Lakeland Regional Sewer District – April 16, 2025 Regular Meeting Minutes
CALL MEETING TO ORDER / REPORT OF MEETING NOTICE PROVIDED
Lakeland Regional Sewer District (LRSD) Board of Trustees met at the District’s Administration Office, 5002 East 100 North, Warsaw, Indiana. The monthly general meeting date and time were posted and advertised as required and was called to order at 6:00 PM by Jim Haney.
Present: Jim Haney, Mike DeWald, Cullen Reece, Mark Koehler, Jack Bonewits, Rosa Ritchie, Bob Hookman
Absent: n/a
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
None
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
A draft of the March 19, 2025 regular meeting minutes was submitted to all Board members via email on March 24, 2025. After a few minor revisions, the second draft was emailed to Board members later the same day and the final version was posted on Boardable on April 1, 2025.
Motion by Jack Bonewits to approve; second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 1 Abstain
TREASURER’S REPORT AND OTHER FINANCIAL MATTERS
Mike Dewald overviewed the Cash and Funds Balance Matrix – March 31, 2025 denoting the funds grand total of $2,412,516.
Mike DeWald overviewed the Management Cash Budget of January 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025.
The following March 2025 financial reports, prepared by Krohn & Associates, were presented by Mike DeWald: Unaudited Schedule of Cash Receipts and Disbursements; Monthly Analysis of Funds Balances; and Monthly Analysis of Cash and Investment Accounts.
Motion by Mike DeWald to approve; second by Cullen Reece.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 7 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
The Monthly Claims Approval form of March 2025 was reviewed by Lichelle Parker.
Motion to approve the payment of monthly claims grand total of $35,529.43 by Jim Haney with second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 7 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Board members affixed their signature approval to the Monthly Claim Approval Form.
REQUEST TO RESCIND LATE FEE – 7222 E 400 N – CARSON
Jacob Carson of 7222 E 400 N received one late fee on 1/31/25 and one on 2/28/25 because the checks he sent via USPS to pay for his sewer services were late being received. He contacted both Astbury billing and the District office to express his frustration. On 3/26/2025, he signed up for ACH auto-pay to avoid any additional payment delays because of the USPS.
Motion by Cullen Reece to rescind the second late fee (from 2/28/2025) since the customer’s account was current and he signed up for autopay; second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 7 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Jim recommended that the Finance Committee review if it would be appropriate to adopt a policy regarding when and how the District will rescind late fees, and if so, discuss what that policy would entail.
LAKELIFE UPDATE
There has been no communication from LakeLife or their legal counsel to the District to confirm if they followed through with their plans to install a new grease trap (as presented during the February 19, 2025 Board meeting). The District will continue to wait for feedback from LakeLife and continue to obtain grease samples and act accordingly if the ordinance is violated.
ASTBURY MONTHLY REPORT
PUMP/PANEL INVENTORY, CUSTOMER PROTOCOL REMINDER
The LRSD Treatment System Operations Treatment System Operations Report of April 12, 2025 was emailed to Board members by Astbury Water Technology, Inc. Thomas Astbury, Matt Rippey, and Tom Ganz reviewed key aspects of the report and provided clarifications to Board members’ inquiries.
Jim asked for additional information on Astbury’s inquiry to Gasvoda about utilizing different contactors within the panels. Matt clarified that the grinder pumps in the system are running at the very top end of amps of what the contactors are rated at and they are frequently replacing contactors. They think that if there is a larger contactor that is compatible in our panels, it may help reduce the replacement frequency. They are awaiting Gasvoda’s input.
There have been two recent incidents with boring companies hitting and damaging the District’s sewer lines.
Tom Ganz clarified that second incident at 42E was a different company than the first incident at EMS B33/B34. Astbury will provide the Board with all pertinent information from this incident.
Tom Ganz spoke today, with the owner of Sage Drilling, the company which was involved in the first incident near EMS B33 & B34. Tom provided her with pictures and additional information about the incident. She indicated that Sage Drilling will reimburse the District for the cost of repairs associated with the damage. The District will provide Sage Drilling that information.
Jim questioned if EvaPar was going to come back out to address the lift station generator issues encountered after the recent preventative maintenance. Matt stated that Evapar cancelled one visit, but do plan to reschedule a site visit to address the issues. The generators seem to be working as they should now, but recently the generator at lift station #2 did not start during a power outage and showed a stuck throttle alarm. Astbury cleared the alarm and started it manually and it worked and did not repeat the error, but want EvaPar to look at it.
Astbury will be working on a Grinder station Mapping proposal for the District to consider. The vision is that it would be a dual-purpose project to not only digitally map the location of the grinder stations and sewer lines utilizing GPS coordinates, but to also to inspect each grinder station and panel and correct any defects that are found. The digital mapping will help Astbury with system items that are missing or inaccurate in the As-Builts and predict that over time the project will reduce man-hours to Astbury. Jim questioned Casey (DLZ) as to why the As-Builts are not accurate. Casey indicated that there are several reasons including:
1 – the changes between the initial DLZ drawings and the actual work performed by the contractors during the project are different and the information relayed to DLZ from the contractors to update the As-Builts was incomplete, inaccurate, or misinterpreted;
2 – the wrong sheets are being reviewed for the corrected information; or
3 – there was an error made on the As-Builts.
Jim questioned why digitally mapping the station was not brought up when USDA grant funds were available to fund this type of project? He requested a detailed proposal to be presented which includes cost saving estimates and the benefits to the District of why spending the money makes sense.
Astbury plans to test the use of Ferris Chloride to remove phosphorus at a different facility and gather data to be able to put forward a proposal to the District for the potential use of it at Lakeland.
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR COMMITTEE
Last November or December, Jim and Tom Astbury started a discussion on some modifications to the maintenance and operations agreement. The Independent Contractor Committee has had some scheduling conflicts, but plan to be able to respond to Astbury about the current proposal by the end of April.
ENGINEERING UPDATE
Casey’s initial recommendations regarding a long-term resolution to the water leaks into the Blower Building include pulling out the flashing and redoing it or putting metal on top of the building to divert water from running down the wall. Casey requested that Astbury take photos or a video the next time it rains to try to capture where and how the water is entering. Astbury plans to caulk around the flashing as a temporary solution and that should confirm if that is where it is leaking.
Jim requested that Casey resume his evaluation to identify viable Crane replacement pump options for the Lift Stations. Casey suggested that if and when a different replacement pump is utilized that it makes sense to replace both pumps so we are not running two different pumps (one Wilo and one Crane).
The only outstanding plan review was provided earlier this week.
Earlier this week, Tim Hare (Astbury) reached out to Casey to question if the Notification and Forms for Tier II Reporting for chemical storage over 10,0000lb was completed and submitted to the EPA when DLZ signed off on the Ferric Chloride Bulk Tank. Casey responded to Tim that DLZ did not do them. Jim stated that it is his understanding that Tim Hare will move forward with filing the appropriate forms.
PURCHASING UPDATE
There was one open PO as of last Friday, April 11, 2025 for five complete grinder stations. The basins and kits from this PO were received on March 31, 2025, however, the pumps and control panels are still outstanding.
A PO was issued yesterday (4/15/25) for float-tree assemblies to bring inventory back above minimum quantity on hand.
Jim noticed that the number of contactors had dropped below the minimum quantity on hand during the most recent inventory report and Astbury confirmed that there are more on order from Gasvoda.
DISCUSS POTENTIAL CHANGES TO THE LIEN FILING PROCESS ADOPTED IN APRIL 2023
Currently the District files liens twice per year, approximately April 1 and Oct 1. The intent was to make sure that the liens were filed in time to be included on the tax bills. Other than that, Jim’s not sure why the decision was made to only file twice per year. Jim also reviewed examples of the current 90- and 120-day letters which are sent to customers. Jim recommended that the Finance committee examine the lien process and develop a new process if it seems appropriate. He requested they determine if filing liens only twice per year is adequate or if it would be more appropriate to file more frequently as well as only sending one letter (at 90 days for example) both regular and certified mailing to avoid confusion with the amount due and date due.
PROPERTY OWNER CONNECTION STATUS
Lichelle reviewed the Property Owner Connection Status report, updated through April 11, 2025. Sewer liens were filed on Monday, April 14, 2025, so those balances will be updated on next month’s report.
OTHER ITEMS THAT MAY COME BEFORE THE BOARD
None.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn meeting was made at 7:13PM by Jim Haney with second by Cullen Reece.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 7 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Submitted to Board by Lichelle Parker, District Administrator
Reviewed by Board Secretary, Rosa Ritchie