Leesburg Town Council Discusses Problems With Sanitary Sewers
Leesburg Town Council Discusses Problems With Sanitary Sewers
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Leesburg Town Council Discusses Problems With Sanitary SewersLEESBURG – Not everything should go down the sanitary sewer, but it seems to anyway in Leesburg.
That’s one of the problems the town council discussed Monday night.
Derek Tenney, of Tenney & Sons, provider of septic services for the town, told the council they had four pumps go out.
“Our fourth one was over here on Prairie Street and that pit was full of wipes and feminine products and all sorts of wonderful stuff. We tried to lecture the people that were there, and they left when we went to go talk to them,” Tenney said.
Council President Tom Moore asked Tenney if he gave them the letter on what can and can’t be put down the sanitary sewer. Tenney said the residents left before they could give them any.
Moore later told Tenney he thought it was very important that Tenney deliver to the residents a piece of paper listing the do’s and don’ts of what goes down the sanitary sewer. He said otherwise, the problem could continue or worsen.
Moore said, “Everyone needs to know that is a violation of the city ordinance. … There is a fine process, and that will start to be enforced if they’re going to continue to ignore what they can not put down the sewer line.”
Councilman Doug Jones asked if this was a repeat offender. Tenney said it wasn’t, and that it was the first time they’ve been to these residents on Prairie Street for this problem. He said they’ve been there before when the home was under previous ownership.
Tenney then brought up another sewer problem he’s dealing with in the town.
“We’ve also had problems, here in the last couple of days over at the school. Not our usual pit, it’s actually a gray water tank pit. We found that the connections are cracked,” Tenney said.
When Moore asked which connections, Tenney said the lines going out from the tank to the sewer line. “There’s a fitting on there that’s cracked. It looks like, when they installed it, it looks like they switched some stuff around to make it fit and it looks like a steel part rather than stainless steel, so every time the sewer pumps kicks on, it sprays just as much water out as it does back in,” he said.
Tenney said he ordered a new part to get it fixed. It’ll probably be fixed while school is out for winter break.
As far as the main lift station’s pumps, Tenney said he’s made phone calls and discussed issues with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, including whether the pumps had to be “explosion proof.” He said IDEM told him they did not and the town could have a straight submersible pump.
He then introduced the council to Jason Bradley, the town’s new representative from Covalen, a provider of energy and water/wastewater infrastructure solutions. Tenney said Bradley had a couple of pumps that aren’t working anymore at the main lift station. The motors of both of the pumps are bad.
Moore asked Bradley why the town was having so many stator problems. A stator is the stationary part of a rotary system found in motors and rotors. Bradley said he’d have to look into it specifically.
“A pump shouldn’t be repaired for eight to 10 years,” he said. Moore said the town is repairing pumps quickly. “All the time, it seems like,” Councilwoman Christina Archer said.
Bradley said that’s kind of why he was here, because Covalent thought the repair number was a little high, too, so it wanted to look into what’s going on with the sewer pumps. “We’ll figure it out. It’ll just take me a little time to figure it out,” he said.
The council approved the purchase of two new pumps from Flo-Tech for $15,725. Delivery and installation should take a week to 10 days, Moore said.
Next on the agenda was discussion of three change orders for the town hall improvement/addition project to make the building more ADA compliant. Robinson Construction is the contractor. All three were approved, including moving the sink, which was previously discussed; breaking out a concrete floor and replacing it with a smooth floor for an additional $5,273; and an extension of an interior wall with insulation for a $2,500 upcharge.
In other business, the council:
• Scheduled a special meeting for 6 p.m. Dec. 17 to encumber funds for a paving project in 2019.
• Amended the 2018 salary ordinance and approved the 2019 salary ordinance.
Under the 2019 salary ordinance, the street commissioner will receive $20 per hour; clerk-treasurer, $17,000 annually; sewage clerk, $8,450 annually; deputy clerk, $14.50 per hour; town council members, $2,000 each annually; and town attorney, $4,250 annually.
• Announced the next regular monthly meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 14.
