By CHET BAUMGARTNER
Bluffton will most likely build a new $31,860,00 wastewater treatment plant, after the city’s Common Council members unanimously approved the project at their Tuesday meeting.
Members also approved a $3,483,567 sewer rehabilitation project, which will line old pipes with new ones to address cracks and loose joints and prevent storm water from seeping in.
Before the city can begin the projects, it needs the approval of the State Revolving Fund, but Mayor John Whicker said he believes the agency will support the projects.
Whicker also said he plans to introduce new and increased utility rates needed to fund the projects at the next council meeting, but members won’t discuss them until a later public meeting.
For two years, city officials have discussed, debated, dissected, and perhaps even dreaded this project and its inevitable utility rate increase.
But they still voted for it because they need to, members said Tuesday. If they don’t replace the city’s two treatment plants, “the risk is too great,” Rick Elwell said.
“There isn’t going to be a better time than now,” he said.
“I can genuinely tell the public that we have tried to sift through (the details) and get the best product at the best price,” Chandler Gerber said. “We have done what we can. We need to move forward.”
“We need to move forward and invest in our community,” Josh Hunt said.
They also voted Tuesday because an engineering firm, Midwestern Engineers, recently reviewed the project design and scope and essentially offered a second opinion at the city’s request.
And according to this opinion, which City Engineer Kelly White discussed at the meeting, “We are getting the best value right now.
“Hands down, we’ve received very competitive bids,” she relayed.
As part of its review, Midwestern Engineers also calculated the cost to only replace the 1977 plant.
This option, in theory, would cost about $7 million less, but White and council members questioned the actual savings.
First, White said, the city would still need to invest in the 1997 plant for it to operate another 10 to 15 years before inevitably replacing it too, and these investments would decrease the savings.
Furthermore, council members said they didn’t think they would secure such low, competitive bids if they only replaced the 1977 plant, and they also said they didn’t know if they could secure such a low interest rate, and a few percentage points could deplete the hypothetical savings, council member Scott Mentzer said.
In other business, council members:
• Learned that the Bluffton Parks Department secured more than $1 million in grants in 2022. Parks Department Superintendent Brandy Fiechter shared the number during her annual report, which also reviewed the department’s accomplishments, accolades, revenue and improvement expenses. Fiechter also said the community donated $512,832. Mentzer noted that the estimated volunteer hours increased from 1,470 in 2021 to 2,329 in 2022.
• Approved an encroachment agreement for a fence on the property of Jade Heyerly.
• Approved an update to the city’s Title VI policy to help keep the city compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The city needs to maintain its compliance to apply for grants from the Indiana Department of Transportation.
• Received the utility report from BakerTilly.
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