CROMWELL — Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District board met for its regular monthly meeting Monday evening, April 18. After the previous month’s revelations of dramatic increases in the rates for TCRSD wastewater treated by the Syracuse plant, board members had hoped to meet with a Syracuse representative.

Instead, board president Rex Heil received a letter dated April 14 the day of the meeting.

Dick Green, TCRSD attorney, also received the letter and suggested the situation be dealt with by a standing sewer committee. “There are too many moving parts to this,” he said. Heil agreed the committee needed to go over “a lot of loose ends … we have to know what the original agreement is.” A motion passed directing the committee to find out if Syracuse is honoring the inter-municipal agreement and put a hold on the requested meeting pending further study.

Project engineer Brian Houghton reported construction is, so far, ahead of schedule and under budget. In the next 30 days, he said, homeowners in the SWAP project area need to get laterals staked so contractors know where to place sewer taps, shut-off valves. Construction is up SR 13 to South Shore Drive.

Office manager Pam Johns reported calls from SWAP customers wanting to know if they need to pay $100 for a permit before connection and grinder pump installation. Houghton confirmed that is indeed the case.
The wastewater plant is also ahead of schedule, and Houghton said he expects the final tank to be installed by early June.

Superintendent Timothy Woodward informed the board he would be taking advantage of construction in the wastewater plant to paint clarifiers and replace bearings. “Now is the time, while they’re here,” he said of the contractors. Woodward expects to save the board around $20,000. “I like change orders that save money,” remarked board member Robert Dumford.

Woodward hopes to similarly save homeowners up to 30 percent by encouraging contractors to install grinder pumps in June or July when it’s dry. He will be holding a meeting from 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday, April 21, to be attended by around 25 contractors. A representative of the pump manufacturer will be on hand to answer other installation questions. “Some are going to be complicated,” he commented. “I want things done right.”

The board was also pleasantly surprised to find while the majority of group health plans will see an average 18 percent increase, TCRSC employees will actually enjoy an overall savings of $1,356. The board congratulated Dan Helton of Helton Associates and Woodward with their work on the Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield plan and approved the new plan.

In other reports:

• Woodward reported a small leak in the water plant likely due to a failing valve. The fix will require the water plant to be shut down from around 8 to 10 a.m. May 10. An advisory will be issued.

• Woodward also devised a method for locating the force main sewer lines, a mere 5 feet deep, which can be damaged by directional boring methods used by NIPSCO. Cast iron caps on rods placed every thousand yards can be located electronically. Homeowners removing force main sewer warning signs also makes this necessary.