Kankakee Times

City of Watseka Public Works/Wastewater Committee met Aug. 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

PRESENT: Aldermen Cahoe, Marcier, Barragree, Miller, Alderwomen Ulfers and Musk, and Mayor Allhands

ABSENT: Aldermen Garfield and Rushbrook

GUEST: Loren Grosvenor, Public Works Director, Keith Mulholland with Robinson Engineering

Alderman Cahoe opened the meeting at 7:05 pm. There was no public comment. Loren reported on the following projects:

Meter Reading Improvements: Loren stated he met with Core & Main along with Mayor Allhands and Cathy about converting meters to Automatic Meter Readings (AMR). Loren stated the reason the city needs to move forward with this project is it will reduce labor to read meters, and those people can then be doing other projects, and the reads will be more accurate by removing human error. He stated this is the 1st step before moving to the next step of advanced metering infrastructure reading. The city has been putting in the correct meters but a device will need to be added for an additional cost of $135. The city has about 2200 meters. Core and Main will be getting numbers to Loren soon. Alderman Marcier asked to have this on the Tuesday full council agenda.

Sewer Lateral Ownership: The city has been jetting/cleaning laterals on private property and installing sewer cleanouts in right of ways. Loren is asking for direction if the city wants to continue to do this at no cost to the residents. Loren stated if the city wants to charge and then the current ordinance needs to be changed. There was a lengthy discussion about the way things have been done in the past. If was finally decided to start charging a fee of $200 to jet out a sewer and that needs to be paid upfront. It was also discussed about a possible waiver/hold harmless agreement. This will be turned over to Attorney Cainkar. Fire Hydrants: Loren stated the fire hydrants haven’t been properly flushed or maintained if at all for many years. They also haven’t been flow tested to rate them for fire protection in years and would add benefit to the fire department. Loren has contacted Rogers Hydrant Service Inc from Atwood Tn. He has used this company in his previous job he stated. The cost per hydrant for a 1-year agreement is $85.00 each. The city has about 279 meters for an approximate cost of $23,715.00. This company will provide GPS dated to put into GIS. Loren stated if the city can hire this out for one year, then the department can take over next year. Alderwoman Musk makes a motion to recommend to the Council to accept the proposal from Rogers Hydrant Service for a 1-year agreement for fire hydrant flow testing and flushing and Alderman Cahoe seconded. Roll call carried 7-0. Alderman Cahoe asked if the company could replace meters if necessary and Loren stated yes, they can replace hydrants and rebuild them after the initial service is done. Loren stated the city would need to color code them.

Peters Park Playground: The opening has been secured with plywood and more secure orange fence has been put up, playground closed signs are posted, ladder and handrail has been received, but they are still waiting on mounting hardware which he hopes to get yet this week. The insurance company has been notified and loss control has been out to look at the park.

Oxidation Ditch: Helm Mechanical installed slide gates on the clarifier splitter box, operators moved flows to inner rings a pumping down outer ring, New Era scheduled week of 8-15-22 to clean outer ring, once cleaned Helm will complete work on outer rings, once all rings are in service oxidation ditch will be restored to 100% capacity giving operations more flexibility to treat more during rain events instead of diverting flows to excess flow clarifier. The drying beds and the anerobic digester will be worked on next, Helm should be done by the end of September.

New Well: Peerless drilled 2 new test wells behind city hall. Both locations have good sand and rock formation to produce water, next step is to schedule pump testing to confirm capacity, depending on capacity a water quality testing will be done to determine treatment needs. Loren stated it will cost about $18,800 per test well and an analysis is about $5200.

Mayor Allhands stated a meeting needs to be held to discuss street scape with Piggush Engineering. A deadline of September is approaching. After a short discussion it was decided to hold a meeting Monday August 22 @ 7 pm.

It was stated that the committee appreciates the work that Loren has been doing to get caught back up. Loren stated the morale of the department has increased greatly and he is doing some cross training with them.

Alderwoman Ulfers reminded everyone about the Watseka Family Festival coming up next week and said they can use volunteers.

Alderman Cahoe makes a motion to adjourn at 8:35 pm and Alderman Barragree seconded. Roll call carried 7-0.

http://www.watsekacity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/publicworks-water-waste-water-meeting-8-16-22.pdf