Dunkirk gets $642,000 grant

DUNKIRK - This Thanksgiving city residents will have something extra to be thankful for.

Award of a $642,500 state grant to improve the city's water treatment and distribution system was announced at Monday night's council meeting.

Judy Garr, council member in charge of the water department, made the announcement along with Jay County Community Developer Ami Huffman.

The grant is from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, Huffman said. She said the paperwork concerning the award will be sent to Dunkirk Mayor Ron Hunt in the next few days.

Plans call for combining the grant funds with an approximately $1.4 million water bond issuance to finance more than $2 million worth of improvements - including construction of a new water treatment plant and replacement of selected city water.

The new plant will be more traditional in design, as opposed to the current ozone treatment system the city has been using for the last 10 years. Huffman said the ozone operation has been plagued with problems from the beginning.

Huffman estimated that construction bid documents for the new plant and water main improvements could be ready for a bid opening in February or early March.

Garr thanked Huffman for her efforts in securing the grant funds, as well as The Schneider Corporation, Indianapolis, and senior project manager Bob Haneline.

"We can't wait to get started with the project," Garr said.

After Monday night's council meeting, Mayor Hunt said that he was very thankful for the grant award. "This should make a lot of people happy," he said.

In other business at Monday night's meeting, council members:

•Heard a request from city resident Bobby Willoughby about parking needs in his neighborhood.

Willoughby, who lives on Pearl Street near Westlawn Elementary School, requested that parking be allowed on the north side of Pearl Street, as it was in the past.

Council members instructed city attorney William Hinkle to draft an ordinance to that effect with exceptions pertaining to a fire hydrant and snow emergencies.

•Approved a request by Police Chief Dane Mumbower to use $5,000 from the police department budget to equip the donated police canine car with a video surveillance system, like Dunkirk's other police cars already have.

Mumbower explained that he had enough money remaining in the police department's 2009 budget to make this purchase, and consequently he wanted to use those funds even though he didn't believe the canine unit would be operational until sometime in 2010.

Following further discussion relating to how the canine unit was supposed to be funded, the expenditure was approved by a vote of 4-1 with council members Garr, Tom Johnson, Eric Bowler and Craig Faulkner voting in favor of the measure, and councilman Chuck Rife voting against it.

Meanwhile Mumbower said the drive for donations to pay for purchase of the dog and training expenses was going well. He added that other expenses related to the canine unit could be handled by the police department budget at the present time.

•Approved a proposal from Merrell Brothers, Kokomo, to haul away and dispose of waste solid materials from the Dunkirk wastewater treatment plant at a cost of about $15,000. This work is necessary for the continued satisfactory operation of the digester unit at the plant, Rife explained to council members.

•Heard a report from Johnson that holiday lighting displays are continuing to be put up at the city parks. He said that plans call for turning them on during the evening of The Feel the Warmth of Christmas in Dunkirk program on Monday, Nov. 30, with the exception of some of the displays around the Veterans Memorial Circle that will be activated after Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7.[[In-content Ad]]