July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

District seeking USDA funding

Jay County Regional Sewer District

The Jay County Regional Sewer District signed an application for funding Monday night as its three sewer projects continue to chug along steadily on schedule.

Board president Gerald Kirby signed a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development application asking for the expected $1.2 million cost of the three projects - one south of Portland and two near Dunkirk. The board has been told by Ben Adams of Commonwealth Engineers to expect about 45 percent of that money to come as grant money and the rest will be constituted in a 40-year loan.

Adams urged the board to sign the application Monday and advertise the application to keep the project moving, even though plans for the Skeens Addition and Willow Drive projects in Dunkirk are not complete.

"I just want to keep it going month to month if I can," Adams said, adding that the Dunkirk plans should be completed by the next meeting.

The sewer board is also waiting on a rate study to be completed by accounting firm H.J. Umbaugh and Associates, Indianapolis, which will determine monthly user fees. In preliminary work, Adams estimated the monthly cost per connection to be about $60.

H.J. Umbaugh had recently completed rate studies for both the Portland and Dunkirk wastewater treatment plants, said board members Bob Brelsford, Portland wastewater superintendent, and Tim Kesler, Dunkirk wastewater superintendent.

"I told them (Umbaugh), 'I need you guys to jump into this feet first and really get us going,'" Adams said, since the company hasn't made progress on the study yet.

He expects the rate information to be available at the July meeting.

In other business Monday, the sewer district board:

•Authorized Kirby to sign construction permits before June's meeting for the Dunkirk projects when they become available.

•Spoke with north Dunkirk resident Derek Rodgers. Rodgers said he and others, who were at first defensive, are starting to think the sewer project is "not such a bad thing" after doing some research.

Rodgers said he was still concerned about how end-user costs are going to turn out, but Adams informed him that until the rate study is complete, there's not much he could say on the topic.

Adams also told Rodgers that the Dunkirk plans are still being worked on and that detailed project drawings should be available at the next meeting.[[In-content Ad]]
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