CALL 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, Joe Cleland, Rich Dan, Mark Koehler, Jack Bonewits, and Cullen Reece
(arrived 6:03 pm)
Absent: Mike DeWald
WELCOME NEW MEMBER JACK BONEWITS
Jack was appointed to the LRSD Board by the Kosciusko County Council at their 12/14/2023 meeting.
ELECTION OF 2024 OFFICERS
Motion to nominate Jim Haney to serve as President by Joe Cleland with second by Rich Dan.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstain
Motion to nominate Mike DeWald to serve as Treasurer by Joe Cleland with second by Rich Dan.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstain
Motion to nominate Rich Dan to serve as Secretary by Joe Cleland with second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstain
Motion to nominate Joe Cleland to serve as Vice President/Assistant Secretary by Joe Cleland with
second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstain
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
None
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
The final version of the December 20, 2023, Regular Meeting Minutes was submitted to all Board
members via email by Rich Dan.
Motion to approve by Rich Dan with second by Joe Cleland.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
COMMITTEE/PURCHASING APPOINTMENTS
Independent Contractor Committee
Motion by Jim Haney for Joe Cleland, Mark Koehler, and Jim Haney to serve as the
representatives for the Independent Contractor Committee for 2024 with second by Jack
Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Salary Ordinance Committee
Motion by Jim Haney for Rich Dan, Mark Koehler, and Jim Haney to serve on the Salary
Ordinance Committee for 2024 with second by Joe Cleland.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstain
Purchasing Agents within Small Purchase Policy
Motion for Rich Dan, Joe Cleland, and Jim Haney to serve as the purchasing agents within the 01
Small Purchase Policy by Jim Haney with second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Resolution of the Board of Trustees of the Lakeland Regional Sewer District No. 2024-01 signed
by present board members.
Comment by Jim Haney for Board members to rethink the Small Purchase Policy process in the future
to consider granting the District Administrator a level of purchasing authority.
TREASURER’S REPORT AND OTHER FINANCIAL MATTERS
Jim Haney reviewed the Cash and Funds Balance Matrix – December 31, 2023 denoting the funds
grand total of $2,286,922.
Jim Haney reviewed the Management Cash Budget of January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023,
the Unaudited Schedule of Cash Receipts and Disbursements, Monthly Analysis of Fund Balances,
and Monthly Analysis of Cash and Investment Accounts.
Motion to approve the Unaudited Schedule of Cash Receipts and Disbursements, Monthly
Analysis of Fund Balances, and Monthly Analysis of Cash and Investment Accounts by Jim Haney
with second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Jim Haney reviewed the Monthly Claim Approval Form of January 2024.
Motion to approve the payment of monthly claims grand total of $117,849.54 by Jim Haney with
second by Joe Cleland.
Motion carried via voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Board members affixed their signature approval to the Monthly Claim Approval Form.
2018-2022 SBOA AUDIT ACTIONS – KROHN REIMBURSEMENT/CAPITAL ASSET POLICY
Results of the audit included comments for failure to have certain monthly and/or annual information
downloaded into the SBOA system as required. Krohn was enlisted in 2018 to carryout these
required tasks and failed to meet the requirement over 40% of the time. A process has been
established to verify Krohn’s compliance with these tasks going forward.
Motion by Jim Haney to accept Krohn’s proposed credit of $6300 via billing deductions over the
first four months of 2024 with second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried via voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Another item noted from the audit was the failure to have a Capital Asset Policy. The District thought
what was in place was sufficient because there were no comments from the prior audit (ending with
fiscal year 2017) in this area. However, to meet this requirement going forward, Mike DeWald, Carson
LLP, and Krohn have been working together to draft a Capital Asset Policy, and plan to have it
available for Board review at the February 2024 meeting.
ASTBURY MONTHLY REPORT
PUMP/PANEL INVENTORY, CUSTOMER PROTOCOL REMINDER
The LRSD Treatment System Operations Treatment System Operations Report of January 14, 2024,
was emailed to Board members by Astbury Water Technology, Inc. Josh Koontz fielded questions
relative to the report and provided clarifications to Board members’ inquiries.
After a lengthy discussion surrounding the cost of check valve replacements, Astbury will seek
request for quotes from several contractors. Those will be used to determine the recommended
contractor to do all the check valve replacements going forward. In the interim, Site Worx will be
utilized for any required check valve replacement work. The quotes being obtained will be a “one
price fits all” replacement cost. If this does not yield an agreeable option, then guidelines will be
established for contractors to provide a base quote with add-on prices for additional work. DLZ
offered to help establish the guidelines if desired.
Three quotes were obtained to flush the ARV’s. Astbury’s recommendation is to proceed with Weed
Inc for the project.
Astbury continues to work with SCADATA regarding communication issues from the lift stations.
SCADATA had a technician onsite on 1/10/2024 redirecting the antenna at lift station #2. After
continued communication issues, Astbury is pursuing the costs associated with utilizing fiber from
Kosciusko Connect rather than continuing with the cellular services through SCADATA. Currently
Gasvoda pays the cellular costs to SCADATA per the agreement in effect until July 2024.
The Grinder Station Service Instruction labels are finished and will be placed on all stations by this
summer. The labels have a reminder to never turn off the power to the station as well as a QR code
to scan if there is a grinder station alarm.
Josh provided a clarification of the conduit noted in Eberle Electric’s quote for the Rotork valve and
noted that they have not received a second quote from D&D yet. Astbury will continue to work on
obtaining another quote before the next board meeting.
USE ORDINANCE VIOLATION – GREASE TRAP BARBEE HOTEL
Jim Haney drafted a letter to Barbee Hotel related to recent violations of section 17.4 (grease trap
cleaning) & 17.5 (timely reporting of records) of the Use Ordinance. Discussion ensued related to the
appropriate level of penalty to be assessed for the violations.
Motion by Cullen Reece to assess a $750 penalty to the Barbee Hotel ($500 for violation of
Section 17.4 and $250 for violation of 17.5) with second by Rich Dan.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 1 Nay; 0 Abstain
ENGINEERING UPDATE
There is currently one plan review in process but other than that, no action items.
Casey confirmed that Haskins has all the appropriate information to finish the project at 5945 E 450 N.
Last he heard was that Haskins was waiting on material, but might have also been delayed this week
due to the weather.
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR COMMITTEE – CARSON AGREEMENT
Andy Boxberger provided a proposed change to the Legal Services Agreement with Carson LLP
increasing the hourly rate from $240 to $265.
Motion by Jim Haney to give him authority to sign the Legal Service Agreement with second by
Joe Cleland.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstain
PURCHASING UPDATE – Cleland/Astbury
No action items outside what was included in Astbury’s monthly report.
RATE REDUCTION – PERMANENT/TEMPORARY VACATION – Carson LLP
Carson LLP has provided a drafted revision to the Reduction in Billing ordinance for the Board to
review and decisions need to be made by the Board regarding what is to be done with the District’s
equipment during a permanent vacate. Board members were encouraged to review the draft and
forward their questions about the ordinance and the permanent & temporary vacate process to Jim by
the end of next week (January 26, 2024). He will consolidate those and send one list to Carson to be
addressed.
RATE REDUCTION REQUEST – POUCHER 3780 N BARBEE RD
Signed and notarized Rate Reduction Acknowledgement Form 2018-01, property pictures, and
Vacate Inspection form provided to Board Members via email 1/17/2024 for review.
Motion to approve the rate reduction request by Jim Haney with a second by Joe Cleland.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstain
REQUEST TO RESCIND LATE FEE – SCHROEDER 52 EMS B14
Request from Laurell Schroeder to rescind late fee assessed to her account on 1/2/2024 for failure to
receive payment by 12/31/2023. Supplemental documents provided
Motion to deny the rate reduction request by Rich Dan with a second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstain
PROPERTY OWNER CONNECTION STATUS – Parker/Carson LLP
Review of Monthly Connection Report emailed to Board Members on 1/12/2024
USE OF DROPBOX
Rather than receiving copies of the invoices and Monthly Claim Approval Form via email this month,
all Board Members were invited to share access to the “Invoices Pending Board Approval” folder
within Dropbox. Members were asked to formulate feedback of the Dropbox sharing process for
consideration of future use. There were mixed reviews of the process; some feel the current email
process is adequate, while others noted there are potential benefits of having one place to go to
access certain documents rather than searching through emails.
Need to identify if, or how, can be beneficial for all.
Boardable was also suggested as a potentially beneficial software to research that is used by a lot of
Boards.
INDIANA CODE REVISIONS – COMPENSATION TO BOARD MEMBERS
Discussion occurred about adopting a resolution to compensate Board members for their service.
The statute regarding Board member compensation recently changed to allow for compensation up to
$150 to each board member for each day, or majority of a day, spent performing Board duties.
Discussion to continue next meeting with additional guideline proposals from Board members.
OTHER ITEMS THAT MAY COME BEFORE THE BOARD
None.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn meeting was made at 9:04 PM by Jim Haney with second by Joe Cleland.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains