District is OK'd by officials (05/21/07)

Jay County has a regional sewage district.

Commissioners learned today that an application to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has been approved.

"We're good to go," commissioners' president Milo Miller Jr. said.

Following that notification commissioners Miller, Gary Theurer, and Faron Parr made six appointments to the seven-member board. They include Joe Somers, Dr. Charles Miller, Don Denney, Dr. James Wasson, Jack Houck and Gerald Kirby. The city of Portland will also be making an appointment to round out the board, which will have jurisdiction over problems related to sewage in all unincorporated areas of the county.

The district was formed following an order by the state in 2004 to correct a sewage problem in the Foxfire Addition southwest of Portland. It was discovered that sewage was flowing into a creek on the west side of the addition that eventually flows into the Salamonie River. The sewage district will have the authority to levy user fees, but not taxes.

The commissioners have begun work on what could be an eventual solution for the Foxfire-area sewage problems, as they have agreed to pay half the cost of installing a sewer line between the Poet Biorefining-Portland plant and the city of Portland wastewater treatment plant.

The county hopes to eventually be reimbursed for the money spent on that work.

The board will be responsible for making any decisions concerning sewer issues in unincorporated areas of the county.

Additionally today, commissioners approved a contract with Creek Run LLC Environmental Engineering of Montpelier to test soil at the jail where a gasoline tank was removed in 1998.

Miller explained that an IDEM-mandated follow-up of the soil around the tank was to be undertaken about a year later but was not done.

J. Michael Whitted, senior project manager for Creek Run, which undertook the initial project in 1998, explained there were several components to the proposed testing and the county would be charged as the project moved along. Commissioners approved $1,075.25 to get the testing underway.

"We won't know how much it's going to cost until we're done," Whitted said.

"They're (IDEM) not going to let up so let's get into a contract with you and get it going," Miller said. "It's something we gotta do so we might as well do it."

The gasoline tank was put underground when the jail was built and was removed, Miller said, when it was determined that it wasn't saving the county that much money.[[In-content Ad]]