(Photos provided by Casey Erwin of DLZ)

NORTH WEBSTER — There was no shortage of updates at Lakeland Regional Sewer District’s regular monthly meeting Thursday evening, Nov. 5, at the North Webster Community Center.

The board opened the meeting with the approval of last month’s minutes followed by updates from Casey Erwin, DLZ project engineer. According to Erwin, 10 to 12 grinder stations have already been installed in some areas, while force mains and laterals continue to go in place in other areas of the project. Erwin noted he has been able to talk face-to-face with many of the homeowners in the area, helping to keep things moving along smoothly and quickly.

Erwin put in a pay request for four separate applications in the amounts of: $251,940; $341,280.78; $521,893.14 and $34,247.50. All of these requests were approved by the board. Erwin alerted the board to a credit the district would be receiving after DLZ discovered three months of work were billed at an incorrect rate.

The board switched gears, bringing up the best way to keep the public informed. This is when the public started to mumble in the background, although it was not yet the designated time for comments and questions. At the previous meeting, one couple had insisted the website and Internet were not the best way to publish information as not everyone uses those tools. The same couple was present during this meeting, and began to express disinterest while the board approved an expenditure of up to $2,500 to get the website updated and more user-friendly.

Board member Bob Sanders brought an important point to the board in reference to customers who may be on limited incomes and unable to work because of retirement or disability to add additional income. “We can’t do that to our people,” stated Sanders, noting some public members are fearful of losing their homes because of the increased expense of sewer bills.

The board put a plan in motion to allow customers to come to the board if expenses are a problem, and financial assistance may be available if income thresholds meet a plan modeled by the USDA. Although this is not official yet, the board has begun to put the plan in place to notify customers of this opportunity.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 3, at the North Webster Community Center.

In other news:

• The board decided to put together a committee including board member Bob Marcucilli and his wife, plus any public members who want to assist, for choosing colors and other aesthetics for the water plant and other visible structures. Members of the board suggested women may be able to assist in this matter.
• After speaking with KREMC, the board made a motion to utilize aerial power lines versus buried power lines wherever possible in order to minimize costs.
• The board has $5,915 in delinquent payments, or 154 customers, which is approximately 10 percent of the customers.
• The board is working on a process to allow customers to affordably add connections even if they weren’t part of the original project plans, but needs to continue working with USDA to determine the proper ordinance for this process.