At Monday night's regular meeting, the Leesburg Town Council set Dec. 1 as the date that town residents must be hooked up to the new sewer system.
Residents who do not adhere to the deadline could face fines, but the board will discuss that at the September meeting.The council also heard an update on the sewer from Joe Tierney of GRW Engineering.
Tierney said the town should now have all the manuals for the individual equipment in the sewer system, and a general system manual is nearly finished and ready for use.
Now that people are hooking into the sewer, some minor problems have been found with the construction. Tierney suggested the town hold back some of the final payment to the contractor to be sure the problems that are found in the future are fixed.
"We possibly could run into more problems," Tierney said. "If it's not an emergency, contact the construction company to give them an opportunity to fix it because that is part of the warranty."
Now that the town has received a $1 million grant to fix storm sewers, GRW is working on a contract for the project. Everything needed for the project, such as survey work, is included in the grant, and the town does not have to pay any matching funds.
Leesburg was one of only two towns in Kosciusko County to get the grant money. Claypool also received a grant.
The grant papers and contract with GRW probably will be ready to sign at the council's September meeting.
In other business, the council:
Decided to draft a list of items the town needs to purchase with the extra funds from the sewer project. The list must be submitted and approved by IDEM before anything can be purchased.
Discussed using a town-owned garage to store sewer equipment. In order to use the garage for that purpose, it must be insulated and heated because the equipment must be stored in a temperature-controlled environment. The town and Tierney will check to see if funds from the project may be used to make the building suitable for that use.
