Updated water meters coming to Lanesville

Mar 06, 2023

Lanesville's water utility is awaiting new, electronic-read water meters that were scheduled to begin arriving May 26, it was announced at the town's regular monthly council meeting May 8 at the town hall.

Once on hand, the utility department plans to initially install 20 to 30 meters for customers. That first wave of new meters will allow ample time for testing.

The town will also receive assistance from its meter supplier for installation and start-up of new software necessary to read and track the meters.

Also as part of the utility department's briefing, it was noted that water loss for April stood at 51%, an uncommonly high rate. Through discussion of that figure came discussion of a significant leak previously detected on Robin Lane.

At its April meeting, the council elected to receive quotes to repair the entire line, which has been subject to several prior fixes, as opposed to considering prices for an option to repair only the leaking section.

Repairs to the Robin Lane leak have been completed, with necessary line replacement occurring to a depth of 30 inches. The repairs are intended to help alleviate a major portion of the reported water loss, although a portion of that could be attributed to another leak, recently reported at the intersection of Heinze and St. John's roads. The utility crew intends to investigate the source of that leak further as well.

Several town street drains were cleaned recently after being plugged primarily by grass clippings. The drains are now clear and functioning properly again.

Along with the drain issues, clogs at the town's wastewater plant have been encountered. In addition, it was reported that a new valve was installed for the system's clarifier and one of four ultraviolet lights for the effluent-treating equipment is not working. The cause of the outage is being researched further.

In another matter, town marshal Brad Graves noted the town's reserve police force worked 29 hours in April, equating to a savings for the town of $652.50. Thus far in 2023, the reserve team's efforts have offset $3,622.50 in law enforcement expenses.

Graves also noted all town police vehicles had new mobile radios installed. The units came at no cost to the town and will allow the department to onboard with the new Harrison County radio system, expected to debut soon. All the vehicles are also now equipped with AEDs.

Graves informed the council that Lanesville Junior-Senior High School is a host site for a 1A Indiana High School Athletic Association baseball sectional. Games were to occur at the school May 24, 27 and 29.

"Lanesville Police Dept. will be staffed accordingly to handle the increase in traffic," Graves said.

The town's utility clerk, Alicia Allen, told the council she met with Vortex Computers to discuss costs for replacing several of the town's computers and associated devices, including a router. Due to the age of the equipment, replacement parts often are not available. Also, Allen said several machines have begun to run short on space.

Councilman James Powers applauded the effort and encouraged Allen to continue looking for prices on equipment that will best meet the town's intended usage. Research has allowed staff to determine some components they would like to see included in a system upgrade package. They are also gathering quotes for proposed purchases.

"There's a lot of little things," Allen added.

Allen also reported that in April the utility department issued 479 bills totaling, $47,890.33. Four new accounts were initialized, while four were closed. Forty delinquent letters were sent, and six service accounts were shutoff for non-payment. Four adjustments were also granted, totaling, $163.37. Of those, Allen said there were two leaks, one removal of accrued penalties and a pool fill.

The town's spring newsletter was also distributed with the April utility billing cycle, Allen noted.

"You did an excellent job on the spring newsletter," council president Herb Schneider told Allen.

Resident Betsy Blocker presented the pictures of town drains to the council. Blocker said the drains cause flow onto her property along Crestview Avenue, and berms that were previously installed to combat the problem have washed away.

Blocker mentioned her son has been making some improvements to the property in preparation for repairing the issue. She asked if the work was performed at no cost and pipe supplied, if the town might be able to provide $350 to cover the cost of 10 tons of stone.

"The rip-rap will slow the water down," Blocker said.

The council took no action. Schneider said he would like to visit the site before making a recommendation.

"I’d just like to look at it," he added.

In other business, the council:

•Heard from attorney John Smith that paperwork for easements involving the Gruver property — necessary as part of the ongoing West Pennington extension project — has been completed. Right-of-way has now been secured on the north side, Smith said. Smith also said the town received a public records request from an insurance group. He reviewed, found to be legitimate and responded.

•Discussed options to upgrade the town's current wastewater vacuum pump with a dual-piston pump if/when the pump requires replacement.

•Learned Clerk-treasurer Amanda Ballew (who was not present, but whose report was delivered by Allen) will attend an annual budget workshop on May 23 and clerk-treasurer training on May 24.

•Agreed to donate $60 to be put toward awards for the St. John's Church Car Show.

•Acknowledged, based on the report of councilman John (Tom) Walter, that progress is being made on several properties identified for clean-up.

•Decided it will further research an issue involving an LP gas tank near a property line at a 7325 Main St. Powers agreed to take the lead.

•Received an update from Schneider that he was to meet with an engineer May 9 to discuss town projects that could be funded with Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative grant funds. Schneider indicated the process is moving along well and his goal is to get a proposal going this year.

Read this week's featured opinion piece from John Ketzenberger, "Wetlands at risk after Supreme Court ruling," and let us know what you think by voting. Results will appear in next week's edition of the Corydon Democrat.

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