NORTH WEBSTER - Lakeland Regional Sewer District Board of Directors held their first official meeting Thursday at the North Webster Community Center.
The board was appointed last month to lead the new sewer district, which includes property south of Armstrong Road and CR 500N; west of Ind. 13; north of South Barbee Road; east of CR 650E; north of McKenna Road and CR 400N; and east of CR 457E. The district is located around lakes in the Barbee chain, including Kuhn, Big Barbee, Little Barbee, Irish, Sechrist, Sawmill, Banning and Shoe.At Thursday's meeting the board elected officers and did some basic organizational work to begin pursuing the establishment of a sewer system in the Barbee Lakes area.
The board elected Dave Doctor, Leesburg, as president; Jim Haney, Leesburg, as treasurer; and Lowell Gillmore, Warsaw, secretary.
One of the board's first tasks is to pursue funding. When the sewer system is constructed, it will be funded through user fees. However, Doctor said, property owners in the district cannot be charged fees until ground is broken on the project, and then they will only pay the infrastructure portion of the fee until the system is operational.
Doctor told the board there are multiple options for government grants for public infrastructure projects.
"In order to make the project a success and make it economically palatable to everybody, we have got to go after some of that grant money," he said.
Doctor said a project study conducted by DLZ engineering firm in July 2005 and updated in June 2006 estimated a cost of about $15.5 million for the sewer project.
"By the time we get to it, of course, it's going to be higher than that," he said.
The board assigned Haines and Stewart Lambert, Leesburg, to pursue securing about $3 million set aside in a trust fund for the establishment of the sewer district and a $25,000 state loan which is forgivable if the board proceeds with the sewer project.
Doctor told the board the LRSD must open an office and staff it at least once per week. The board discussed renting office space at the North Webster Community Center. Doctor said for the LRSD to rent its own office space would cost between $500 and $600 per month. He said it might also be possible for the LRSD to share office space with the Tippecanoe Environmental Lake and Watershed Foundation.
The board appointed members to begin the search for an attorney and an engineering firm for the board to hire.
The board also discussed holding a meeting to update the public on the process of establishing the sewer system. The date for the meeting has not yet been finalized.
The LRSD board members are Doctor, Gillmore, Haney, Lambert, County Councilman Bob Sanders, County Commissioner Ron Truex and Kosciusko County Health Department Administrator/Chief Environmental Scientist Bob Weaver.
