Water options

DUNKIRK — The city is seeking greater water capacity.

Before it considers other options, it will look at old sources.

Dunkirk City Council on Monday approved flow testing and video inspection of a pair of existing wells that have been out of service for years.

Dunkirk Mayor Jack Robbins during his re-election campaign last year — he became the city’s first mayor to earn a second term since 1991 — noted the need for the city to add to its water capacity in order to be able to attract new housing and industry.

Tim Hill of Peerless Midwest, a well-drilling contractor based in Mishawaka, explained to council Monday that future well options have some limitations. Most of the city is built over rock while sand/gravel areas more likely to be suitable for wells are further out and would require either running a water main to the treatment plant or having a small plant on site. Both options would be costly. (Hill estimated $70,000 to $80,000 to drill a new well and about $1 million per mile of water main.)

Hill instead suggested looking at two existing wells.

Dunkirk Well No. 3 was drilled in 1981 and has been out of service since 2002. Its current pump is capable of 150 gallons per minute.

Dunkirk Well No. 2 has been out of service since 2014 and was producing 61 gallons per minute the last time it was tested.

Hill suggested flow testing and video inspecting each of those wells to determine if they would be worth bringing back into use in order to provide the city some additional water capacity. While he acknowledged that the two wells combined would likely not get the city to where it would like to be — water superintendent Brock Farmer said he’d like to see an additional 300 gallons per minute — it might be the most cost-affective option in the short term.

“It’s worth looking at,” he said.

“We need to really be looking, if we’re going to have housing and maybe another business, we really need another well,” said Robbins. “I think these tests we need to do.”

City council members Jesse Bivens, Christy Curts, Dan Watson, Donna Revolt and Randy Murphy unanimously approved the flow testing and video inspecting at a cost of $5,150 for each well.

Hill noted that if the wells are not viable, he would suggest capping them in order to avoid potential contamination.

In related business, council members approved payment of $12,826 to Peerless Midwest for the replacement of a pump on Dunkirk Well No. 6. It also approved the purchase of a new data collector — it is used to read water meters — at a cost of $11,600. (The previous data collector, which was from 2010, was no longer working and the city was borrowing one from Albany in the interim.)

Also Monday, council members awarded a paving project that will be mostly funded through an Indiana Department of Transportation Community Crossings grant to Brooks Construction of Fort Wayne. Brooks was the lowest of four bidders for the work at $116,039.

In November, Dunkirk was awarded a $132,093.75 Community Crossings grant to go toward paving the streets in Quincy Place — Hart Drive, Merry Court and Shrack Lane — as well as Washington Street from the railroad tracks west to Indiana Street. The city’s match for the work, for which bids came in lower than expected, will be about $29,000.

In other business, council:

•Heard Robbins welcome new council members Watson, Revolt and Murphy.

•Re-elected Bivens as president for 2024.

•Briefly discussed an ordinance that would require utility firms making cuts in streets to repave if there are three or more cuts within a single block. Bivens brought up the ordinance, following up on the topic from last year. Using a similar document from Muncie as a guide, city attorney Wes Schemenaur said he would draw up an ordinance and have it available at the next council meeting.

•Heard from Robbins that the former Glass Capital Grill on Commerce Street has been purchased by Firehouse BBQ & Blues of Richmond. He said the new owners have begun the process of seeking the necessary permits but are probably several months away from opening in the Dunkirk location.

•Learned Robbins is bringing back the system of having council members serve as liaisons with city departments. He assigned Bivens to the water department, Curts to the fire department, Watson to the wastewater department, Revolt to the parks department and Murphy to the street department. The mayor will work with the police department. Robbins also appointed Afton Ridgway to the city’s park board to replace Kenci Grayson and named Kodi Mumbower as zoning administrator to replace Al Curts.

•Approved the following: a $500 sponsorship for Dunkirk Community Food Pantry and a $200 sponsorship for West Jay Community Center; the closure of Commerce Street between Main and Indiana streets on Aug. 17 for the Glass Days festival; a request to vacate the alley to the west of Mt. Tabor Community Church, 216 W. Pleasant St.; and payment of claims totaling $904,756.86.

•OK’d water bill adjustments of $339.30 for 335 Lincoln Ave., $152.95 for 711 S. Franklin St. and $59.54 for 357 W. Jay St. because of water leaks.