Redkey moves on CSOs

REDKEY — An initial step toward satisfying an agreed order to eliminate combined sewer overflow problems here was taken Thursday night by town council members.
In a unanimous vote the council authorized Commonwealth Engineers of Fort Wayne to begin work on putting together an acceptable plan of attack to separate storm and sanitary sewers in the community.
Cost for developing a preliminary work plan was set at $10,000, and Commonwealth project development representative Wayne Bailey said he anticipated the work would be completed within 120 days.
Gerald Kirby, chairman of the recently organized Redkey Citizens Advisory Board for the Sewer Separation Project, said he considered Commonwealth to be a good choice for this work, as the firm has a lot of experience in the field. Kirby, a retired Redkey resident, has served as a wastewater treatment superintendent for several municipalities.
Redkey has been under an agreed order with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for more than a year to work to separate its storm and sanitary sewer systems and eliminate combined sewer overflows, primarily during times of heavy rain or melting snow.
Bailey pointed out that the need to eliminate CSOs is not something that’s unique to Redkey. Sewer overflow problems affect 104 communities in Indiana, and Commonwealth is working with about a third of those towns to help solve those problems.
Redkey council president Jim Funkhouser said that town officials have met with IDEM representatives in recent weeks, and they appear comfortable with the town using Commonwealth for this project. Basically IDEM wants to see the town start moving forward on correcting the situation, he said.
Kirby explained that in the past, IDEM has set some “benchmarks” for the town to meet in making progress on the CSO issue, but “these dates were not met and we’re in violation.”
The next step could be fines to the tune of $2,500 a day, Funkhouser said.
“We’ve got to meet these benchmarks for IDEM, so they see we are doing something — rather than just sitting on our hands,” Kirby said.
Bailey said the plan will include steps leading to the benchmarks that the town will be able to achieve. He added that later in the process the town could consider hiring a different engineering firm for the construction stage.
“The key is you have to get started,” Bailey said. “We want to get you back on track with IDEM … We (Redkey) can’t strike out again.”
Newly appointed council member Kyle Champ suggested studying the issue a little further before approving the $10,000 contract with Commonwealth, but Funkhouser pointed out that IDEM was losing patience with Redkey because previous town boards have had a history of “delaying.”
The town council president added, “We want to start the process and get IDEM off our back because we are going to get fined otherwise.”
“Have we looked at all the options?” Champ asked.
Funkhouser said, “The state says we will get this done!”
Council vice president Jon Davis said that after hearing from IDEM officials about this issue, he got the impression that Redkey had exhausted all its time for delays.
“It’s been kicked down the road so long, it’s absolutely a critical matter now,” Kirby said, just prior to the unanimous vote to approve the agreement with Commonwealth.
In other action at Thursday night’s meeting council members:
•Were given a list of council member supervisory assignments by Funkhouser to include: Davis, police department; Funkhouser, fire department; David Himes, park and wastewater treatment departments;  Joe Johnson, street department; and Kyle Champ, water department.
•Rejected a proposal from Redkey Youth Center to turn a grassy area along Union Street into a gravel road that the youth center would agree to maintain in the future. Several homeowners in that area spoke out at the meeting in opposition to the plan. No representatives from the youth center were present, and council members unanimously approved a motion against making any changes to the current landscape.
•Approved the appointment of two new members to the Redkey Park Board. They are Melissa Goodman and Majencia Moles.
•Heard a report from Fire Chief Randy Young that the volunteer fire department’s Easter egg hunt for children will start at 10 a.m. Saturday at Redkey Elementary School unless the weather is bad. If it does rain Saturday morning, candy prize bags will be passed out at 10 a.m. inside the Redkey Fire Station instead.
Also Young said the annual Independence Day fireworks display will be on the evening of Sunday, July 3, this year. The rain date will be Monday, July 4, he added.
•Learned that the fire department was pursuing the idea of purchasing and bringing a used tanker truck to Redkey from Florida. The truck would be an improvement over the department’s current tanker truck which has several mechanical problems in addition to leaking.[[In-content Ad]]