The Greentown Grapevine – 2002-04, 09:04

              1' Volume 9, Issue 4 " a vaver for the veovle" April 2002
Becky Howell, 9151E 00 NS, Greentown, took advantage of the 68'
temperature and breezy canditions on March 8 to hang her washing outdoors.
She said she enjoys drying clothes outside on a nice day and " can't wait to open
up my windows". However, winter was not ready to leave for good. Snow and
ice cancelled school and most other evwts in the area on March 25 and 26.
Photo by'Rachel Jenkins
Town Readv to Enforce Ordinance J
Greentown is still under a ban from
IDEM preventing new sewer hook- ups
( except for waivers). This ban is a
result of occasional overflows of sewer
discharge into Wildcat Creek. The
Town Council is expected to approve
the following letter at their meeting
April 2, after which it will be mailed to
all residents who use the town's
wastewater system.
Dear Customer,
At the start of our recent program to
upgrade the town sanitary sewers and
increase capacity at the Wastewater
Treatment Plant, we did testing on
sewers in town.
As a result of those tests, some areas
on private property were identifed as
possibly causing infiltration of storm
water into sanitary lines, thus causing
overloading at the Wastewater Plant.
Ordinance # 1990- 3 and 1990- 4 of
the Town of Greentown, specifically
states:
" No person shall discharge or
cause to be discharged to any sanitary
sewer, either directly or indirectly,
storm waters, surface water, ground
water, roof runofi sub- surface
drainage, cooling water, unpolluted
water, or unpolluted industrial process
water. ' I
The Town Council is now ready to
check these areas and is asking your
permission to allow town employees to
meet with you, at your home, to inspect
sump pumps, downspouts, surface
drainage, etc, to see if there are any
improper connections and suggest
ways to eliminate infiltration.
A form will be enclosed for the
customer to complete and deliver or
mail to the Utility Office.
Primary Elections & School Board Elections
Tuesday, May 7,2002
Polling places:
Greentown and Liberty Twp. - Eastern Elementary gym
Jackson Twp. - Sycamore Friends Church
Union Twp. - Jerome Christian Church
Hours: 6: OO a. m. to 6: OO p. m.
Redistricting
Solutions Sought
Residents of Indiana have recently
been through the process of redrawing
the lines on the state map for legislative
representatives on the state and federal
levels. How many can name their
present legislators? If you live in the
corporate limits of Greentown, do you
know your ward representative?
Greentown has five wards, with
election for all being every four years.
The next election will be November
2003. Before that time, indeed by
November 2002, redistricting is
required. This happens after every
federal census, to assure a more even
distribution of the voting strength of
each ward.
With an obvious shift of the
population to the east side of town,
changes are expected. The Council is
faced with accomplishing the
redistricting. At the last Council
meeting, President Harris asked for
suggestions of methods. The subject
was put on hold. Research by the
Grapevine has uncovered some ideas.
This is the one we like the best:
The present five Council members sit
at a five- sided table with a map of
U
" Greentown in the middle of the table.
Each Council member is given 400
beans, representing approximately 1 / 5
of the eligible voters in town. Each
member must use a different kind of
bean, for instance kidney bean, lima
bean, navy bean, etc. Soy beans and
peas are not recommended because
they will roll. The ClerWTreasurer is
armed with a list of voters including
addresses. This list has been sorted
according to streets. Beginning with
the current President, he calls for
voters in his present ward, beginning
with the outermost town limits. He
places 10 beans on the map and yields
to the person to his right, who calls for
voters on the fringe of his ward. This
process continues ' round and ' round the
table until all the beans have been used
up. If done correctly, all members
should run out of beans after the final
round. At this time the ClerWTreasurer
takes a bold marker and marks the map
between the different bean types.
Deadline for this '' bean counting"
system would logically fall on a given
April 1. Since April 1, 2002, is past,
we hope it can be accomplished soon.
Hearing Held on Water Project
A public hearing was held March 5,
2002, in the Greentown City Building
to hear a pre- engineering report
concerning the town's water utility.
The report revealed. an aging
underground delivery system resulting
in costly leakage, line breaks and
insufficient pressure in many areas.
The treatment plant is in need of major
repairs and upgrading. The 100,000
gallon water tower is smaller than what
is recommended for the Town's water
usage.
The study recommends at least one
new water well, replacement and
upgrading of equipment at . the
treatment plant, and the addition of a
new 250,000 elevated water tank on the
south side of town. Also recommended
is the replacement of most of the
of $ 1.54 million. Non- construction
costs bring the total project to $ 1.85
million. In order to finance the project,
the town intends to borrow from the
State Revolving Funds program at
4.0% over 20 years. They also will be
applying for a $ 480,000 grant from the
Department of Commerce in July 2002,
but there is no guarantee of this money.
Don Humphrey of Foresight
Engineering, the firm which conducted
the study, said construction could start
January 2003 and added that the
sequence of the project would depend
on money availability.
A user rate increase can be expected.
A rate study is now being done. With
information currently available, an
average water bill is expected to
increase between $ 10 and $ 14 per
0 0 the new and treatment plant
water tower, $ 780,000 for the new
water mains for a total construction cost
the service charge fir turning water
from delinquent bills. The former rate
was $ lo. o~ and now will be $ 20.00.
$ 360,000 for the new back on after a disconnect resultinoc