Lakeland Regional Sewer District – September 17, 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, Jack Bonewits, and Rosa Ritchie
Absent: Mark Koehler and Bob Hookman
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
None.
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS GENERAL MEETING MINUTES & EXECUTIVE SESSION MEETING MINUTES
A draft of the August 20, 2025 regular meeting minutes was submitted to all Board members via email on August 25, 2025. The final version was posted on Boardable on August 28, 2025.
Motion by Jim Haney to approve; second by Mike DeWald.
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 – August 31, 2025 denoting the funds grand total of $2,452,856.
Mike DeWald overviewed the Management Cash Budget of January 1, 2025 through August 31, 2025.
The following August 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 Jim Haney to approve; second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
The Monthly Claims Approval form of September 2025 was reviewed by Lichelle Parker.
Motion to approve the payment of monthly claims grand total of $25,254.94 by Jim Haney with second by Rosa Ritchie.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 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 September 14, 2025 was emailed to Board members by Astbury Water Technology, Inc. Thomas Astbury, Matt Rippey, and Gary Cooper were present and reviewed key aspects of the report and provided clarifications to Board members’ inquiries.
Jim congratulated Astbury on an excellent inspection report from IDEM on the August 20, 2025, annual inspection.
Jim noted that within the work order section of the report, there were eight instances in which the floats were replaced. Matt indicated that he did not know of any specific issues driving that increase, but they are mechanical floats and so each time they are activated, there is normal wear and tear. Jim requested Astbury keep an eye on this going forward and to have the technicians offer more information on what is not working properly when floats are replaced.
Within the maintenance fund report, there was an item that was over $1500 and should have been issued as a separate invoice (with a PO from the District), rather than included in the maintenance fund. Lichelle will be issuing a PO to Astbury for the breakers and that amount should come off the maintenance fund. Jim also noted that there were two breakers used in 2024 and there have been 12 used in 2025. He requested additional information on what may be causing them to go bad because the sudden spike seems unusual.
Last month, a proposal was included in the monthly report for Astbury to charge $300 per each new grinder station unit that is added to the GIS and the Board had pushed back indicating that was too high. In this month’s report, Astbury proposed to charge $112.50 each. Jim indicated he still felt that was too high because looking at the GIS proposal, the cost for adding to the GIS was around $8. Tom indicated that when doing the GIS project, there will be efficiencies for the Astbury team as they are doing everything at once, plus they have tried to make the proposal price for the GIS project to be enticing for the District to accept; the one-offs of adding a unit one at a time will be more costly. Tom suggested $50 and this was agreed upon by the Board.
Astbury would like to modify the way that SCADATA system alarms & notifications are sent. Currently, alarms & notifications are sent via text and email, but they would like to change this to telephone call. This would be beneficial for the operators especially during the night, or off hours, when a text may not be acknowledged. The cost to utilize a third-party for this feature would be approximately $0.02 per call. The Board was okay with this change.
There is only one Type II control panel in inventory and Jim questioned if there were any on order? Currently there is not, but a PO will be issued to bring the inventory back to the minimum required quantity to be on hand.
DISCUSS SALE OF EQUIPMENT
Tim Hare, System Manager (Astbury), recently suggested the District consider selling a couple of lab instruments that are not utilized by the District: a Hach Spectrometer and Heating Block. Jim noted that when the District received the USDA loan approval, there was discussion of the District having its own employees to run the lab and so the appropriate equipment was purchased to be able do so. To purchase this equipment new today, it would cost approximately $13,000-$14,0000, but the equipment that the District has is 10 years old and has never been used. Andy Boxberger (Carson LLP) noted that there is statutory process that the Distrct would need to go through if interested in selling the equipment.
Motion by Jim Haney to proceed with putting the two lab instruments up for public sale; second by Cullen Reece.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
NON-COMPLIANCE SECTION 15.4.2 OF THE DISTRICT’S USE ORDINANCE
Lakelife Bar and Grill
Jim and Lichelle met with Joe Gallas, Lakelife owner, and Steven Shankster, Strombeck Bros, at Lakelife this morning, September 17, 2025, to review the recent grease violations which have occurred at Lakelife, and to discuss what may be causing the issues. At the end of March, Lakelife installed a new grease trap and there were no violations until early June 2025. The new grease trap had not been cleaned yet and Joe arranged to have that done on June 24, and approximately every 45 days going forward during the summer. Since the August 11 grease trap cleaning, three out of the four samples have exceeded the District’s limit of 100mg/L, with the fourth result just barely being under the limit. In reviewing the layout and circumstances at Lakelife, a couple items were identified that may be contributing factors:
1 – Frequently, Astbury will request Lakelife to turn on their water to get water flowing into the grinder station so that the sample can be collected. If the staff turn on the hot water, as that runs through the grease trap, it could cause the grease to emulsify. Joe has recently instructed his staff to only turn on cold water in these instances.
2 – Within the grease trap there was a 4” tube, believed to be available for a sampling tube, with a cap that was glued on. Strombeck was able to remove the cap and put hot water down the tube and a lot of junk came out the bottom. Going forward, Strombeck will clean this tube as part of their regularly scheduled cleanings.
A sample is scheduled to be taken from Lakelife tomorrow, September 18, 2025, and Steven would like to see if resolving the two issues identified above helps with the test results. He does not feel that cleaning the grease trap more frequently will solve the issue.
Motion by Jim Haney to continue with weekly testing at Lakelife to see if rectifying the two issues above have any bearing on the test results, and to issue no fines at this point for the three recent ordinance violations; second by Mike DeWald.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Barbee Hotel
On July 28, 2025, the Barbee hotel had an exceedance of the grease limit. On August 15, 2025, Jim and Lichelle met with Steven Shankster, Strombeck Bros, and Lena Ferguson, Barbee Hotel, at the Barbee Hotel. When Steven opened the grease trap, there was a high-water mark, which means the grease has the potential to overflow the barrier. Steven recommended to the Barbee Hotel personnel to jet the line from the grinder station to the grease trap. As of this morning, the Barbee Hotel has not responded to his recommendation.
Motion by Jack Bonewits to contact the Barbee Hotel owner and allow him seven days to get the line cleaned out or face further action. No second to this motion.
Motion failed.
Motion by Jim Haney to fine the Barbee Hotel $2,500.00 for the exceedance which occurred on July 28, 2025; second by Mike DeWald.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR COMMITTEE
The Independent Contractor Committee has been working with Astbury on their proposal for the Grinder Station Inspection and GIS Mapping. After the original proposal, the committee had several questions for Astbury to address. This afternoon, Astbury provided a revised proposal which Jim emailed to the Board members. The committee has not had a chance to review the proposal, but rather than waiting until the next Board meeting to be able to approve, Jim asked the Board to consider authorizing a PO to be issued for the proposal, pending formal written approval from the Independent Contractor Committee.
Motion by Jim Haney for the Board to give the Independent Contractor Committee the authority to issue a PO for the project cost, not to exceed $50,000.00 for the Grinder Station Inspection and GIS Mapping pending written approval by the Independent Contractor Committee; second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
ENGINEERING UPDATE
Nothing to report.
PURCHASING UPDATE
As of Monday morning, there was one open PO to Gasvoda for 25 grinder pumps. Two additional PO’s were issued today to Astbury: one for the line item over $1500 which was on the maintenance fund and the other which was requested by Aaron Burris for capacitors and contactors.
An initial claim was filed in Small Claims court last week against Sage Drilling. The initial hearing is scheduled for October 22, 2025 at 10:00am. Jim noted that the small claims avenue may be one to use in the future for property owners who have moved out leave an unpaid balance.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
The Finance Committee has begun studying the Asset Replacement worksheet. Mike met with Matt and Lichelle and each has some research to do to contribute towards updating the sheet. This information will influence the maintenance amount utilized on the 2026 budget. Mike hopes to have a rough draft of the Budget for the October 2025 Board meeting.
PROPERTY OWNER CONNECTION STATUS
Lichelle reviewed the Property Owner Connection Status report, updated through September 11, 2025.
A rate reduction request was received by MillerKids LLC for lot 15 within their mobile home park (9 EMS B43A). All the appropriate paperwork was submitted and the prior unit was removed and the line has been capped. The acknowledgement and pictures of the lot were available for Board review.
Motion by Jim Haney to approve the rate reduction request for Lot 15 of 9 EMS B43A (MillerKids LLC); second by Cullen Reece.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
OTHER ITEMS THAT MAY COME BEFORE THE BOARD
None.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn meeting was made at 6:55PM by Jim Haney with second by Jack Bonewits.
Motion carried by voice vote of: 5 Yeas; 0 Nays; 0 Abstains
Submitted to Board by Lichelle Parker, District Administrator
Reviewed by Board Secretary, Rosa Ritchie