Commissioners Hear About Next Steps For Sewer District
December 24, 2019 at 12:40 a.m.
Commissioners Hear About Next Steps For Sewer District
By David [email protected]
During the Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting Monday, county attorney Chad Miner said, “The Tippy-Chapman Regional Sewer District, we did get that approved by IDEM, so now we’re kind of on to the next phase, which, at this point, the main thing is going to be making appointments to that board for that district.”
Kenneth K. Jones, president and chief executive officer of Jones Petrie Rafinski, said there was a “flurry” of activity from the residents in the regional district.
“A lot of people have been contacting myself and others relative to the potential of appointments to the board,” Jones said, noting that 11 or 12 people have offered to serve on the district’s board. The board will have seven members.
The county commissioners will appoint two to that board, with the county council appointing two and Tippecanoe Township, Plain Township and the treatment provider each appointing one. Commissioner Cary Groninger later asked how long the terms were, but Jones didn’t have the information with him on that. Miner said he thought it was four years, but might be one to two years initially for some board members.
“It is kind of a rotating term, so we’re never going to vacate that board in its entirety. It’ll always be one or two at a time,” Jones said.
He reminded the commissioners, “In the preliminary engineering report that was provided, IDEM, in preparation of the establishment of the district, we had evaluated up to three treatment options.”
One option was with Lakeland Regional Sewer District, one was with the city of Warsaw and the third was for the sewer district to construct its own wastewater plant.
“Out of the three of those, the city of Warsaw was the least costly,” Jones said. “So, however, we still need to have those conversations to move forward and we want to revisit those, but if we could at least get the first six appointed, we would have enough folks to start work on the project – the establishment of the district itself and moving forward.”
After the board appointments are made and there’s at least a quorum, Jones said the new district board trustees would be asked to establish its first inaugural meeting. At that time, the board would elect officers, adopt a set of rules, maybe work on its mission statement, retain advisers and establish their normal meeting time, date and location per month. Generally, the board would meet once a month, but Jones said there might be times when it will need to meet more often than that.
“After that, the hard work of the district will begin. There will be – depending on how they decide, when they decide to advance the project that was the initiating project for the district – we would probably encourage them to update the preliminary engineering report, which is the same document that you had completed in submission to IDEM for the establishment of the district,” Jones said.
He said some environmental review will have to be added, as well as an updated funding model. Financial consultants bakertilly will help with that funding model. The required facility plan will have to be submitted, and must include the district operating structure. Jones said the structure is “pretty important” because it gives IDEM the assurance that “we really know what we’re doing.”
Right after that, the funding applications would be submitted.
“The project can proceed probably as quickly as the board, the new trustees, decide it will. And again, they would have the authority to advance the project and bring the project to construction potentially into operation,” Jones said, adding that he anticipated a busy 2020 for the district board.
Jones said the discussion on the regional sewer started more than 40 years ago.
“So, it’s a long time coming,” he said.
Jones said IDEM spent some time on the regional sewer district after its public hearing earlier this year. He said IDEM was pretty happy with it.
“It is going to be a significant project in the state of Indiana, and especially when it comes to a rural utility start-up, it’s going to be a substantial move,” Jones said.
Miner said the commissioners could make their two appointments by their Jan. 14 meeting. He and Jones will go to the county council meeting in January for theirs.
“I talked to the township trustees, as well, so hopefully by the end of January we might be close to – like what Ken was saying, the actual treatment provider, that might take a little longer to sort out because it’s dependent on who is going to be the ultimate treatment provider – but if we can at least get the first six (district board members) by the end of January, I think that will be doable,” Miner said.
During the Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting Monday, county attorney Chad Miner said, “The Tippy-Chapman Regional Sewer District, we did get that approved by IDEM, so now we’re kind of on to the next phase, which, at this point, the main thing is going to be making appointments to that board for that district.”
Kenneth K. Jones, president and chief executive officer of Jones Petrie Rafinski, said there was a “flurry” of activity from the residents in the regional district.
“A lot of people have been contacting myself and others relative to the potential of appointments to the board,” Jones said, noting that 11 or 12 people have offered to serve on the district’s board. The board will have seven members.
The county commissioners will appoint two to that board, with the county council appointing two and Tippecanoe Township, Plain Township and the treatment provider each appointing one. Commissioner Cary Groninger later asked how long the terms were, but Jones didn’t have the information with him on that. Miner said he thought it was four years, but might be one to two years initially for some board members.
“It is kind of a rotating term, so we’re never going to vacate that board in its entirety. It’ll always be one or two at a time,” Jones said.
He reminded the commissioners, “In the preliminary engineering report that was provided, IDEM, in preparation of the establishment of the district, we had evaluated up to three treatment options.”
One option was with Lakeland Regional Sewer District, one was with the city of Warsaw and the third was for the sewer district to construct its own wastewater plant.
“Out of the three of those, the city of Warsaw was the least costly,” Jones said. “So, however, we still need to have those conversations to move forward and we want to revisit those, but if we could at least get the first six appointed, we would have enough folks to start work on the project – the establishment of the district itself and moving forward.”
After the board appointments are made and there’s at least a quorum, Jones said the new district board trustees would be asked to establish its first inaugural meeting. At that time, the board would elect officers, adopt a set of rules, maybe work on its mission statement, retain advisers and establish their normal meeting time, date and location per month. Generally, the board would meet once a month, but Jones said there might be times when it will need to meet more often than that.
“After that, the hard work of the district will begin. There will be – depending on how they decide, when they decide to advance the project that was the initiating project for the district – we would probably encourage them to update the preliminary engineering report, which is the same document that you had completed in submission to IDEM for the establishment of the district,” Jones said.
He said some environmental review will have to be added, as well as an updated funding model. Financial consultants bakertilly will help with that funding model. The required facility plan will have to be submitted, and must include the district operating structure. Jones said the structure is “pretty important” because it gives IDEM the assurance that “we really know what we’re doing.”
Right after that, the funding applications would be submitted.
“The project can proceed probably as quickly as the board, the new trustees, decide it will. And again, they would have the authority to advance the project and bring the project to construction potentially into operation,” Jones said, adding that he anticipated a busy 2020 for the district board.
Jones said the discussion on the regional sewer started more than 40 years ago.
“So, it’s a long time coming,” he said.
Jones said IDEM spent some time on the regional sewer district after its public hearing earlier this year. He said IDEM was pretty happy with it.
“It is going to be a significant project in the state of Indiana, and especially when it comes to a rural utility start-up, it’s going to be a substantial move,” Jones said.
Miner said the commissioners could make their two appointments by their Jan. 14 meeting. He and Jones will go to the county council meeting in January for theirs.
“I talked to the township trustees, as well, so hopefully by the end of January we might be close to – like what Ken was saying, the actual treatment provider, that might take a little longer to sort out because it’s dependent on who is going to be the ultimate treatment provider – but if we can at least get the first six (district board members) by the end of January, I think that will be doable,” Miner said.
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