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Waterline project discussion boils over to Board of Works
Discussion of the waterline portion of the Washington Street/U.S. 231 reconstruction project dominated the July meeting of the Greencastle Board of Public Works Wednesday afternoon.
Less than a week after the City Council confronted angry business owners and residents about an unannounced disruption of water service that left some shops high and dry as communication efforts fell short of appeasing those affected most, the discussion moved to the Board of Works.
Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Lynda Dunbar updated the Board of Works on the issue, which is coming to an end with waterline work expected to finish up Friday with a “tie over” at Locust and Washington Street. A crew from Rieth Riley Construction was in that area Wednesday afternoon with workers ensconced neck deep in a hole in the middle of Washington Street.
As the work continues Friday (today), water service was expected to be turned off along Locust Street, south of Washington down to Anderson Street, the mayor said.
“One of the problems we had,” Dunbar advised fellow board member Thom Morris with Trudy Selvia absent, “is some of our valves do not work downtown. We went to turn them off and we couldn’t turn the water off.”
Veteran Water Department supervisor Ed Phillips piped in with “some of those valves are over 125 years old.”
The valves are located in pits or vertical metal tubes, not just buried underground.
Mayor Dunbar noted that the city is looking to put new valves in “anywhere that’s torn up” to keep from repeating the problem.
Meanwhile, Morris suggested targeting the downtown and the businesses therein as a priority for the new valves “so we don’t have an issue there again.”
The mayor offered the idea that the valves might be put in different locations than in the street to make access easier.
Regardless, Morris reasoned, “it‘s going to be fixed and it’s going to cost money.”
“It’s going to mean increased water rates,” Mayor Dunbar interjected. “Valves are not cheap.”
She said the valve issue needs to be addressed quickly and should be part of upcoming budget discussions.
“We need to see if we can prevent this from happening in future years,” the mayor added. “At least if we have a water leak on a side street, we won’t have to shut off half the downtown.”
“This popped up because the street was torn up,” Morris said. “We need to figure out where all of them (the valves) are so we get an accurate count.”
Utilities Superintendent Oscar King Jr. said his crews have tried to do that but locating the valves has been difficult. “We couldn’t tell for sure,” he admitted.
“That’s not very comforting, Oscar,” Morris smiled as the discussion waned.
In another water-related issue, representatives from the Town of Fillmore requested a sewer leak adjustment (sewage bills are based on water consumption) for the months of June ($31,034) and July ($25,407). Fillmore typically pays a monthly charge of $12,000 for sewage.
The town has been having a flow issue with some pumps and dealing with infiltration as well, Monica Bray of the Fillmore clerk’s office and Town Board member Meredith Trusty explained.
“We’ve done a lot of things with wastewater to tighten things up and make sure we’re not overspending,” Bray said.
Mayor Dunbar suggested Fillmore pay $10,000 for June and July bills and then go by an average of the next three months to get back on track. “If we end up with some huge reduction,” Dunbar said, “we’ll probably credit it back.”
That resolution pleased Bray and Trusty with Fillmore initially facing more than $56,000 in sewer bills for June and July alone.
After that agreement was passed unanimously, Bray said she would like to revisit the town’s more than 30-year-old contract for wastewater treatment with the City of Greencastle.
City Attorney Laurie Hardwick suggested that a committee be formed to look at the matter in the next few months.
In other business, the Board of Works:
• Agreed to the purchase of a Bobcat for the Wastewater Department at the government purchase price of $66,602.69 from Bobcat of Indy at Whitestown. It carries a 48-month warranty. King explained that the department had been using an old tractor in lieu of a Bobcat but that equipment has broken down, necessitating this move.
• Approved the hiring of Jackson Winn as the city’s newest firefighter, pending the retirement of Kenny Shepherd on July 27. The board also endorsed the selection by the Board of Captains and Chief Rob Frank of Darrick Wiatt as captain on second shift, succeeding Shepherd. Frank will return next month with a candidate for lieutenant succeeding Wiatt.
• Approved a sewer leak adjustment for Greencastle Acres, 800 N. Madison St., in the amount of $842.24 for a period bridging the February and March bills.
• Approved an emergency repair at 1134 Houck Rd. for a six-inch water main break.
The Board of Works will next meet in regular session at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21 at City Hall.