City public hearings generate little comment

Monday, April 26, 2021

There wasn’t much “public” to the two recent public hearings conducted by Greencastle city officials.

Public hearings on the city’s proposed Water Improvement Construction Project and the American Rescue Plan were conducted last week at City Hall with essentially one member of the public on hand in addition to city officials, the grant administrator, project engineer and media members.

The public hearing on the three-part $1.9 million city water project was conducted by grant administrator Kristy Jerrell of Jerrell Consulting and Grant Administration Services and project engineer Jill Curry of Curry & Associates.

The city has applied for the maximum $700,000 available from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (IORCA). Local match for the project would be $1,210,687, which includes $5,000 in a previously paid environmental review and $1,205,687 from the city’s Water Improvements Fund.

The grant will be submitted on or before April 29, Jerrrell said, with the final application due June 25 and notice of award expected Aug. 12.

“It’s very competitive, all or nothing,” Jerrell said of the city competing against other water or wastewater projects in the state. “Either we get funded or we don’t.”

In other words, the city would get $700,000 from IORCA or get back in line for the next round of grant funding.

Jerrell noted that if the city project is not funded, a follow-up visit from the state is likely to address reasons why so the city can resubmit for Round 2 in November.

Project engineer Curry explained the three portions of the water project, which include:

-- Installing 19 fire hydrants and valves with 10 new ones and replacing nine existing hydrants within the system.

-- Replacing about a mile of water main along Albin Pond Road, which currently incurs lots of leaks, including nine significant ones in the past year. “That’s a lot of lost water,” Curry noted.

-- A new generator at the water treatment plant to take care of an issue of the current generator not meeting demands during power outages. “It’s a pretty urgent project, I think, for supplying water to the city,” Curry said.

Local resident Brian Cox, who lives in the affected area, described his water pressure at being “not great but no terrible, just middle of the road.”

Cox said the family tends to run the dishwasher at night to avoid conflicting with times when the children are taking showers.

There is also a church and a school (Tzounakis) on that water line, it was noted.

City Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Durham noted that her parents live in the area where leaks have been prevalent and the water gets shut off periodically.

She said it was “a hardship” to have to get water from neighbors or go to the store for bottled water to get by.

Water Superintendent Oscar King Jr. said one time the leaks caused the basement of the apartments at Houck and Albin Pond roads to fill with water.

“If we don’t get the grant,” Dunbar also noted, “our water rates will go up.”

How much is to be determined.

Residents can help by replying to a survey that is available on the city Facebook page, city website and at City Hall. It asks, “Do you support the city going after grant dollars, yes or no?” along with four other questions.

Meanwhile, in a brief public hearing before the City Council Thursday night, the Council approved an IOCRA-required resolution for the expenditure of funds expected to be received from the American Rescue Plan act.

No one from the public was on hand to comment.

Mayor Bill Dory said the city is expected to receive $2.14 million over two years. How the funds can be spent has yet to be revealed.

The resolution was passed following a motion by Councilor Veronica Pejril. Adding affirmative votes were Mark Hammer, Adam Cohen, Stacie Langdon and (via Zoom) Dave Murray.

Councilmen Cody Eckert and Jake Widner were absent.

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