Leesburg Facing Sewer Issues
October 11, 2022 at 12:51 a.m.
By Jackie [email protected]
The Council will discuss the schedules after Councilman Tom Moore looks at the lift station with Derek Tenney, of Tenney & Sons, and they bring recommendations back to the Council.
Councilman Doug Jones said there has been a scary escalation in repairs to the system. Moore said the system is getting older.
Tenney gave an update on the lift station.
Over Labor Day weekend, the lift station “lost power from NIPSCO on one leg” and went into backup generator mode. One of the variable frequency drives (VFD) inside the electrical panel was destroyed due to the generator running out of fuel.
One of the pumps was pulled out and had one bad seal in it. It has been repaired and everything should be put back in Wednesday. A VFD for the lift station to use was found and another VFD was ordered, Tenney said.
Diagnostics was done on the electronics component, especially with the call-in component, and the only thing found was it was not grounding properly, so it’s calling in when it’s not supposed to and not calling in when it’s supposed to, he said. Tenney is going to call their call-out service, Mission Repair, and see if they can point him in the direction of what could be causing the issue.
In other business, Street Commissioner Craig Charlton said he talked with homeowners on Old Ind. 15 about having a release from the town for the homeowners to repair their retaining wall.
Moore said the town has never had an encroachment agreement with that property since the retaining wall is on the edge of the street. Jones said the property has a retaining wall, but it needs to be redone. The property has had issues with vehicles going into the house. Charlton said the wall is beyond what the town is responsible for, but it is in the public right-of-way.
Moore said he talked with Area Plan and they asked if the town had an encroachment agreement, but wasn’t sure if the town needed one. Town attorney Nick Jacobs said he will look into the situation.
Moore also said he wants some signage on Old Ind. 15 to make drivers aware that hen vehicles are in the town limits of Leesburg, the speed drops from 55 mph to 25 mph.
The Council briefly talked about its refuse ordinance.
The Council has been working on rewording the current ordinance since April because one of the problems the town has is people having excessive trash and other debris on their properties.
Moore brought up the question of how the town should wait after giving the resident a warning before the town could proceed to take care of the problem and keep track of the expenses.
Jones said other ordinances had a time period of 14 days and would be consistent with the town’s protocol. That timeframe would be easier and allow the resident to take care of the issue.
Councilwoman Christina Archer also said she believes the only thing left is to publicize the fact the town is going to vote on the ordinance.
Jacobs said the town has to publicize it in the newspaper at least 10 days in advance since the ordinance will have fines involved. He will take care of the notification so the Council can vote on the ordinance during its November meeting.
Also:
• Charlton would like to spend some of the $70,000 that has to be spent by 2024 and use the money on the curb project on the north side of Van Buren Street.
• The Council was reminded trick-or-treating hours are set for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31.
The Council will discuss the schedules after Councilman Tom Moore looks at the lift station with Derek Tenney, of Tenney & Sons, and they bring recommendations back to the Council.
Councilman Doug Jones said there has been a scary escalation in repairs to the system. Moore said the system is getting older.
Tenney gave an update on the lift station.
Over Labor Day weekend, the lift station “lost power from NIPSCO on one leg” and went into backup generator mode. One of the variable frequency drives (VFD) inside the electrical panel was destroyed due to the generator running out of fuel.
One of the pumps was pulled out and had one bad seal in it. It has been repaired and everything should be put back in Wednesday. A VFD for the lift station to use was found and another VFD was ordered, Tenney said.
Diagnostics was done on the electronics component, especially with the call-in component, and the only thing found was it was not grounding properly, so it’s calling in when it’s not supposed to and not calling in when it’s supposed to, he said. Tenney is going to call their call-out service, Mission Repair, and see if they can point him in the direction of what could be causing the issue.
In other business, Street Commissioner Craig Charlton said he talked with homeowners on Old Ind. 15 about having a release from the town for the homeowners to repair their retaining wall.
Moore said the town has never had an encroachment agreement with that property since the retaining wall is on the edge of the street. Jones said the property has a retaining wall, but it needs to be redone. The property has had issues with vehicles going into the house. Charlton said the wall is beyond what the town is responsible for, but it is in the public right-of-way.
Moore said he talked with Area Plan and they asked if the town had an encroachment agreement, but wasn’t sure if the town needed one. Town attorney Nick Jacobs said he will look into the situation.
Moore also said he wants some signage on Old Ind. 15 to make drivers aware that hen vehicles are in the town limits of Leesburg, the speed drops from 55 mph to 25 mph.
The Council briefly talked about its refuse ordinance.
The Council has been working on rewording the current ordinance since April because one of the problems the town has is people having excessive trash and other debris on their properties.
Moore brought up the question of how the town should wait after giving the resident a warning before the town could proceed to take care of the problem and keep track of the expenses.
Jones said other ordinances had a time period of 14 days and would be consistent with the town’s protocol. That timeframe would be easier and allow the resident to take care of the issue.
Councilwoman Christina Archer also said she believes the only thing left is to publicize the fact the town is going to vote on the ordinance.
Jacobs said the town has to publicize it in the newspaper at least 10 days in advance since the ordinance will have fines involved. He will take care of the notification so the Council can vote on the ordinance during its November meeting.
Also:
• Charlton would like to spend some of the $70,000 that has to be spent by 2024 and use the money on the curb project on the north side of Van Buren Street.
• The Council was reminded trick-or-treating hours are set for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092