The Utility Service Board heard a preliminary engineering report from Wessler Engineering on the proposed wastewater system expansion Monday night.
The last plant expansion came in 1980 and flows continue to be close to or over the permit limit on a daily basis. There is little capacity at the plant for industrial or commercial development and there is a need to address future nutrient limitations as well as a need to address conveyance system flexibility within the Industrial Park.
The goal is to increase the wastewater plant capacity from 4.68 million gallons daily to 9 million gallons daily in addition to capacity increase and forcemain relocation/expansion at the County Road 200 West Lift Station.
There was an upgrade in 2010. However, it only addressed aging equipment and not a capacity increase.
The USB was presented three different expansion alternatives ranging in cost from $22 million to $25.6 million. The USB will need to make some kind of a decision by the next board meeting on January 7 as Wessler is wanting to approve a resolution on the matter.
Regardless of what is decided, construction is scheduled to start in October 2019 with an operational start set for October 2021.
In other action, the USB approved the utilities infrastructure agreement for the new IU Health Hospital. Chairman Mike Kelley said the utility relocation would cost between $100,000 to $120,000.
Beginning around the first of the year, P.J. Whitaker and Chris Hensley will be named assistant superintendents of wastewater and water, respectively.
Also, the USB announced they are changing the start time for their meetings to 5 p.m. for the first three months of 2019. The start time will be re-evaluated at a later date.