Syracuse Town Council Approves Bonds For Public Utility Additions, Improvements
By Lauren Zeugner
InkFreeNews
SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Town Council passed two ordinances approving the advertisement of bonds and bond anticipation notes for repairs and improvements to both its water works and the sewage treatment plant.
The ordinances were passed during the council’s regular meeting Tuesday night, Oct. 18. Both ordinances for bonds and BANS are not to exceed $1,150,000 for each project.
Councilman Larry Siegel recommended issuing a resolution to bind future town councils in how the BANS would be paid in the future. Town Attorney Jay Rigdon explained today’s council cannot bind a future council on how it pays its bills. He noted today’s council has no idea what revenue streams a future council may have at its disposal.
At the end of the meeting Siegel noted the reason the town needed bonds and BANS for the water and sewer projects is the town does not have the funds available to cover either project. Even with American Rescue Funds, there isn’t enough money to cover the projects so the town has to borrow money to cover its obligations.
Jeremy Hardy of Commonwealth Engineering, the town’s engineering firm, recommended the town enter into a guaranteed savings contract that would combine the Oakwood lift station project, the Lakeside Water Loop project and repairs to the water treatment facility, making it more attractive to contractors to bid on. Hardy explained a guaranteed savings contract would hire a contract manager who would “self-perform” some of the work and subcontract the rest.
Hardy explained a guaranteed savings contract will bring more contractors with more options to the table to bid rather than have one contractor bid on a smaller individual project. For example, by combining the three projects into one, the cost is estimated to be around $2 million to complete all of them. Each project on its own would cost far less to complete, making them unattractive to contractors who are already saturated with work.
Siegel asked when the town would start to look for someone to enter into the contract. Hardy recommended starting to advertise next week.
Contractors who participate in guaranteed savings contract have to be registered with the state. Hardy told the council it may have to hire contractors outside the area; however, he has already mentioned the expanded project to two local contractors who are registered to enter into guaranteed savings contracts and he knows of others who will be interested in the project.
The council had the second reading of the 2023 budget. There was no public input.
In department reports, David Wilkinson, town manager, reported the survey work on the property by the old elementary school has been completed. The next step is to perform title searches to make sure there are no liens on the property.
Rigdon said he didn’t think there would be a need to do an environmental study, but said if anyone knew of a reason why, they should speak up.
The town approved giving Kosciusko County Economic Development Corporation $7,500 from the Economic Development Income Tax fund. KEDCO had requested $15,000 and provided information about work it had been doing to benefit Syracuse over the past year.
Chad Jonsson, park superintendent, reported there will be two events held at the parks on Saturday, Oct. 29. There will be a 5K Creature Crawl, a 5K run/walk in costume and Trick or Treat Trail for the kids.
Registration for the Creature Crawl begins at 4 p.m., with the 5K run starting at 5 p.m and the walk starting at 5:10 p.m. The Trick or Treat Trail will be held 1-3 p.m.
Work continues at the ball park. Jonsson said the sprinkler system is operational and installation of the fencing has started. The buildings are complete and things are starting to be moved into them. Grass has also started to grow.
Mark Aurich, public works superintendent, reported he lost count at 80 truckloads of downed trees and limbs being collected Tuesday after Monday’s snow event. He told the council NIPSCO did an excellent job getting downed power lines out of the way of the street department. The public works facilities worked well under generator power.
Aurich complimented all the employees of the water, wastewater and street departments for their hard work. Council President Bill Musser also praised them for their hard work.
Mickey Scott, fire chief, said he and his department had been kept busy covering calls as fast as they could Monday evening. He was thankful there were no physical injuries, although there was quite a bit of property damage.
Musser noted he recently attended an at-home death. He explained in those situations, police or fire personnel must come to declare the person deceased. Musser praised the fire personnel who came to make the declaration for their professionalism and compassion.