Lean agenda, meager audience for Board of Works meeting

With nary a department head in sight and not a soul in the audience, the Greencastle Board of Works conducted its October meeting in less than 15 minutes Wednesday afternoon.

The board ­— composed of Mayor Bill Dory and members Trudy Selvia and Thom Morris — did learn that Water and Wastewater Department Supt. Oscar King is proposing the purchase of new video recording equipment to upgrade the process of documenting of underground water and sewer issues. The truck currently used for the video effort is fine and does not need to be replaced, the mayor noted.

Dory said the camera equipment represents “about a $130,000 purchase,” for which funds are included in the department’s 2023 budget.

King has done research into the equipment over the summer and even witnessed demonstrations, the mayor added. King was attending a convention Wednesday and was expecting to talk with officials from other cities to further vet the equipment in question.

City Attorney Laurie Hardwick noted that the city will still need to get bids on the equipment since the purchase price is in excess of $25,000, unless King is utilizing the state QTA bid price, which is similar to how municipalities are able to purchase police cars at a state-bid price.

The video equipment is expected to be considered at a special meeting of the Board of Works, set for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25 at City Hall. A potential change order concerning the 2023 city sidewalk project is also expected for Board of Works consideration.

Also part of that agenda will be approval of a $465,324 payment to Miller Pipeline Inc. for work on the Albin Pond Road waterline project. That item and a change order on the project was in need of further review by Lori Young of Curry & Associates Engineering, Danville, consultants for the city on the project, and were withdrawn from Wednesday’s agenda.

The Board of Works did approve a $26,637 change order on the Albin Pond Road project Wednesday on a motion by Selvia. The change order extended repaving work from Tacoma Drive and Arlington Street to Houck Road and included repairs to the Castleton Drive-Albin Pond Road intersection, Mayor Dory explained.

Two other spots in the vicinity “could also benefit from additional (patching) work,” the mayor added.

Meanwhile, in other business, the board:

-- Approved a $1,704.22 sewer leak adjustment for Castle Mobile Home Park on North Madison Street. Water had reportedly been turned on at nine vacant lots, causing a pipe to burst, it was explained. The owners are responsible for the water but not for the sewage costs since the water did not go into the sewage system.

-- Authorized seven emergency repairs, including one at 810 Illinois St. involving both the water and sewer lines. It was discovered when the waterline was installed, it was bored through the sewer line. The remainder of the repairs -- those at 12 W. Poplar St., 913 N. Madison St., 700 block of South Jackson Street, 59 Houck Rd., 1283 Kersey Ln. and the cornfield behind Hilltop Lane -- all involved waterlines.

The next regular session of the Board of Public Works and Safety is set for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15 at City Hall.