SALEM — An update to the Salem Utilities Commission’s schedule for the consent decree with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has been approved and adopted.
The originally submitted and approved schedule provided for the installation of a PONDUS filtration system to go to bid in September as part of the wastewater treatment plant’s phase three upgrades. However, as discussed in the previous meeting, rampant inflation has likely made this plan unviable and an alternate plan to meet the standards of the agreement through the upgrade of the plant’s sludge treatment systems. Such a change would require additional evaluation, though, causing a delay to the previously submitted and approved upgrade schedule and requiring approval of an amended timeline from the state which has been granted.
As a condition of the approval the new timeline submitted to accommodate the evaluation had to be formally recognized and adopted by the commission, necessitating Tuesday’s special meeting to do so. Commission Chairman Bob Hodgson noted that the evaluation was already being conducted following the commission’s formal adoption of the schedule.
The commission also spoke about the matter of Cherri and Donald Piszczek discussed at the prior meeting. The Piszczeks want to have their home tied into the city’s water lines but doing so would require an extension to the city’s existing water lines, from the last connection point on State Street to the residence. The cost would be charged to the home owner under a city policy enacted in 1993 and would represent an additional cost of $3,600 to the Piszczek’s.
Hodgson has remained in communication with the Piszczeks since, and after discussing the matter with members of the department, Utilities Superintendent Don Weingart proposed an amended version of the original policy that clarifies language and implements a cost of $30 per lineal foot, with a minimum of 75 feet to attach a home to an existing line in an area where there is not an ongoing cost recovery schedule, which the commission adopted. Hodgson noted the Piszczeks were waiting for a letter confirming the change in writing to officially begin the process, which would be sent following the meeting.
The next utilities commission meeting will be 4 p.m. Sept. 15.
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