By JONATHAN SNYDER
The Wells County Regional Sewer District was able to discuss behind the scenes issues involving a potential new building, truck and website on Monday.
The Regional Sewer District held the first discussion of their 2024 budget plan. Treasurer of the Wells County Chamber of Commerce Trent Bucher stated that there is about $13 million worth of equipment currently in the ground. While there is significant debt, a large portion of it will be forgiven, according to Bucher. The final budget number for the RSD will be given in their February meeting.
There are few updates for the Craigville project as needed corrections to their punch list line items will be addressed soon. RSD Superintendent Lewis Brown is pleased with VTF Excavation’s willingness to get things right. Project homeowners are still hooking up to the district’s connection system, with 76 customers connected out of 132 in the area.
The completion date for Kingsland’s gravity sewer is still in flux because of Rail-Pro’s delay with the jack and bore process. All the force main and service lines are installed, but the Rail-Pro permit is good for Jan. 15. Ryan Lefeld of Choice One Engineering stated that an update should have been given on Monday, but he has not seen one.
Despite the delay, grinder stations for Kingsland are being installed with 40 stations out of 49 installed. While there is no electrical power for the grinder stations yet, Brown is compiling a list of capable electricians to get the system online. Levi Morrison of Wessler Engineering estimates that all the grinder station pits will be installed by Jan. 12.
“VTF is making great strides towards delivering this project on time, if not ahead of schedule,” said Morrison in his report.
Apart from the main projects, the RSD discussed purchasing a new building for Brown. The structure will give Brown a new office space, while providing storage rooms for spare grinder units and other materials to support the connection system. The district is still searching for the right building to purchase, as some of their initial findings would not fit their needs. District board member Jon Shady along with his compatriots — Leon Berning, Jon Oman and Bruce Stinson — proposed bringing a realtor in to find what they need.
The RSD also discussed the need for a new truck. They currently have one quote for a 2018 truck with 100,000 miles on it, which should cost about $17,500. While the district is pursuing other quotes to satisfy the needs of the State Revolving Fund, any new quotes are projected to be higher than the initial number.
Additionally, the district also passed a motion to search for a new vendor for their website. They are paying $2740.64 to BCS Management for their services. Brown feels that the district has not gotten their money’s worth from the current website.
“Anybody who’s visited the website says that we should get a different website,” said Brown.
The RSD also paid $11,728.59 for various salaries, electric bills and other expenses. In addition, they heard amounts for pay applications involving Choice One, Wessler and VTF. These applications are expected to be approved in the district’s February meeting.
jonathan@news-banner.com
