IDEM gives approval for work

Pollution from a rural housing development has been eliminated thanks to a sewer project that began more than seven years ago.
Jay County Commissioners reviewed an inspection report Monday from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management looking at the area around Foxfire Drive, west of Portland.
“The Foxfire area has been sewered and now is serviced by the City of Portland for sewage treatment,” said Dave Knox of IDEM’s enforcement division in his report. “All homes in the area have been connected to city sewers.”
As a result, Knox said, the condition of the nearby ditch and the Salamonie River has been “much improved.”
“Aquatic life was observed in the ditch and the ditch no longer smells,” Knox said.
The commissioners set in motion a regional sewage district in 2005 to address concerns near Foxfire and other rural areas affected by failing septic systems in the county.
Those problems came to light in the summer of 2004 when IDEM discovered high levels of E. coli bacteria both in the ditch and the Salamonie River.
The sewer project also linked a number of properties along Ind. 67 and the POET Biorefining ethanol plant to Portland’s wastewater treatment system.
Commissioners had a pre-renewal discussion this morning with Jennifer Heckman, an employee benefit specialist with Strategic Employee Benefit Services of Indiana, the company that handles the county’s health insurance coverage.
Though renewal rates have not yet been received, Heckman said she would take the county’s plan back to the marketplace to assure that there are competitive rates to review.
“As long as it doesn’t increase too much, we probably won’t have to change much,” said commissioner Milo Miller Jr.
“Hopefully, we’ll get a good renewal,” added commissioner Faron Parr.
In other business, the commissioners:
•Noted that Lifestream Services had dropped Grant County from its transportation program because that county failed to provide funding.
The transportation service is heavily used in Jay County, commissioners said.
•Met with county surveyor Brad Daniels briefly in their role as the county drainage board but took no action.[[In-content Ad]]