Lakeland Sewer to Fill Fourth Vacated Seat

July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.

By Jordan Fouts-

NORTH WEBSTER – Jim Haney was elected president Thursday of the Lakeland Regional Sewer District board, which has seen four out of seven seats change hands in recent weeks.
Stew Lambert, a part-time area resident who served as vice president, was the most recent resignation when he decided to step aside about two weeks before the meeting, according to Haney.
Before that, board President Dave Doctor resigned for health reasons May 10, following the resignation of Ron Truex for personal reasons and Bob Weaver due to new state laws on residency requirements. The three were replaced by Greg Mitchell, Bob Marcuccilli and Brad Jackson during the County Comissioners meeting May 21.
The County Council is expected to name a replacement for Lambert this Thursday.
Also during the meeting, board attorney Andrew Boxberger suggested he begin eminent domain proceedings in order for the district to close the deal on two pump station sites. Boxberger said the owners of the two 60-by-80-foot plots have been unresponsive to requests to clear the liens or morgages on the properties, and that, at a month overdue, the purchase agreements they signed “are getting stale.”
He said eminent domain proceedings would allow the district to receive the properties with the liens removed, and that the owners would still receive the agreed upon price, which is higher than the appraised value of the land.
Boxberger said he may at least broach the topic with the property owners but not necessarily file anything.
And the board approved a one-year extension of the bond anticipation note the district holds to help fund construction, at the current interest rate of around 4 percent.
They also discussed coming up with a metered discharge formula that would save users money against the flat $5 per user rate the Kosciusko County Drainage Board would otherwise charge, which would cost about $8,000 to $10,000 per year.
And they gave tentative approval to accepting Crane Pumps and Systems’ bid of $2.8 million for 1,300 grinder pumps, pending approval from the pump advisory committee. Crane was one of four bidders in the district’s third round of seeking a pump supplier, and came in under the previous low bid of $3.6 million.[[In-content Ad]]

NORTH WEBSTER – Jim Haney was elected president Thursday of the Lakeland Regional Sewer District board, which has seen four out of seven seats change hands in recent weeks.
Stew Lambert, a part-time area resident who served as vice president, was the most recent resignation when he decided to step aside about two weeks before the meeting, according to Haney.
Before that, board President Dave Doctor resigned for health reasons May 10, following the resignation of Ron Truex for personal reasons and Bob Weaver due to new state laws on residency requirements. The three were replaced by Greg Mitchell, Bob Marcuccilli and Brad Jackson during the County Comissioners meeting May 21.
The County Council is expected to name a replacement for Lambert this Thursday.
Also during the meeting, board attorney Andrew Boxberger suggested he begin eminent domain proceedings in order for the district to close the deal on two pump station sites. Boxberger said the owners of the two 60-by-80-foot plots have been unresponsive to requests to clear the liens or morgages on the properties, and that, at a month overdue, the purchase agreements they signed “are getting stale.”
He said eminent domain proceedings would allow the district to receive the properties with the liens removed, and that the owners would still receive the agreed upon price, which is higher than the appraised value of the land.
Boxberger said he may at least broach the topic with the property owners but not necessarily file anything.
And the board approved a one-year extension of the bond anticipation note the district holds to help fund construction, at the current interest rate of around 4 percent.
They also discussed coming up with a metered discharge formula that would save users money against the flat $5 per user rate the Kosciusko County Drainage Board would otherwise charge, which would cost about $8,000 to $10,000 per year.
And they gave tentative approval to accepting Crane Pumps and Systems’ bid of $2.8 million for 1,300 grinder pumps, pending approval from the pump advisory committee. Crane was one of four bidders in the district’s third round of seeking a pump supplier, and came in under the previous low bid of $3.6 million.[[In-content Ad]]
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