The White Pigeon Sanitary System Board has authorized moving forward with treatment plant and system upgrades expected to cost $2.85 million.
In action during a workshop meeting Monday evening (August 1), the six-member board – with equal representation from the Village of White Pigeon and White Pigeon Township – agreed to have Wightman-Petrie, an Elkhart, Indiana-based engineering firm, begin the design phase. Work on the actual improvements is expected to begin in the spring of 2012 and be completed in the fall.
The White Pigeon Sanitary System, built in 1978, serves the village and the township as well as an area in Northern Indiana involving Fish Lake and Stone Lake.
White Pigeon Township Supervisor Don Gloy serves as administrator for the system. During an interview with the River Country Journal, he said, “We’ve been working on this project for quite some time,” realizing that renovations would be needed eventually, and money has been set aside over the years to help pay the costs associated with the improvements. In particular, the lagoons that are part of the system, which had a 20-year life expectancy and are now 32 years old, need attention. Gloy said the lagoon work alone has a price tag of around $1.8 million. (Don_Gloy audio_clip – 2:16 – 2.08 MB)
According to Gloy, the board anticipates bonding for $2.2 million of the total cost and contributing $550,000 to $600,000 of accumulated funds to lower the bond amount and lessen the cost passed on to customers.
Gloy said that preliminary indications are the project will necessitate a rate increase of 15 to 16 percent with the contribution of saved money figured in. Bonding for the entire amount of the project would involve a rate increase of 25 percent.
Gloy said, “Through the years, we have increased the bill only by five dollars in 32 years” and, when the township paid off its debt early, bills were actually lowered by seven dollars. Similarly, the original tap fee is still in place – $1,850 in the township and $1,150 in the village. “That has never been raised in 32 years.”
Questions about the project can be directed to Gloy at (269) 350-1342.
Gloy noted that the White Pigeon Sanitary System Board meets at 7 p.m. on the last Monday each month and said, “The public is always welcome.” The meetings are held at the wastewater treatment plant on Indian Prairie Road. “We have an office just across the driveway.”
To hear the interview with Don Gloy – conducted by Bruce Snook – click on the following link: Don Gloy interview (13:08 – 12 MB).
