By DAVE SCHULTZ
The Wells County Regional Sewer District has a lot going on — finishing up work that is under way in Liberty Center and Murray, planning to get a sanitary sewer collection system installed in Murray, and looking ahead to doing the same in Kingsland and Tocsin.
Needless to say, Monday night’s RSD meeting covered a lot of ground.
The four board members present — Lon Berning, Mike Mossburg, Jon Oman, and Bruce Stinson (Andy Stoller was absent) — approved full billing for Liberty Center and Murray, even though it’s possible the systems for both communities won’t be usable by the time that first bill is due. They have also tentatively planned for an informational meeting for Craigville for Tuesday, March 29, depending on the availability of a suitable venue, and have begun conversations with the Indiana Finance Authority on Kingsland and Tocsin.
The billing for Liberty Center and Murray will come due even though the contractor on the project, VTF Excavation LLC of Celina, Ohio, will not have the systems in both communities operational until sometime in April.
Residents of the two communities have been making debt service payments since late last year when the loan was closed with the State Revolving Fund, part of the IFA. The debt service payments are $35 per month. The price was to go up to the full price of $95 when the work was completed and the systems were operational.
However, because VTF has not been able to complete the projects on time, citing supply chain problems, the full price must be paid by the district’s customers before the service is activated.
The process bothers Lewis Brown, a former RSD board member who is now the district’s superintendent. He had been assuring customers that the systems would be completed before full price for service was required, but that will apparently not be the case.
“I will beg for their forgiveness,” Brown said.
“I’ve never had one go like this,” said Mark Burry, the RSD’s attorney, a veteran of several projects in Adams County. “It’s been a difficult road for everyone.”
Ryan Lefeld of Choice One Engineering, the company that designed and is overseeing the construction work, said he believes that most of the construction on the collection systems should be completed by the end of the month with full completion to follow. He said the system installation process in Murray is about two weeks behind Murray.
Regarding Craigville, Lefeld said he’s been asked several times when the project would start and when it would be completed. Some of that will depend on the bids that come in. The bids will be opened March 17, and it could be June or July before the work could begin.
Regarding Kingsland and Tocsin, Lefeld said, the conversations with IFA officials “have been very good so far.”
The board also approved a sewer use ordinance, spelling out what can be and can’t be placed in the sewer collection system by its users.
The board also took questions from residents of the service area during the meeting.
daves@news-banner.com
