Jeff Hersha, Jones and Henry, speaks to the Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District Board about the positive, negative, and neutral responses from the community survey. On the map behind Hersha, the areas in red indicate a positive response or desire for a sewered community.

CROMWELL — Although the board members of the Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District expected some push back from local community members, the group was pleasantly surprised with the positive responses to a brief survey for adding additional sewers around Eastshore Drive.

The TCRSD board met Monday night, March 19, at the Cromwell office to discuss recent bills and how to best forge ahead with adding new sewers and reversing some existing flow. The ongoing saga between TCRSD and the town of Syracuse has brought months of frustration to the district, yet Jon Julian of Umbaugh and Associates reiterated there has yet to be any kind of response from the town of Syracuse representative, Henry DeJulia.

“I don’t see us any closer today than when we sat down a year and a half ago,” said Julian.

The district plans to forge ahead with a plan that will keep flow being processed by the district independently; a task currently contracted to the town of Syracuse. TCRSD decided several months ago to spend the approximately $50,000 for project engineer Brian Houghton to conduct a study to start the project. After presenting the district with several possible routes, the board reached out to those possible new customers with postcard surveys to gauge public response and potential income. Jeff Hersha of Jones and Henry indicated on a map the areas of support from the survey responses, a map that will help the district decide how many new sewers to add and where.

During the meeting, local property owners George and Ann Xanders spoke in support of the sewer project, but also felt more info about cost and project details is necessary before many of their fellow property owners would feel comfortable making a decision. In reference to the lack of current financial details, the board agreed to put Julian to work on a cost estimate/proposal at a $5,000 cost to the district. The board hopes this will give the community a better understanding of the financial impact to their own costs as well as open discussion from neighbor to neighbor.

Julian estimated the project will be at an overall cost of around $2 million, and encouraged the preliminary study to start the process.

In other news, the board also held a second reading of a policy that will allow board members to join additionally up to three times each year using video conferencing technologies. The policy was approved unanimously.

The board decided to stick with its current health insurance provider after examining rates and coverage from three companies.

Timothy Woodward, district superintendent, addressed damage to a station generator circuit board. Woodward suspects the damage was caused by mice, but said it appears $7,000 in repairs will be covered by insurance.

The TCRSD will continue using Keystone software to make the official switch from hardcopy to digital record keeping for billing and accounts. This will cost nearly $10,000 plus an annual fee.

The next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, April 16.