By DAVE SCHULTZ
Two requirements — one that the city develop a master plan for dealing with stormwater and another to facilitate the removal of lime from the city’s former water treatment facility — will probably cost Bluffton somewhere in the vicinity of $75,000.
With Bluffton’s population now over 10,000 people, the city was notified in April of 2022 that it is required to operate as a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System community. The goal is to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff, City Engineer Kelly White told the Bluffton Board of Public Works and Safety Tuesday afternoon.
To make that happen during 2023, which is when White said the city will “have to do its heavy lifting,” White recommended hiring the Indianapolis-based Christopher B. Burke Engineering firm.
The cost of the proposed consultant contract is a not-to-exceed fee of $50,000.
Also, White brought a recommendation to hire SES, an environmental engineering firm from Fort Wayne, to clear the lime from the former water treatment facility on Compromise Lane.
White said that SES “specializes in this type of environmental work.”
The plan is to use American Relief Plan funds for the two contracts.
The Board of Works members — Mayor John Whicker, Scott Mentzer, and Josh Hunt — agreed to send the contract recommendations on to the Bluffton Common Council for formal approval.
In other business:
• A temporary agreement with Pretzels Inc., which will allow the company to be non-compliant in terms of its sanitary sewer output, was tabled for a month to give Tony Fey, the Wastewater Department superintendent, time to fine-tune the agreement.
• Residents of the 700 block of Willowbrook Trail asked the board for help with water pooling in front of their properties. City department heads will look at the situation and bring a recommendation to the board.
• Two handicapped parking spaces were approved at 402 W. Horton St. for customers of a beauty shop.
• Utilities Supervisor Jon Oman asked the board to keep a new lift truck for the Electric Department on the city’s list of requirements. The current truck is a 1998 model, and a new vehicle will cost more than $300,000 with an 18-month delivery lead time.
• Oman also asked for a $1-an-hour merit pay increase for Dick Green, superintendent of the Electric Department. The increase to $33.03 per hour was approved.
• Oman also asked that the pay of Ryan Nash, an employee of the Electric Department, be brought up to $18.50 an hour from his current $16.45 an hour. That will give Nash an equivalent salary to that of a new employee with similar qualifications. Nash was hired in April of 2021.
daves@news-banner.com
