Lakeland Regional Sewer District – March 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 6:00 PM by Jim Haney.
Present: Jim Haney, Mike DeWald, Mark Koehler, Jack Bonewits, Bob Hookman, Cullen Reece (arrived 6:04pm)
Absent: Rosa Ritchie
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
None
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS GENERAL MEETING MINUTES & EXECUTIVE SESSION MEETING MINUTES
A draft of the February 19, 2025 Rate Hearing minutes was submitted to all Board members via email on February 24, 2025. The final version was posted to Boardable on March 7, 2025.
Motion by Jim Haney to approve; second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
A draft of the February 19, 2025 regular meeting minutes was submitted to all Board members via email on February 24, 2025. After a minor clarification on a statement from Casey (DLZ), the final version was posted on Boardable on March 11, 2025.
Motion by Jim Haney to approve; second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
A draft of the March 13, 2025 Executive Session meeting minutes was sent to Rosa Ritchie, Secretary, for review on March 14, 2025 and posted to Boardable the same day.
Motion by Jim Haney to approve; second by Jack Bonewitz.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
TREASURER’S REPORT AND OTHER FINANCIAL MATTERS
Mike Dewald overviewed the Cash and Funds Balance Matrix – February 28, 2025 denoting the funds grand total of $2,372,133.
Mike DeWald overviewed the Management Cash Budget of January 1, 2025 through February 28, 2025.
The following 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 Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 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 $118,430.49 by Jim Haney with second by Mike DeWald.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Board members affixed their signature approval to the Monthly Claim Approval Form.
LAKELIFE UPDATE ON GREASE VIOLATIONS
Since the last meeting, LakeLife has had two additional exceedances of the Ordinance’s F.O.G. limitations: one on February 21, 2025 (118 mg/L) and one on February 27, 2025 (202 mg/L). The past communication with LakeLife put them on notice that each violation would be assessed a $2500 fine for each occurrence. The Board was questioned if they want to continue with that practice.
Motion by Jim Haney to assess to fine $2500 for each violation: one on February 21, 2025, and one on February 27, 2025; second by Cullen Reece.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
At the February 19, 2025, Board meeting, LakeLife requested the District to share in the cost of installing a new grease trap at their property. The total cost was estimated to be $30,000 and LakeLife requested the District to contribute $15,000 (or 50%) of the cost.
Motion by Jim Haney to deny LakeLife’s request for the District to share 50% of the cost to install a new grease trap; second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 6 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Jim recommended the Board consider rescinding all fines, relative to F.O.G. limit exceedances, assessed to LakeLife between October 22, 2024 through April 1, 2025, provided LakeLife completes the installation of the new, larger grease trap on or before April 1, 2025. The District will continue to assess fines, up to $2500, for any exceedances that occur starting April 2, 2025, regardless if the new grease trap is installed or not.
Motion by Jim Haney to rescind all fines, relative to F.O.G. limit exceedances, assessed to LakeLife between October 22, 2024 and April 1, 2025, provided LakeLife completes the installation of the new, larger grease trap on or before April 1, 2025; second by Mark Koehler.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 1 Nays; 0 Abstains
Andy (Carson LLP) will draft a letter to send to LakeLife to communicate the Board’s decision.
ASTBURY MONTHLY REPORT
PUMP/PANEL INVENTORY, CUSTOMER PROTOCOL REMINDER
The LRSD Treatment System Operations Treatment System Operations Report of March 16, 2025 was emailed to Board members by Astbury Water Technology, Inc. Thomas Astbury and Matt Rippey reviewed key aspects of the report and provided clarifications to Board members’ inquiries.
Jim Haney questioned why 10 contactors were purchased from Grainger at almost double the price of the 10 contactors purchased from Gasvoda. Tom was going to check with Aaron on the purchase and if the contactors from Grainger could be returned.
Tom has all information and invoices from the force main damage on B33 and will forward that information to the District and copy Andy Boxberger (Carson LLP).
Matt indicated it would be a good idea to complete the assessment of a Barnes pump as a future replacement for the Wilo pump at Lift Station #1. That way an alternative is proactively identified if needed in the future. Jim will direct Casey to work with Matt to finish his review. Matt also suggested it might be a good idea to look at Barnes pump alternatives for the other lift stations as well.
Tom stated that the As-Builts do not always accurately reflect where equipment and lines are in the ground and suggested that it may be beneficial to digitally map the system. Tim Hare has talked with Tom Ganz, the locator, about developing a project to do a full-fledged system inspection to identify where equipment is and to find defects (like broken cleanouts, loose gaskets, etc.). Identifying and repairing defects such as these, could help reduce collection system intake increases during high volumes of rain. This is just something that they have started talking through and Tom anticipates having additional information as they continue to talk through the idea.
In January 2023, there was a modification to the Operation and Maintenance agreement; the District removed the responsibility of Astbury performing the annual ARV flushing and to have it subcontracted out instead. Last July (2024), Weed Inc. completed the ARV flushing and found several repairs which needed to be done. Both Weed Inc. and Astbury have provided quotes to do the repairs. Astbury now has the expertise to do this type of work in-house, however, the Independent Contractor Committee and Astbury have not come to an agreement yet for the costs of Astbury to do subcontract work such as this. The District has already purchased the repair parts for the ARVs and rather than wait to finalize the agreement with Astbury, Jim recommends proceeding with Weed Inc. to perform the ARV repairs.
Motion by Jim Haney to proceed with Weed Inc. to perform the ARV repairs; second by Jack Bonewits.
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
There are currently two (2) open Purchase orders:
One for five (5) complete grinder station packages, and
One for five (5) sets of miscellaneous parts to complete the grinder station packages.
REQUEST TO RESCIND LATE FEE – YOCOM
Ms. Yocom reached out to the Astbury billing after receiving her January statement which included a late fee and did not reflect a payment she mailed by check in January. Kristin Lane, (Astbury), confirmed the check dated January 19, 2025 was not received until March 6, 2025. Ms. Yocom requested the District to rescind the late fee, and has since brought the account current and signed up for autopay.
Motion by Jim Haney to rescind the $7.87 late fee from January 31, 2025 assessed to Ms. Yocom’s account; second by Cullen Reece.
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 March 14, 2025, and asked for clarification on what was needed by property owners when needing to request a renewal of a prior permit. In a specific case for 34 EMS B6A, the original 24-month permit application time has passed and the connection is not complete. A communication will be sent to the property owner to complete the connection by April 21, 2025, or the sewer line will be plugged until the property owner requests the permit to be renewed and completes the connection. Andy (Carson LLP) is going research to clarify if a fee is associated to renew the permit.
There is a person interested in buying one of the two properties which will be included in the April 8, 2025 Commissioners’ sale. Jim requested Andy to supply a cover letter to accompany the resolution to provide to the interested party. Jim also suggested asking the firm who handles the Commissioners’ sale if they want a copy of the cover letter to read at the sale.
OTHER ITEMS THAT MAY COME BEFORE THE BOARD
Tom Astbury stated that the blower building is having some water leaking in. Astbury thinks it’s because the flashing at the bottom is separating and when it’s raining, water runs down and into the building. Astbury believes that caulking will provide a short-term fix, however, something else may need to be researched for a long-term resolution. Jim requested Casey (DLZ) to review the situation and provide his thoughts on a resolution, but asked Astbury to proceed with caulking in the interim.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn meeting was made at 6:54PM 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 VP/AssistantSecretary, Mark Koehler