Attorney Chad Miner, far left, provides his recommendation at this morning’s meeting.

KOSCIUSKO — Attorney Chad Miner presented his recommendation regarding the sanitary sewer issue at Lake Tippecanoe during the Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting held this morning, Feb. 20. Miner recommended setting up an initial meeting to establish a regional sewer district in the Lake Tippecanoe area.

The meeting would include attorneys, financial advisors, representatives from the county and representatives from the Lake Tippecanoe and Lake Chapman areas. This group would work on putting a petition together, holding a public hearing and submitting the request to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

“There’s some work that needs to be done to get from this point to the point of actually being able to submit that petition to IDEM.” explained Miner. “If we could get that process moving forward, that might be a good alternative to the conservancy.”

Attorney Steve Snyder then spoke on behalf of the committee in favor of establishing a conservancy district.

“Yes, they’re more than willing in cooperating with the commissioners in moving forward with the sewer district,” said Snyder. “But I think you have to remember this group has devoted untold man hours in moving this project forward and they don’t want to lose that momentum.”

A written statement from the committee was read that stated, “If the commissioners request the committee to present a request for the postponement of the March 29 hearing, the committee will do so upon verification by resolution or motion by the commissioners seeking appropriation of funds to support the preparation of the following three items as required to begin establishment of a regional sewer district.” The three items requested for appropriations included preliminary engineering work, fiscal advisors preliminary rate report and legal services for preparation of petition and public notice.

Miner stated that the initial meeting would provide a good estimate of what these appropriations could cost. Once the meeting is held, a presentation will be made to the Kosciusko County Council during their next meeting on March 8.

The council approved Miner’s request to continue with an initial meeting.

Scott Tilden, county highway superintendent, announced that the county was awarded funds to replace bridge 227 over Walnut Creek on South Hand Avenue. The $637,100.47 would cover 80 percent of the replacement costs. The project is expected to be constructed sometime in 2022 or 2023.

In other news:

• The Commissioners approved the vacation of an unnamed public way in Quaker Haven. The vacation was previously unanimously recommended by the Plan Commission.
• The Sheriff’s Department was approved to purchase 5-6 body camera units in addition to the squad car dash cameras.
• The next meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 6.