15 August 2024 DCRSD Board Meeting Notes
Acting President, Brett Fehrman - Vice President, Russell/zeward Cline.
ABSENT: Steve Renihan
Board Attorney - Frank Kramer
Also present: Bob and Mike Hrezo and Christy of Hrezo Engineering, Commissioners Thatcher and Probst, Doug Price maintenance.
Renihan read the Public Access Statement as legally required.
Bids Opening-Mike Hrezo opened the 2 bids.
Lykins Contracting- $3,855,591
C& H/M from Milan- $3,155,693
The third one did not bid.
The equipment purchase is $1,158,150 which leaves budget of $3,520,671.32 for this project at Guilford.
Minutes: August 11, 2024 Approved
No Treasurers report
Public Comment:
Josh Davis- Letter received from IDEM permit on the Guilford Project.. Asked where the grinder pump would be located etc. Mike Hrezo said the contractor has bid 150 ft excavation but if it is over that- the homeowner makes up difference. How about abandoning the septic tank? Most part they pump crush and fill in with inert material. This is the homeowners cost. You could use the excavator that installs grinder- but the cost is on the homeowner. What is the rate for the homeowner? Cline said that the rate study should include these new customers and that will affect the rate. Rate is just under $17 per 1000 gals right now. That has been same since 2011- so new rate will be higher than that. Currently my septic is working and it was new the I bought the house 20 years ago. It’s well maintained. Kramer and Baer answered- Can apply for a waiver. No connection fee, no excavation fee for 150 ft, and no grinder pump fee. No electric panel fee. Only now they get this and if you get waiver and hook on later- you pay all this fees.
There is a minimum usage charge. Unknown as to what that is yet. Have to have that by October at the latest. They will communicate that by letter to the 60 plus customers. Completion of the project will be about the end of Sept 2025.
Chuck Griffis - have a need for sewer out there on 350. The plans have been approved by IDEM. Waiting to hear from Dillsboro on the treatment and costs. This can then go to bid and in budget. Baer- there were 5 areas we looked at for ARPA money. Your area is not in that funding. Baer said Moores Hill is willing to work with this board. They want a main under 350 and not a bunch of single laterals. There were about 65 homes in that target area. Discussion about trying too get the 14 families plus more to work the out later.
Rick White ( ???) from last meeting- asking when the pump would be available- November 2024 per Doug (who maintains the lines.) Discussion on what alternatives they have as this is too long… There is an option for another pump brand. They have 2 people advising they clean the line. Board decided to Purchase the Liberty Pump for $4,000 and they will accommodate the pump and do a 90 day trial. They will also flush the lines close to the owner. Approved.
Nancy Curry - glad we are having this done- but we are having things bubble up with suds - showed pictures.
Steve Ashcraft- High Ridge- hates his pump- redid it a year ago and it did not last a year. Had nothing good to say about the pump. Doug said he might be a candidate for the Liberty pump- he’s in a high head situation. He has had 4-5 pumps out there. He is concerned with the quality of pumps and it is a terrible design. His situation appears to be an outlier for some reason.
Project Updates: Christy and Bob Hrezo presented
Guilford- Contract passed out by Bob. Mike and she will review all numbers on bids. Cline thought rates need to be set first. Stenger said they won’t have the rates in time. Cline wants to get ARPA committee to see this. Looks like they have a $350,000 contingency per Cline. DCRSD will meet next Thursday August 22 at 5 PM for compiling the documentation and finalizing the amount to go to ARPA for the bid award. Approved.
High Ridge WWTP -
High Ridge West Expansion -
Wilson Creek Project
Huesman Rd and Cole Lane
Harrison TIF/Stone Project
Scenic Ridge/148 Sewers /Outer Drive
Stateline Rd- Baer asked to get IURC to get description of boundaries for Beeker to draw up.
Serenity Ridge Tranquility Court-
Moores Hill
Dillsboro- Lake Dildear is ready to bid it out. Kelly totaled all the costs $58,504. 3.6million gals. About 90 customers who do not have it treated by Aurora. Cost was $14.50- $23/1000 gals. We could use this to get a bulk rate? Stenger said they need to go out to bid to see what the costs are? Kramer said to use bulk rate from Serenity Ridge as a measure ? Board decided to move forward with the bids. Approved.
Cline said he has talked to Mr Brock regarding rates. And would it affect the rate if we hired a supt.? He will bring numbers to next meeting.
New Business: none
Office Update: Board had written updates and talked thru some. Decided to return a check to Townsends as they did not buy the lot.
Claims: Boggs and Race to attend Oct 3 meeting. Claims approved. Moved to adjust billing cycle to Mr Lloyd. Approved.
Discretion of the Board: Barnes and Thornburg to be at first meeting in Sept per Cline. They are to look at the RFP. Stenger said the only discussion in the RFP is moving toward selling them district. He does think we do need help running this “railroad”. We need a superintendent. He wants to see an RFP for someone to help run it. This needs to be part of the RFP. Stenger said he has worked with one of the sewer districts to fix things. If there is a polluting problem then the connection needs to be forced. He appreciates the commissioners coming to all our meetings to see what we deal with. Kramer said - they need to not say force connection - should say that they should show that they have a working system.
Cline said - some of us want to focus on operating and some are looking for a larger focus. We are all on the same page to look out for the customer.
Stenger said the timeline needs to be longer for people to think about purchasing the system. It should take more thought. Cline- Clarify advertising process- and make it longer than 30 days but less than 90 days. We want a reasonable sample size. Stenger- maybe we will get some collaboration with other units in the county even.
Christy said she can get Lake Dildear in the paper by next Friday and open bids by Sept 19th.
Cline if we agree to RFP in Sept. and if we get 3 legitimate inquiries. We can answer questions. That won’t be together in 60 days. They should be able to get an initial response.
Fehrman- only one pump left- having difficulties meeting pump requests. These should be in the installers sheds. Starting to see a problem. Several out front repair. Hard to get new pumps. Cline - We could rent a storage unit. Explore an annual contract to do emergency pump replacement.
Adjourn: 7 PM
Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township
