71 fire hydrants needed around city and outskirts

When a Greencastle man voiced concerns about a lack of fire hydrants in his neighborhood at the December Board of Works meeting, he probably didn’t expect the situation to be dealt with as swiftly as the next regular meeting.

But when Range Line Road resident Kevin Williams, who lost his home to a Nov. 18 fire, spoke in December, Mayor Bill Dory pledged a commitment to look into the matter, noting an apparent gap in the hydrant system.

“As you all probably know, I lost a house recently,” Williams told board members in December. “The trouble is, there is no fire hydrant nearby.”

Williams said the area in which he resides includes 41 city water customers, and needs a minimum of three hydrants to provide adequate fire protection.

At the board’s January meeting Wednesday afternoon, Ed Phillips of the Greencastle Water Department was on hand to report on a community-wide fire hydrant inventory.

Not only should the city install nine hydrants along Range Line Road, he reported, but it should add 71 new fire hydrants overall across the city and its outskirts.

With the hydrants costing approximately $5,000 apiece, the expected cost of the project would be in the $350,000-$400,000 range, it was noted.

Nineteen hydrants are needed within city limits, the report outlined, and Mayor Dory said the city will try to work those into its Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (IOCRA) grant.

That leaves 52 hydrants outside Greencastle but within areas receiving city fire protection.

Board member Craig Tuggle asked if those areas are within city limits.

“No,” board member Trudy Selvia responded, “but they are outside city limits but in areas served by city water.”

Those residents are paying a hydrant rental fee now, Selvia added, after the water rate increase that went into effect Jan. 1.

That hydrant rental figure, Deputy City Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Welker said, is $4.24 a month.

Selvia also asked Phillips if the 71 hydrants needed “is a rough number or is that what we need?”

Having surveyed the city and looked over the maps, “that’s what we need,” Phillips responded.

Tuggle asked if it could be a phased-in project.

“We haven’t got that far yet,” Mayor Dory said, adding that he has been talking with consultants about how to pay for the 52 hydrants that wouldn’t be covered in the IOCRA grant.

“The strategy might be to put in every other hydrant (initially) so at least we have some protection there,” he suggested.

“I like that idea,” Selvia replied, asking if the cost of the hydrants might come out of public safety LIT. “I think that would be good use of public safety money,” she said.

Dory also noted that once the hydrants are installed, residents should see a reduction in their homeowners’ insurance rate.

No official action was taken on the hydrant issue following the report.

In other business, the Board of Works:

-- Entered into contracts with the Indiana Department of Transportation on the upgrading of Locust Street from Seminary to Franklin Street. The contracts are for right-of-way acquisition ($43.000) and construction ($1,2834,506). The 20 percent matching portion of the project, estimated at $321,000, is to come from the Greencastle Redevelopment Commission.

-- Approved a $5,887.88 changeorder for Spiker Excavating, Greencastle, on the phosphorus removal building project. The additional amount was due to extra concrete being needed for deeper footers after the footer depth was increased due to poor soil.

-- Approved a $1,700 sewer leak adjustment for occupant Andy Lewis and owner Anne Clark at 312 Melrose Ave. Lewis and Clark explained that a PVC pipe had come loose Dec. 7, flooding the basement, taking out the water heater and a portion of the furnace as well. Even though the Water Department responded within 10 minutes, Lewis said a leak continued. The Water Department then pulled the meter and plugged the leak on Dec. 9. The leak adjustment was approved unanimously.