The Silver Lake Town Council met with representatives from Midwestern Engineers on Wednesday morning in order to discuss the town’s sewer planning grant.

“The things that we are going to tackle are kind of right in my wheelhouse as far as what I have worked with before,” stated Midwestern Engineers’ Mark Sullivan. He continued, “When this project came up it was something I felt very comfortable with as far as what I have worked with in the past.” Sullivan detailed how he plans to figure out the points in the current system that are overflowing. Silver Lake Clerk-Treasurer Tonya Conley asked, “Will you watch the rainfall in order to see what it is doing?” Sullivan responded that he would attempt to come to Silver Lake on a day when there is rain in the forecast in order to try to detect problem areas of overflow and leakage.

Sullivan explained the project timeline, which is as follows:

• January 2015- Town awarded planning grant.
• February 2015- Town grants notice to proceed with planning process.
• March 2015- Midwestern Engineers meets with town to start data acquisition.
• June 2015- Evaluation of existing facilities is completed.
• July 2015- Evaluation of proposed improvement alternatives is completed.
• August 2015- Preliminary report is completed and submitted to town for approval.
• September/October 2015- Planning report is submitted to funding agencies.

Sullivan explained usually the Office of Community and Rural Affairs’ policy is a town that receives a grant is given a one-year completion deadline. Silver Lake received a $40,000 grant from OCRA on Jan. 14, and has been given a completion deadline of March 31, 2016.

“I think one of the tasks that we will face starting off is figuring out all the problem areas,” stated Sullivan. He told Silver Lake Street and Sewer Superintendent J.T. Prater when he has free time on a rainy day he should go around and identify problem areas so Midwestern Engineers will have an idea of where the problems exist and he can start coming up with solutions.

Sullivan closed the meeting by stating, “I appreciate the opportunity to work with Silver Lake, we will bust our hind end to make sure you get what you want.”