By DAVE SCHULTZ
It’s becoming an understatement to say that the board of the Wells County Regional Sewer District is not pleased with the progress being made on the installation of a sanitary sewer collection network in Craigville.
A meeting will be held as soon as possible with the owner of VTF Excavation LLC. The RSD will be represented by Bruce Stinson, the RSD board’s president; Ryan LeFeld of Choice One Engineering, the engineer of the project; and Lewis Brown, the RSD’s superintendent.
If necessary, the group will travel to Celina, Ohio, where VTF is headquartered.
It was not made immediately clear what kind of a deadline the company is facing, but it’s apparently coming up quickly. No one at Monday night’s monthly meeting of the RSD’s board was particularly pleased with the progress — or, more particularly, the lack of progress — in Craigville.
Brandon Wright, who owns property in Craigville, addressed the board at the beginning of Monday night’s meeting. He’s not happy because he has to pay full price for monthly sewer service, due to the payment deadline put in place by the State Revolving Fund, part of the Indiana Finance Authority. That is the case even though he is not being provided the sanitary sewer service he and other Craigville-area residents are supposed to be receiving.
He let the board know that a formal complaint has been filed with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. He also noted that he’s contacted a Fort Wayne TV station.
The board understands the frustration expressed by Wright and others in the community, but the board members — Stinson, Leon Berning, Andy Stoller, Jon Oman, and Dr. Richard Jackson — have, until now, been reluctant to fine the company for its delays. The amount of the fine could apparently be $1,000 a day.
“It seems to be a very, very slow process,” Brown said. Stinson put it this way: “I think two more weeks and something’s got to be done, but I want to talk to them first.”
Brown, in his monthly report, said some property owners from Phase 1 of the RSD’s work — in Liberty Center (seven) and Murray (one) — still have not connected to the completed sanitary sewage collection networks in those two communities.
daves@news-banner.com
