Project could help Portland drainage (10/12/04)

A major street/sewer reconstruction project in southeast Portland could help relieve problems with standing water during periods of heavy rain.

The reconstruction of South Wayne Street and Boundary Pike, slated to begin in 2005, will include the installation of a large storm drain along those streets, Jay County Commissioners were told Monday.

Gary Smith of Bonar Group, who had discussed the project with the commissioners last year, told the commissioners Monday during a meeting of the county drainage board that plans to install a new storm drain alongside an existing combined drainage tile/sewer had been scrapped.

That existing sewer line begins on Boundary Pike at Heather Park Apartments and runs north-northeast through farm ground toward the Salamonie River. The owner of farm ground on the north side of county road 100 South (East Seventh Street) was not interested in granting an easement for the new drain, Smith said.

The new storm drain will be 24 inches along Boundary Pike, and will increase in size in increments as it moves north toward an outlet at the Wayne Street bridge over the Salamonie. At the river, the pipe will be 54 inches.

Smith said a flap will be installed on the pipe to prevent back-flow during high water periods. He said the outlet will be several feet above the normal high water mark.

Also Monday, Commissioners Gary Theurer, Mike Leonhard and Milo Miller Jr. were told by Ralph Frazee, director of Jay County Emergency Management Agency, that a grant check that had been withheld by state officials has arrived.

The check for $110,383, which was from a federal Homeland Security grant to pay for a variety of emergency equipment, was held by the Indiana Department of Revenue, which notified the county about a month ago that it owed about $9,000 in fines and interest for failing to remove two underground fuel storage tanks at the county highway department in the early 1990s.

Jay County auditor Freda Corwin provided state officials with proof the money had been paid, and the check was recently released.

The commissioners also gave permission Monday for the acquisition of a cell phone for the newly-hired public health coordinator, Jim Waechter. A cell phone policy recently adopted by the commissioners requires approval for new cell phones.

The monthly charge for the phone will be paid from a state-administered federal grant that is funding the new position.[[In-content Ad]]