By DAVE SCHULTZ
Looking back and looking ahead. Those are the tasks in front of the Wells County Regional Sewer District’s board. Consider that at the board’s meeting Monday night, a lot of attention was paid to the three projects the RSD is responsible for:
• Project 1, the work to install a sanitary sewer collection system in Liberty Center and Murray. While the construction is completed in those two communities, many people have not yet connected to the system.
• Project 2 in Craigville, where installation of a sanitary sewer system is now under construction.
• Project 3 in Kingsland, where the RSD is putting the finishing touches on the financing.
That, in a nutshell, is where things stand for the RSD as of Monday night.
The look back started with the report of Lewis Brown, the district’s superintendent. He noted that 149 connections had been made to the sewer lines in Liberty Center and Murray, but there were still 48 to go.
Brown said 16 property owners have not contacted a contractor to connect their properties to a sewer line will receive a certified letter, which he planned to send out Tuesday morning, telling them they must connect. The remaining 32 property owners that have not connected have at least signed with a contractor. Brown said he would be getting in touch with the contractors, “pushing them to get the work done soon.”
Ryan Lefeld of Choice One Engineering, the RSD’s project manager, reported that the construction work is going well in Craigville.
The next project in Kingsland, however, drew the most attention — even though no construction has been done as of yet.
The RSD board — Andrew Stoller, Leon Berning, Mike Mossburg, Jon Oman, and Bruce Stinson — signed documents concerning the Kingsland work. They gave permission to VTF Excavation of Celina, Ohio — the same contractor used in the first two projects — to begin preparations for work in Kingsland pending final approval of the financing.
The board also approved the treatment agreement with Bluffton for Kingsland. The RSD will pay $889 per connection based on 60 equivalent dwelling units,” said Mark Burry, the RSD’s attorney.
The district also paid $33,200.21 in bills, leaving it with a balance of $63,829.19.
Other payments made were:
• $33,000 to the Indianapolis law firm of Barnes and Thornburgh, which serves as the district’s bond counsel; $64,500 to the government financial consultant firm of BakerTilley for rate study work among other measures; and $28,000 to Burry’s law firm, Miller, Burry, and Brown in Decatur.
• For Liberty Center and Murray — $3,100 to VTF, $10,776 to Choice One Engineering, and $1,312 to Outdoor Concepts.
• For Craigville — $7,320 to Choice One, $250.220 to VTF, and $7,115 to Wessler Engineering for construction supervision.
daves@news-banner.com
