SYRACUSE — Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District held an unusually brief monthly meeting on Monday, Aug. 15. Though no public members were present, the board was thrilled to hear that the large S.W.A.P (South Shore-Waco Drive Area Project) continues to run smoothly and all items are on or ahead of schedule.

The project will complete the sewer for most of the Wawasee area, according to the district’s website, and covers “Vawter Park Road (west of the S-curve), South Shore Drive, State Highway 13 (both between South Shore Drive and Ideal Beach Road and south of Vawter Park Road to County Road 1000 N), Ideal Beach Road, Truesdell Avenue, George Street and Elwood Street.”

Brian Houghton, project engineer for the district, noted that two of three of the contracted areas have neared completion with just punch list items being finalized. Houghton reported that contract 1, covering South Shore and Waco Drive areas, has also seen much progress with workers installing laterals and working on items for a $13,000 change order for tree removal and different valves.

District attorney Dick Green reiterated that billing will start for the district as soon as sewer becomes available, although each customer has a 90-day window to officially make the switch to sewer. Houghton mentioned the possibility of phasing in the sewers to allow hook-ups to happen sooner in areas that are complete.

Green also presented to the board a recommendation by the Sewer Study Committee made up of board trustees, who believe a rate study is in order for the billing to the district from the town of Syracuse. Jon Julian of Umbaugh and Associates would head up the study with the assistance of the committee. The board agreed to this recommendation, noting the length of the study would be dependent on many factors such as response timeliness by Syracuse.

District Superintendent Timothy Woodward provided updates on the past month’s claims and projects. Woodward noted the district had drained one of the clarifier tanks in order to re-paint and discovered a faulty shaft that needed to be replaced. He expects the repairs to be completed this week. The district’s data collection system was also taken offline after a cable came disconnected. The problem was fixed but with a slight impact on the data collected.

The district board of trustees will hold its next meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 19, at the Cromwell office.