Council sludging ahead with utility fix

The plan of removing sludge in Cloverdale moved forward Tuesday.

At Tuesday's special meeting, the Cloverdale Town Council passed two ordinances to help move forward with a plan to improve the town's existing wastewater treatment facilities.

At the meeting, the town adopted Ordinance 2006-5 authorizing the issuance of sewage works revenue bonds for the purpose of providing funds to pay the cost of certain additions, extensions and improvements to the wastewater plant in the town. The council also adopted Ordinance 2006-6 to fix the schedule of rates and charges to be collected by the town from property owners served by the sewage works.

Council President Don Sublett said the plan was implemented nearly four years ago.

"I am really pleased that we got this thing going," Sublett said. "Here we're going to fix the problem and take care of our sewage problem. This is a giant leap for Cloverdale."

Krohn and Associates representative James W. Treat was at Tuesday's meeting. The town's financial advisor brought an amended version of the town's original bond issue when the project began.

Treat told council members on Tuesday that state officials from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management had looked at the amended version for the bond issue, which called for $2,600,000 to be used for the project.

"This authorizes the borrowing," Treat said.

Treat informed the council that he had added an extra $200,000 cushion for the project. He said the revised budget called for $2 million in construction, $383,000 less than the preliminary report.

Treat told council members on Tuesday the item had to be filed by Friday and the issue had to be closed by June 30.

"That's why it's important to go through these steps," Treat said.

Through the second ordinance, new wastewater rates will go into effect in Cloverdale on July 1 and different rates will take effect on Jan. 1, 2007.

Town residents that use 2,000 gallons of water monthly currently pay $15.93. In Phase 1 of the rate changes, however, those who use 2,000 gallons will pay $22.79 and the rate will increase on Jan. 1, 2007 to $29.74 for those using 2,000 gallons.

In contrast, those who use 5,000 gallons currently pay $29.43. In Phase 1, those using 5,000 gallons will see their rates increase to $42.11 and Phase 2 will call for an increase of more than $12 for those using 5,000 gallons.

Council member John Davis, however, argued the board should only make one rate change.

Still, The board voted unanimously for town clerk/treasurer Patti Truax to post notices in regard to the project and voted 4-1 to accept the rate increases, and for the public hearing and for Truax to publish, post and mail information on the project. Davis voted no on the three motions.

He said he was for the new bond ordinance, but preferred one phase in rate increase, saying he was against the proposed rate structure.

"I don't want to do two phases," he said.

The town board meets regularly on the second Tuesday of each month. Its next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. June 13. The town also has a special public hearing scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 14, to discuss the rate increases.