Chad Miner, county attorney, shown on the far right, administered the oath of office to the appointed trustees of the Tippecanoe Chapman Lakes Regional Sewer District. From left, are Ed Ormsby, Chuck Simpson, Jon Tyler, Jeff Thornburgh and Bob Weaver. (Photos by Deb Patterson)

NORTH WEBSTER — Just over 40 people, evenly divided between residents of Tippecanoe and Chapman Lakes, attended the inaugural meeting of the newly formed Tippecanoe Chapman Lakes Regional Sewer District Saturday morning, March 7. The meeting was held in the Party Room at the North Webster Community Center to accommodate the expected large attendance.

Jeff Thornburgh, Jon Tyler, Edward Ormsby, Bob Weaver, Chuck Simpson, five of the six appointed trustees, were present and sworn in by Chad Miner, county attorney. Kim Hathaway, the sixth member, was unable to attend and will be sworn in at the April meeting. This was the first time the appointed board members had met as a group.

Thornburgh, Tyler and Weaver all reside on Tippecanoe Lake, while Ormsby, Simpson and Hathaway reside at Chapman Lake.

Chad Miner presided over the inaugural meeting. Officers will be elected at the April meeting.

Trustees briefly introduced themselves. Thornburgh stated he has been a resident of Tippy Lake for 40 years and has been active in the property owners association and a founding member of The Watershed Foundation. Tyler has been a resident on Tippy for 19 years and his family deals with housing. Weaver, county health official, is a resident of Little Tippy for numerous years.

Simpson noted he has resided on Chapman Lake for 30 years and is co-owner of Union Tool. Ormby, an attorney, has resided at Chapman Lake for 14 years.

A seventh member will be appointed in the near future, once it is determined what entity will be the treatment provider — Lakeland Regional Sewer District or city of Warsaw. Brian Davison, utility manager for Warsaw, was in attendance, but not officially named a trustee for the district.

No official vote on any topic was conducted during this meeting, however it was the consensus of the trustees to hold off on the election of officers and adoption of by-laws until the next meeting. The group did unanimously agree to conduct regular monthly meetings at 6:30 p.m. the second Monday of each month in the North Webster Community Center. The meetings are anticipated to be held in the Party Room, if available.

Additionally, the trustees gave a unanimous consensus to move forward with aerial photography for base mapping. Ken Jones with Jones Petrie Rafinski, engineering consultant, noted this needed to be done in the near future, before foliage was visible on trees. After Jones presented three quotes and recommending the project be given to Williams Aerial Mapping, Kim Cates, county councilwoman, questioned if the company the council hired through MACOG for aerial photography could be used. The trustees agreed to go with that firm, if the photography is of the quality necessary. If not Jones was directed to use Williams Aerial Mapping. Jones had noted Williams Aerial Mapping had submitted a quote of $8,000 compared to the other two unnamed companies who submitted quotes of $9,500 and $12,000. Jones also noted he would order the work and have it contracted to his company as the district currently has no funds. He stated he would hold the invoice. “I’d be happy to take that risk,” Jones stated.

The 90-minute meeting went over a wide variety of presentations of what the board will need to accomplish in upcoming meetings. Jones presented a monthly meeting schedule suggesting what should take place. Orientation, facility planning and consideration of initial expenses are on the agenda for the April meeting. The following meetings will focus on funding sources, pre-design activities and finally design activities and having the project ready to bid.

During Jones’ presentation, he presented a blank timeline of tasks needing to be completed. He suggested the board provide a target date for the system start up and his firm would work the timeline backward. He stressed his firm would move at the speed comfortable with the trustees but it would be a 36-48 month process. He did point out the district does have six months to submit a facility plan to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. “It will be time consuming, detailed and a lot of decision making,” said Jones.

Ken Jones with Jones Petrie Rafinski reviews projected topics at upcoming board meetings.

Among Jones’ presentation were preliminary costs summaries on regionalizing with LRSC or Warsaw compared to building its own wastewater treatment plant. The costs shown to regionalize with LRSC would be close to $42 million, while regionalizing with Warsaw would be just over $37 million. It is estimated to build a new facility the cost would be $39.5 million. He noted the regionalization options would be the easiest and less complicated.

The cost to join LRSD includes expanding the facility as it does not have the capacity available. Warsaw does have the capacity and the costs include connection. Building of a new facility would include finding a location and a study of how the plant would fit into the environment, if letters from either entity were received stating there was no interest to serve the new sewer district.

The group will also be establishing a website and social media presence. The consensus was to secure the web domain of tippychapmanrsd.org and a Facebook and Twitter account of tippychapmanrsd. Jones noted transparency of the board is important.

The next meeting will have the board electing board officers and appointing district advisors, legal counsel, financial advisors, and engineering companies as well as potentially adopted the by-laws. The entities who have been working on the project will be submitting proposed engagements to the board. It was suggested the board consider a mission statement.