Geneva will seek $ assistance

GENEVA — The Town of Geneva will see if a roundtable with the Indiana Rural Community Assistance Program can help secure funds for work on proposed water line projects.
Geneva Town Council members Agnes Schoch, Dick Clutter and James Timmons gave approval Tuesday night for Choice One Engineering to seek a meeting with the Indiana Rural Community Assitance Program (IN-RCAP) regarding potential funding for three water line projects presented by Choice One’s Ryan Lefeld.
IN-RCAP seeks to help rural communities find solutions for water, wastewater and solid waste challenges.
Lefeld said the meeting would be a “roundtable” with various funding and grant awarding groups that would consider helping with three projects discussed at Tuesday’s council meeting.
“(We) sit down, present these projects, say what the need is and from there, they’ll kind of give direction on what their willing to allocate and basically, we can decide, or council can decide, what and where to move forward with,” Lefeld said of the potential meeting.
One project includes upgrading a water line that runs from an alley just south of Line Street between Decatur and Railroad streets as well a storm sewer line. Upgrading ramps to comply with American with Disabilities Act also would be part of the project.
Another entails replacing a water line that runs from an alley north of town hall to Bradford Street and tying it back to an existing waterline on Railroad Street. A water line that runs east-west just north of Butcher Street would also be replaced, Lefeld said. Both are currently lead lines, he added.
“Being that, and this is just thoughts we had, the big push getting lead lines out of communities, it’ll make the project hopefully a little bit more attractive in the eyes of some of the funding folks,” Lefeld said.
The other project involves a water line along 6th street and includes plans to loop it back into the water line on the alley just south of Line Street.
Lefeld said the next steps in the process are filling out paperwork and seeing when a meeting can be scheduled with IN-RCAP. He said he would most likely bring along town advisor Rob Johnson or someone else from town to the meeting.
Combined, the projects would cost more than $900,000, with estimated price tags of around $180,000, $328,000 and $400,000, respectively.
Meanwhile, clerk-treasurer Jane Kaverman presented the proposed budget for 2017, which includes amounts of $564,175 for the general fund, $246,253 for the motor vehicle highway fund and $221,806 total for other accounts.
Notable increases for next year include $36,500 in building repairs that are slated for town hall and the fire department building as well an allowance for an additional town employee.
It’d be up to council to decide the role of a new employee, Kaverman said.
“But as I’m seeing, as we’re moving ahead in trying to do more of our stuff in house, I think we have a real need for somebody who can prioritize, maybe keep track of the projects that are going on and help to prioritize for the guys as they work on them,” Kaverman said.
In other business, council
•Approved $202,628 in additional appropriations. The monies include $61,103.18 to the general fund, $36,730 to the motor vehicle highway fund, $75,264.28 in special local option income tax funds, $4,420 for parks, $21,110 for beautification and $4,000 into the economic development fund.
•Heard from Town Marshal Rob Johnson in his monthly report that the police department assisted the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in a battery case.
•Heard from Pam Krause of Geneva Proud/Chamber, who said the Indiana Bicentennial torch will arrive in Geneva on Sept. 30. She said plans are being made to hold an ice cream social to mark the occasion.
•Decided to hold off on tuck point work for the fire department building until next year. Johnson presented a quote to council Tuesday from AB Schwartz Restoration, which estimated the needed work at a cost of $5,850.