By JONATHAN SNYDER
The meeting of Markle’s Town Council on Wednesday mainly involved getting finances for water distribution and the water treatment plant projects.
There were three topics with relevance to these projects — one of which is a bond anticipation note from Baker Tilly LLP, an advisory, tax and assurance firm the council approved to perform a rate study for the water treatment plant project. The rate study will figure out the types of services the water treatment plant needs and will give a cost estimate for the project as a whole. The rate study will cost $35,000.
Casey Irwin of DLZ Corporation also presented a supplemental agreement for both projects. This agreement outlines that DLZ will complete and develop preliminary options and budgets for the wastewater treatment plant, as well as a topographic survey and construction work for replacing the water main on Lee and Sparks Street.
The contract supplement brings the cost of the project to $420,000. DLZ also notified the council that they have applied for a Community Crossings Matching Grant to help restore the streets they break up. This will include improvements to the streets, sidewalks and stormwater drains.
The final related topic to the water distribution project was the first reading of an ordinance allowing Markle to create a bond for the cost of a rate study and any potential increase to the cost of the water projects. The council needs a second reading of the ordinance before approval since council member Matthew Doss was not physically present; he joined the meeting via Zoom.
Additionally, the council heard the 2023 Wells Economic Development report from Executive Director Chad Kline. Some of the highlights included the founding of Imagine Early, an early learning coalition, over $20,000,000 invested into Wells’ cities and towns, and an unemployment rate of 2.4%. Kline stated that Adams County is the only one with a lower unemployment rate than Wells in Indiana.
The council also approved a right-of-way permit application from Citizens Telephone Corporation, allowing them to install fiber optic cables underneath the downtown area. Citizens will use a directional boring process for the fiberoptic cables, which involves steering a drill underground where it should not disturb the surface. If the surface does get disturbed, however, Citizens will pay for any property damage should such damages occur.
Markle Operations Manager Mike Grant gave an annual report on the water and wastewater plants near the end of the meeting. Grant mentioned that the wastewater treatment plant is running efficiently, with 95% of total suspended solids being removed and 99% of ammonia removed from all the water received.
Grant mentioned that the Water Department would need an additional truck sometime this year. Every six years, one of the trucks gets rotated out of commission, and a new one is purchased. This purchase will bring the fleet up to four trucks.
The junk issue outside of Hotel Z has also seen significant improvement, according to the council. Hotel Z has placed three walls around the dumpster and has done work on the malfunctioning fire suppression system and backflow prevention system. Clerk-Treasurer Stephanie Hensley stated that the hotel is making good progress.
Markle also approved a three-month contract extension with Republic Services. With the contract originally expiring on March 31 and a request for a proposal needing 30 days in circulation, the extension gives Markle extra time to ask questions about what the proposals should contain.
The council later announced a new text alert system where citizens can get town updates sent directly to them via text message. Brochures for the service will be mailed soon, and citizens can opt into the service by texting “MARKLE” to 91896.
jonathan@news-banner.com
