Lakeland Regional Sewer District – June 18, 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 (arrived at 6:01pm)
Absent: Bob Hookman
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
None
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
A draft of the May 21, 2025 regular meeting minutes was submitted to all Board members via email on May 27, 2025. The final version was posted on Boardable on June 5, 2025.
Motion by Jim Haney to approve minutes as submitted; second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstain
TREASURER’S REPORT AND OTHER FINANCIAL MATTERS
Mike Dewald overviewed the Cash and Funds Balance Matrix – May 31, 2025 denoting the funds grand total of $2,571,284.
Mike DeWald overviewed the Management Cash Budget of January 1, 2024 through May 31, 2025.
The following May 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: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
The Board members reviewed the proposed Resolution 2025-04 Enrollment in Automatic Payment Plans and Abatement of Late Payment Penalties. The resolution allows for one late payment fee abatement per customer if the customer enrolls in automatic payments.
Motion by Jim Haney to approve Resolution 2025-04 as written; second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
The Monthly Claims Approval form of June 2025 was reviewed by Lichelle Parker.
Motion to approve the payment of monthly claims grand total of $77,539.42 by Jim Haney with second by Cullen Reece.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Board members affixed their signature approval to the Monthly Claim Approval Form.
ASTBURY MONTHLY REPORT
PUMP/PANEL INVENTORY, CUSTOMER PROTOCOL REMINDER
The LRSD Treatment System Operations Treatment System Operations Report of June 14, 2025 was emailed to Board members by Astbury Water Technology, Inc. Tom Astbury and Matt Rippey reviewed key aspects of the report and provided clarifications to Board members’ inquiries.
Matt Rippey confirmed that Astbury has back what they needed from IDEM regarding the change in the District’s Operator of Record.
The operations report noted that the vacuum trailer was used to remove a “large surface mat” from the wet well in Lift Station #3. Jim questioned what this mat was and Matt clarified that it was a mat of organic matter that accumulates over time and was skimmed off the top.
There were several call-outs during the month, believed to be due to the uptick of residents at the lake and increased use of system. No calls were out of the ordinary or severe in nature.
As a reminder as part of the recent Astbury Agreement Amendment, the District will begin issuing POs to Astbury for items over $1500 and Astbury will issue invoices to the District for payment (separate from the Maintenance fund).
Tom indicated that Astbury should have a proposal for the Digital Mapping/Inspection project ready to present to the District within the next few days.
PONDING AT GRINDER STATION – 279/285 EMS B1
A customer brought an issue of ponding of water on and around a grinder station at 279/285 EMS B1 Lane after large amounts of rain. The customer questioned what the options were to resolve this issue. Pictures of the properties and the location of the grinder station were provided for the Board’s review. Jim questioned what needs to be done with it and who should cover the costs? Astbury recommended installing a 12” riser on the grinder station basin. Costs of the basin extension are roughly estimated to be around $300.
Motion by Jack Bonewits for the District to pay half of the costs to install a 12” basin extension at the station; no second. Motion Failed.
Motion by Mark Koehler for the District to share with the homeowners in the cost to install a 12” basin, but to limit the District’s maximum exposure to $150; second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 4 Yeas; 2 Nays; 0 Abstains
LAKELIFE SAMPLE 06/05/2025
The District sent a letter to LakeLife in March as a follow up to the March Board meeting summarizing LakeLife’s intent to install a new grease trap and the District’s indication that if the installation was done by April 1, 2025, the District would rescind the fines assessed between October 2024 and April 1, 2025. However, the District has received no communication from LakeLife or their attorney indicating that it was installed. Joe Gallas, LakeLife owner, was present at the June meeting and stated that the grease trap was installed on March 25 & 26, and the day after it was installed, Astbury was at LakeLife and were told; he assumed they would relay the information. Jim requested an email with the installation dates and some level of documentation of the install from either Joe or his contractor. Once provided the fines will be rescinded.
Joe requested to receive copies of the results of all the samples taken at LakeLife, not just copies of exceedances.
Motion by Jim Haney to resume sending LakeLife a copy of all sample results; second by Rosa Ritchie.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Jim will also send Joe copies off all the results from April and May.
Jim notified Joe that the sample results from April and May were all under Ordinance limits, however, the sample taken on June 5, 2025 was over the limit. Joe stated that he had looked in the grease trap on June 3 and even took a scoop out of it and based on what he saw does not understand how the sample could have been over. He questions if the samples are being taken properly. Joe questioned if he could have his own independent company come to test the grease and Jim responded that if the vendor was approved through the State of Indiana and LakeLife is willing to pay for it, then the District would be open to consider it.
Jim questioned if the engineer that recommended the grease trap also supplied a recommended cleaning cycle? Joe stated the manufacturer’s recommendation is to clean it out when it is 80% full. Jim pointed out that the grease trap has been installed for over two months and has yet to be cleaned out; Joe indicated he had scheduled to have the grease trap cleaned on the 26th. It was noted that the other restaurant in the District cleans their grease trap seven times per year; more frequently in the summer months than the winter months, and that the cleaning contractor notes what level of grease accumulation is in the grease trap before cleaning it. The District also takes a sample approximately one week before the cleaning to try to correlate the sample results with the grease level accumulation and Jim suggested it would be a good idea for LakeLife to follow similar procedures. If they provide us with their scheduled cleaning schedule, we can plan accordingly to collect the samples.
Motion by Jim Haney for no action to be taken for the June 5, 2025 exceedance and to begin a testing/cleaning regimen to help LakeLife gain an understanding of how frequently they need to clean their grease trap; second by Rosa Ritchie.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR COMMITTEE
Nothing to report.
ENGINEERING UPDATE
Nothing to report.
PURCHASING UPDATE
As of June 16, 2025, there were three open PO’s to Astbury for three check valve replacements. The District is also waiting to receive an invoice from Super Seal Inc for the driveway and parking lot asphalt sealing completed on June 7, 2025.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
The Finance committee’s position is to recommend increasing the frequency of filing liens to monthly (from semi-annual), with Lichelle sending out the past-due letters. Jim reminded the Board that the prior process was for Astbury to send out a 90-day letter and then a 120-day letter for those who still have not paid. He questions if the second 120-day letter is needed or if it would make sense to only send out one notice at 90-days.
Motion by Cullen Reece to file liens monthly for any account that has been sent a 90-day warning letter and remains unpaid at 120 days; second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
PROPERTY OWNER CONNECTION STATUS
Lichelle reviewed the Property Owner Connection Status report, updated through June 13, 2025.
DISCUSS FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR GRINDER STATION DAMAGES WHEN THE PROPERTY HAS CHANGED OWNERSHIP
During last month’s meeting, the District voted to rescind damage charges assessed to a property owner because he indicated the damage had been done by the previous owner prior to his taking ownership. Jim and Andy Boxberger discussed some ideas to help document the status of grinder stations at the time of a property ownership change. Three of the options they discussed were to:
Have Astbury do a site visit/inspection to all stations throughout the District to document any existing problems as of that time.
Include verbiage in the new owner welcome letter that Lichelle sends out monthly to new owners, recommending the new property owner inspect their station and report any damage with 7-10 days.
Initiate a rate ordinance change to charge new property owners a fee which includes an Astbury inspection of the equipment to document the status of the equipment at the time of ownership change.
Jim asked the Board members to think about these suggestions and be prepared to discuss these and any other suggestions at next month’s meeting.
OTHER ITEMS THAT MAY COME BEFORE THE BOARD
Although Joe Cleland resigned from the Board last year, he has continued serving on the Independent Contractor Committee. However, he is struggling with his time commitments and has asked to be relieved of his role on the committee. Bob Hookman has indicated to Jim that he is willing to participate on the committee.
Motion by Jim Haney to appoint Bob Hookman to replace Joe Cleland on the Independent Contractor Committee; second by Cullen Reece.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn meeting was made at 7:14 PM by Jim Haney with second by Cullen Reece.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Submitted to Board by Lichelle Parker, District Administrator
Reviewed by Board Secretary, Rosa Ritchie