Board members from left: Edward Ormsby, Kim Hathaway and Chuck Simpson have their faces painted with contemplations as they deliberate over the district’s sewer project. Photo by Ian Brown.

By Ian Brown
InkFreeNews

NORTH WEBSTER — Tippecanoe Chapman Regional Sewer District Board members Monday, March 14, discussed delinquent fees for individuals who have not paid the interim rate or are late on a payment.

A delinquent report provided by Gemini billing was of particular concern to the board. Customers were allowed to forgo delinquent fees for three months of the project beginning in December, and this was supposed to be the first month charges were imposed.

The list of delinquent customers is 22 pages long, with approximately $75,000 in unpaid balances. About 20% of the customers on the list have not paid anything, while others are late in payments.

Gemini billing recommended sending out a second letter to the billing address of the individuals who have not paid, as they sent the initial notification letter to the property address, to give customers another chance to make their payments.

The board authorized the distribution of a second letter and stated the letter must indicate that delinquent fees will go into effect in May.

The board decided to include two vacant lots in the project, despite not having heard from the property owners, since they signed the easements early in the process.

Steven Henschen, senior engineer with Jones Petrie Rafinski, explained the properties, located at EMS T13B and Chapman Lake Drive, had already signed the necessary easements to be included in the project.

The engineering committee felt it would be appropriate to include them without any added cost to the property owners and the board agreed to prepare change orders to incorporate the properties into the project.

Board members also approved the recommendation to include two property owners across the street from the district boundary. The engineering committee’s recommendation was based on an official notification letter issued to both property owners at the beginning of the project.

The inclusion of the properties will require a petition to be presented to the county commissioners for approval.

Board members discussed the issue of property owners who have not signed easements for the installation of shared grinder stations. According to the board, while they have the authority to force connections and install the stations, they prefer to give property owners notice and an opportunity to ask questions.

They proposed sending a letter to properties with signed easements, informing them that their neighbors have not signed and offering to install the type 2 grinder station fully on their property. If the neighbor does sign an easement, a lateral will be installed to connect to the grinder station.

The board emphasized that any additional costs incurred would be the responsibility of the property owner who had not signed the easement.

In other business, the board approved:

• The election of Jeff Thornburgh as board president, following the departure of Jon Tyler. “I think it goes without saying John Tyler did a great job of giving us three years of volunteer time and his leadership to get to this point in the project. And we hate to see him go, but I would like to thank Jon publicly for his views,” said Thornburgh.
• A request from Henschen to consider five new individuals to be inspectors on the project.
• Three disbursements totaling $7,241.13, which brought the total balance for the district’s books to $425,759.56. They also discussed and approved disbursements for the month of March, which included payments of $96,579.
• A request from Jennifer Ransbottom of JPR to explore the possibility of getting iPads and moving entirely to an online portal where they will be more efficient and save paper.