Next week, the Town of Dale will apply for a $700,000 grant from the Office of Community and Rural affairs (OCRA) to assist with a planned wastewater system rehabilitation project. The second of two public hearings was held Tuesday evening, June 8, at which time Jenny Matheis, of Indiana 15 Regional Planning Commission, explained that public support for the project would go a long way toward securing the grant. The town applied for the grant during the last round of funding and, “We scored well, but funds ran out,” Matheis said.The project is necessary to repair the aging system. Lines, lift stations and manholes are deteriorating, allowing storm water into the system. During rainy periods, overflows cause flooding in some areas of town – overflows of raw sewage.The grant award is crucial to keeping sewer rates low.Any residents who have been affected by overflow events can help by documenting problems, writing a letter or filling out a survey and submitting it to Town Hall before next Tuesday, June 15.
Clerk-Treasurer Cindy Morrison prepared a simple, four question survey, which is available at Town Hall.
Questions include:
1. How concerned are you about the reliability of the aging sanitary sewer lift stations in the Town of Dale? a. A great deal b. A little c. Not at all
2. A portion of the proposed project will address capacity issues of the West Side Lift station, located behind Core Nursing and Rehabilitation. This lift station does not pump wastewater away quickly enough to avoid potential overflow of the station. A documented overflow of this station was recorded in 2017. How concerned are you about another potential overflow? a. A great deal b. A little c. Not at all
3. Should the Town of Dale undertake efforts to reduce excess storm water in the wastewater system, thereby reducing the amount of water treated at the wastewater treatment plant and the cost to the Town? a. I strongly agree b. I agree c. I neither agree nor disagree d. I disagree e. I strongly disagree
4. Should the Town of Dale seek funding for the proposed Wastewater Improvements that combine grant funding with a loan to lessen the potential rate increase to customers? a. I strongly agree b. I agree c. I disagree d. I strongly disagree
(NOTE: Please submit surveys to Town Hall, NOT this web site.)A rainy June is predicted, and overflow problems could potentially arise. Should the grant be awarded, the project could be bid in early 022 and completed by the end of that year.
