. Please con-tinue to boil all cooking and drinking water un-til we notify you that it is no longer necessary. 

Until we resolve this drinking water problem, we are also asking that you conserve water and only use what is necessary for household and personal needs. 

We appreciate your cooperation during this time and will update you as necessary until the drinking water problem has been solved. If you have any questions concerning the drinking water problem, please contact the water de-partment at 574-534-5306.

A Boil advisory is not as bad as it seems. Whenever there is a disruption of water ser-vice, it is always a cautious measure to issue a boil advisory allowing our customers to make an informed decision based on their particular situation. There is an inherent risk of contami-nation when the soil around the pipe is dis-turbed due to the main break and subsequent repair of the water pipes. 

We take every precaution to minimize the risk of contamination. Water is then tested in cycles of 24 hours to ensure that there are no contaminants present. Two sets of samples are taken 24 hours apart, when both samples come back clean the boil advisory is lifted. 

Normal water pressure for city service is 60 pounds of pressure. During a boil order, pres-sure may become low until the problem is fixed. 

Clientes de Agua de Goshen Orden De Ebullición 

En consulta con el Departamento de Gestio n Ambiental de Indiana, se ha determinado que los clientes de agua deben hervir su agua potable. Esta medida de precau-cio n se recomienda porque una válvula principal de agua se apagará para realizar reparaciones en su área. 

Se recomienda que toda el agua de coccio n y bebida se lleve a una ebullicio n completa durante cinco (5) minu-tos antes de usar. Por favor, continu e hirviendo toda el agua de cocinar y bebida hasta que le notifiquemos que ya no es necesaria. 

Hasta que resue lvanos este problema de agua potable, tambie n le pedimos que conserve el agua y utilice so lo lo necesario para las necesidades dome sticas y personales. 

Agradecemos su cooperacio n durante este tiempo y le informaremos si es necesario hasta que se haya resuelto el problema del agua potable. Si tiene alguna pregunta sobre el problema del agua potable, po ngase en contacto con el departamento de agua al 574-534-5306 

Un consejo de ebullicio n no es tan malo como parece. Siempre que se produzca una interrupcio n del servicio de agua, es siempre una medida de precaucio n emitir un aviso de ebullicio n que permita a nuestros clientes to-mar una decisio n informada basada en su situacio n par-ticular. Existe un riesgo inherente de contaminacio n cuando el suelo alrededor de la tuberí a es perturbado debido a la ruptura principal y posterior reparacio n de las tuberí as de agua. 

Tomamos todas las precauciones para minimizar el riesgo de contaminacio n. Luego se prueba el agua en ciclos de 24 horas para asegurarse de que no hay conta-minantes presentes. Dos conjuntos de muestras se to-man a intervalos de 24 horas, cuando ambas muestras vuelven limpias se levanta el aviso de ebullicio n. 

La presio n normal del agua para el servicio de la ciu-dad es de 60 libras de presio n. Durante un orden de ebullicio n, la presio n puede bajar hasta que el problema se arregle. 

Elkhart County Pay Dirt 2024

Where cultivation and construction meet.

Tuesday, March 5th 2024 at 6 PM – 8 PM

Elkhart County 4H Fairgrounds 17746 CR 34 Goshen, IN 46528

The evening of Tuesday, March 5th the City will hold its annual Flood Resilience Public Meeting. This event is free and part of the paydirt conference. The public meeting will be an opportunity for city and county residents to hear details of Goshen’s Flood Resilience Plan, the impacts of flooding in the City, efforts to both adapt to and mitigate flooding, and to interact with experts and displays.

The second event will be a complimentary municipal breakfast that will provide required training on good housekeeping and pollution prevention to municipal employees. 

Municipal Breakfast

Thursday, March 7th 2024

8:00 AM – 11:00 AM

The City of Goshen is one of four municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) communities in Elkhart County and together we are the Greater Elkhart County Stormwater Partnership. The MS4 communities are the City of Elkhart, the City of Goshen, Elkhart County, and the Town of Bristol. 

The Elkhart County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has been a supporting partner of the Greater Elkhart County Stormwater Partnership since the Partnership was formed in May of 2005. The SWCD is an integral partner in implementing public education, outreach, and involvement, as well as reviewing stormwater pollution prevention plans and conducting construction site inspections. 

The city of Goshen supports the Conference as part of the Greater Elkhart County Stormwater Partnership.

Aaron Sawatsky-Kingsley, Goshen’s Environmental Resilience Department head is one of the speakers in the Urban Conservation Path breakout session on Wednesday, March 6 and the city’s Stormwater Department will be there to help moderate sessions as needed. 

Breakout Session

PDH Credits pending ACEC approval

Design Path

  1. Rob Beck, IN Department of Environmental Management
  2. Donovan Wilczynski, Keramida Inc.
  3. Kate Barret, St, Joseph River Basin Commission

Contractor Path

  1. Chad Montgomery, IN Ready Mix Concrete Association
  2. Joe Moore, Erosion Construction Services
  3. Rob Beck, IN Dept. of Environmental Management

Urban Conservation Path

  1. Jenna Wait, Soil & Water Conservation District
  2. Krystofer Yacks, Aquascapes of Michiana
  3. Aaron Kingsley, Goshen Department of Environmental Resilience

Learn more about the Pay Dirt conference and events here: https://www.elkcoswcd.org/pay-dirt/

Late-Winter Pruning

The Goshen Forestry Division will begin young tree pruning the week of February 19. Our initial focus will be on Oak trees in neighborhoods between Lincoln and Plymouth Avenues. Specifically, we will plan to work on street trees which the City planted in or near the right-of-way over the past 12 years.

We will be working at structural pruning. Young trees can benefit especially from this kind of attention. Structural pruning looks at the growth patterns and habits of a young tree, in combination with its surroundings – where are there existing obstacles? where might there be future conflicts? Is there plenty of space for the tree to grow? Is it crowded by buildings, street, driveway, other uses? Noticing how the young tree is growing and what it may face in the future helps us to make good decisions about guiding the tree’s growth by removing certain branches.

The term “structural” pruning may include cuts that help a tree to recover from past damage – storm damage or human damage to a branch – but primarily refers to cuts that remove branches which may be detrimental to the overall structure and strength of the tree. Sometimes branches may cross and rub in the interior of a tree, for instance; while this is not a structural issue for small branches and twigs, occasionally such branches mature and become large, creating open wounds which weaken the tree. Branches sometimes grow weak attachments to the trunk of the tree, predisposing them to being torn out of the tree by storms. This can often leave a tree with wounds which are too large to adequately heal. Structural pruning seeks to correct or remove these kinds of branches in order to eliminate the potential for serious damage in the future. In many ways, structural pruning is like preventive medicine, doing the right things now to create good health outcomes later.

The work which we will be doing is really only necessary for urban trees, or trees which are close to human activities. These trees spend their lives in fairly unnatural and stressful settings – impacted by machines, vehicles, chemicals, digging, compaction, and various kinds of unintended and intended abuse. Good pruning can help to reduce some of the conflict which they will experience with human land use practices, thereby reducing the potential for some kinds of damage. And a healthier tree is a sounder, more productive tree, one which benefits the people living near to it with shade, shelter, and beauty.

As I mentioned above, we will focus initially only on pruning Oak trees. Pruning Oaks at this time of year is an important way to protect them from a deadly fungus, called Oak Wilt. The fungus needs warmer temperatures to grow and spread, and can infect an Oak tree through an open wound. Pruning Oaks during this strategic moment, when temperatures are cool, helps us to feel more secure that the fungus will not be present, will allow the wound to harden off a bit, and give the tree the best and longest portions of the growing season to begin compartmentalizing (healing) the cut. Our first several weeks of work this year will be focused exclusively on Oak trees, to make sure that we complete the necessary work on them.

One thing I’ve learned over the years through experience, research, and learning from other arborists is that pruning in late winter and early spring is really the ideal time for most tree species in terms of healing after the work. This is because trees will shortly be coming out of winter dormancy and giving a lot of energy to growth. During the spring a tree can quickly begin to compartmentalize – seal off an injury and surround it with living tissue – properly placed prune cuts. Additionally, prune cuts timed for late winter / early spring allow a tree the full length of the growing season to continue growing over the wound, as opposed to cuts made in late summer or fall, or even winter.

In fact, one of the things which I learned through experience – that is, the hard way – is that fall and winter pruning can actually be detrimental to a tree. When the live tissue of a tree (cambium) is exposed – say through pruning – the tissue begins to dry out. If the tree is not active, as is the case in the fall and winter, the tree has no way to slow or prevent further drying. As a result, I’ve seen fall and winter prune cuts open to double and triple their original size by the following growing season, presenting the tree with a much more significant wound, and the increasing risk of decay.

Getting young trees growing in the right direction is a great investment in future tree canopy.

Aaron Sawatsky-Kingsley is the director of Environmental Resilience for the city of Goshen. He can be reached at aaronkingsley@goshencity.com or at 574-537-3850.