Lakeland Regional Sewer District – February 19, 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 6:04 PM by Jim Haney.
Present: Jim Haney, Mike DeWald, Cullen Reece, Mark Koehler, Jack Bonewits, Rosa Ritchie, Bob Hookman
Absent: n/a
CONSIDER AND ACT ON AMENDED RATE ORDINANCE
Motion by Jack Bonewits to adopt Amended Rate Ordinance 2025-03; second by Mike DeWald.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 7 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
None
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
A draft of the January 15, 2025 regular meeting minutes was submitted to all Board members via email on January 22, 2025. After a few changes the second draft was emailed to Board members on January 23, 2025. The final version was posted on Boardable on February 3, 2025.
Motion to approve by Mark Koehler with second by Bob Hookman.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 7 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
TREASURER’S REPORT AND OTHER FINANCIAL MATTERS
The following financial reports for December 31, 2024, 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. These reports were delayed last month due to some revisions and not available at the January meeting. The numbers match the Management Cash Budget reviewed by Mike in the January meeting.
Motion by Mike DeWald approve the financial reports for December 31, 2024; second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 7 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Mike Dewald overviewed the Cash and Funds Balance Matrix – January 31, 2025 denoting the funds grand total of $2,739,947.
Mike DeWald overviewed: Management Cash Budget of January 1, 2025 through January 31, 2025.
The following financial reports for January 31, 2025, 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 Bob Hookman.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 7 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
The Monthly Claims Approval form of February 2025 was reviewed by Lichelle Parker.
Several Astbury invoices not received prior to last month’s meeting are included this month, so the claims total is higher than normal this month.
Motion by Jim Haney to approve the payment of monthly claims grand total of $151,629.74; 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.
LAKELIFE UPDATE ON GREASE VIOLATIONS
- Joe Gallas (Owner of LakeLife), Jack Birch (LakeLife Legal representative), Joel Stein (Lakelife’s Prior owner –the Landing), and Stuart Meade (Meade Septic Design) were all present to update the Board on LakeLife’s plans for their grease trap and to answer any Board member’s questions.
Jack provided a history of LakeLife, its grinder station installation and the grease trap issues. - LakeLife has ordered a 1500-gallon grease trap and associated equipment, to be installed the last week of March/1st week of April.
- The grease trap is the largest that can be installed at LakeLife and has an electronic grease capacity alarm and high-water alarm.
- Because LakeLife feels the grinder station was not originally installed in the proper location to allow suitable gravity flow from the existing grease traps, they are requesting the District to cover 50% of the cost of the $30,000 improvements they are making to the grease trap.
- Casey (DLZ) gave a summary on why the grinder station was placed where it was during original installation. The prior property owner did not want to lose any parking space and had an interest to have a connection from a tiki bar on the backside of the restaurant. The grinder station was installed at a depth to service the existing septic tank in the parking lot; and location to service a future service from the Tiki Bar without crossing the parking lot.
- The Board will review the information presented and anticipate having an answer by the next Board meeting.
REQUEST TO RESCIND $30 NSF FEE – 85 EMS B43
The property owner of 85 EMS B43, Mr. Stephenson, previously had his account set up on ACH autopay, however, due to a cyber scam issue, his account had to be closed between Christmas and New Year’s. Mr. Stephenson went online December 31, 2024 to set his account up for autopay using echeck, however, there is a notice that autopays set up online will draft (5) days before the end of the month. Since that date had already past, no payment was made and because the ACH autopay was not cancelled, the system attempted to pull the ACH payment on December 31. Because the bank account was closed, the ACH payment was returned and the customer was assessed a $30 insufficient funds fee per the Rate Ordinance. Mr. Stephenson contacted billing on January 22, 2025 to understand the situation. He paid his account balance in full and set up AutoACH with a new account, but requested that the $30 NSF fee be rescinded.
Motion by Jim Haney to deny the request to rescind the $30 fee; second by Mike DeWald.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 7 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
ASTBURY MONTHLY REPORT
PUMP/PANEL INVENTORY, CUSTOMER PROTOCOL REMINDER
The LRSD Treatment System Operations Treatment System Operations Report of February 16, 2025 was emailed to Board members by Astbury Water Technology, Inc. Thomas Astbury, Matt Rippey, and Josh Denlinger reviewed key aspects of the report and provided clarifications to Board members’ inquiries.
Astbury’s report noted that new frog lids were installed at the two restaurant’s grinder station and Jim questioned what the benefit of those types of lids were. Matt clarified that it is much easier to access the grinder station with the new lids.
Though not part of the Astbury report, Jim questioned when Barbee Hotel was due for their next grease trap cleaning and Lichelle stated March. Jim noted that the grease trap plan Barbee submitted indicated they will be measuring the grease prior to cleaning it. They also increased the frequency of their scheduled cleanings during the summer months.
Mike noted his pleasure with the fact that HPT was going to honor the warranty for the Wilo pump. Jim let Astbury know that he instructed Casey to not put any more time and effort into reviewing the Barnes pump as a replacement. If Astbury feels this needs to move forward anyway, they need to let the District know.
Tom noted that they owed the District invoices and information from the force main damage done by a boring contractor last month.
One work order from the month required Lichelle to reach out to property owners of a shared station about lack of power from one of the residences. That issue has been resolved.
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR COMMITTEE
Nothing to report.
ENGINEERING UPDATE
During a service call, Astbury found the lid cracked on the shared grinder station at 10 & 16 EMS B57. Lichelle reached out to both property owners to gather information on how the lid became cracked, however, neither had any information. The grinder station is near the driveway of property #10, and that property owner had questioned why a traffic lid was not installed originally. Casey (DLZ) reviewed the pictures and notes from the installation and at that time, the station was installed in a grassy area near the property line, and it appears the driveway has gotten closer to the station over the years. A letter will be sent to the property owners to remind property owners to be mindful of the grinder station location and of the damage liability as outlined in the Ordinance.
PURCHASING UPDATE
There is currently one (1) open Purchase order for five (5) complete grinder station packages.
PROPERTY OWNER CONNECTION STATUS
Lichelle reviewed the Property Owner Connection Status report, updated through February 14, 2025.
OTHER ITEMS THAT MAY COME BEFORE THE BOARD
Two of the non-connected properties are scheduled to be in a Commissioners’ Sale in April: 4881 E Armstrong Rd & 42 EMS T9. The County questioned if the District had any interest in taking ownership of those two properties. Jim had Andy (Carson LLP) weigh in on the pros and cons of such and distributed that to all Board members. No motions were made to consider taking ownership of either property.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn meeting was made at 7:27PM by Jim Haney with second by Mike DeWald
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