CROMWELL — Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District’s first regular monthly meeting of 2016 Monday evening, Jan. 18, saw the reelection of officers to their respective posts: Rex Heil, president; Larry Mock, vice-president; Dan Mikolajczak, secretary/treasurer.
Heil also welcomed new trustee Jim Boone and a new lab technician, Ryan Cramer, who was hired Jan. 4.
Superintendent Tim Woodward informed the board 62.23 million gallons flowed through 29 miles of sewer and 28 pump stations in 2015, or 187,000 gallons per day, according to his report to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. “We have as much pipe as Goshen in the ground,” he said. In spite of the volume, the district only received two permit “exceedances” for the year.
Noble County has cleaned five miles of a ditch directly north of the district sewer plant during the course of the last six months, said Woodward. The clogged ditch was causing backups at the plant, which have abated. “It’s the lowest I’ve ever seen it,” he stated. Woodward will continue to inspect the area and added, “We want the water to wash away.”
The district experienced a five or six-day outage of its supervisory control and data acquisition system, which monitors lift station activity; However, lift stations were all checked by hand and the system is back up and running.
Winter adjustments to the wastewater plant have also been made, said Woodward. “There is steady flow now,” he reported.
Engineer Brian Houghton reported beginning the grinder pump selection process for the SWAP section of the district on the southwest side of Lake Wawasee. Some criteria will be terms and conditions, availability of parts, standards and specifications. A rubric for scoring the manufacturers is in place and recommendations will be made accordingly, said Houghton.
Houghton also proposed three qualifications necessary for contractors to do the installation and maintenance work in the SWAP area. The contractors should be pre-approved, possess a $50,000 performance bond and a certificate of insurance.
Office manager Pam Johns reported a “very good audit” by the State Board of Accounts. The SBOA audited years 2011 through 2014. There were “no write-ups on audit” according to Johns.
During general public business, William Dixon of Syracuse was present to “offer my family’s acceptance of the easement offer” made by attorney Dick Green concerning properties on SR 13 and Southshore Drive.