19 October 2004 Sewer Board- Working Meeting

19 October 2004 Sewer Board- Working Meeting
Members present: Mike Hankins, Chairman, Greg Vollmer, Patrick Holland, Brett Fehrman, Barry Pruss, and Rodney Dennerline.
Absent: Pat Hanlon.
Also present: Lisa Lehner, Att’y

1. Discussion centered on finalizing the legal agreement with Gabbard Corp.- the owner of the Gabbard Property which is being developed within the recently set up sewer district. The developer was there to answer questions. Discussion included possibilities of an escrow account or some mechanism to hold tap in fees for the lot owners in the subdivision being created. $500 was considered.

2. Dead end taps was basically tabled.

3. Lisa Lehner has Gabbard Estates on her priority list to finish the agreements.
She talked to Andy Schoef regarding the insurance issues- adding another entity will be about $100.
Lisa has been in touch with the Dept. of Commerce and after getting the runaround between offices found them hesitant to be pinned down on giving her feedback regarding her questions. Our new regional contact is Vicki Kellerman from Madison, formerly Connie Combs. Jerome McCloskey att’y for DOC told her that we could only charge material and labor for the low/moderate incomes on the tap in fees. $400 seems to be reasonable estimate.

4. Joe Tierney (GRW) informed Doug Baer that far market value for the costs of each home system is about $8,000. Costs might be able to be reduced depending on the pumps selected. GRW agreement is tabled because Joe Tierney is not present and Doug Baer is out of town also.

5. Rodney Dennerline brought up the idea of not sewering the last part of Mt. Tabor due to increased costs for few homes- spread out too far. Board seems to concur with this concept. Greg Vollmer stated that he’d toured the street and thought it didn’t make economic sense to sewer that area. They have large lots and if septic fails, then they have land to repair it.
Also the increased incomes there might affect the grant. Lisa Lehner mentioned Dr. Dobbs in particular.
Greg Vollmer noted that we have the right to provide sewers there, but that doesn’t mean we have to.

6. Monthly rates look like $73 now and we have to cut them to $50-55. Rodney Dennerline noted that the engineer from GRW gets paid depending on the project cost. It has ballooned to $4 million. We need to cut about $2 million out. The board plans to take a serious look at gravity fed possibilities and eliminating pumping and some lift stations. The also want to look at splitting the district to feed some to Dillsboro and some to Aurora.

7. Mr. Elliot promised to have appraisals by Oct 29th.
Collection of easements is past 50% mark now. Some property is being sold so easements have to be redone at $100 each. It was decided NOT to record easements until all are in.

8. Advisory Board is not meeting- trouble getting a quorum. They also are not meeting people in their homes any more. It was suggested that one of the property owners might want to take the load off Vera Benning on this. Lisa Lehner thinks it is critical to have this Advisory Board.

9. There was more discussion on pump brands and costs. Brett Fehrman suggested using a higher horsepower. They might use a brand which costs about a third less than the “cadillac” model.

10. Mike Hankins suggested that a clerk is necessary as minutes are way behind. Pat Holland suggested checking with IVY Tech to see if a student wants a part time job. He will check into that.

The next meeting is cancelled due to elections. They will also schedule a meeting with Joe Tierney to try to reduce costs of the district.

Meeting adjourned at 9 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township