Ferdinand hires new police officer
The Ferdinand Town Council met for a specially called meeting Wednesday night to address two issues that needed timely decisions.
The first was at the request of Police Chief Ricky Patton who asked the council to approve his choice for the newest police officer for the town: Caleb Lindeman.
Lindeman comes off of the reserve force to fill the opening in the department and recently assisted during the Ferdinand Heimatfest events where his work ethic garnered the praise of Councilwoman Deb Johnson.
Lindeman is 28 years of age and lives in Jasper. He’s a 2005 Jasper High graduate and graduated from Vincennes University in 2009.
He accepted a conditional offer from Patten of $14.25 per hour, and will start June 27th and take his training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy beginning in November.
Lindeman will also be on probation for 6 months.
Town Council President Ken Sicard said that he was pleased that Patton hired Lindeman out of the pool of reserve officers — which is the way the process is supposed to work.
The council passed the request unanimously.
The second issue handled Wednesday night was the hiring of the engineering firm that will manage the wastewater Phosphorus mitigation plan. Wastewater Superintendent Roger Schaeffer presented quotes from three firms.
The first from Midwest Engineering for $8,800.00; the second from Wessler Engineering for $17,800.00; and the third from Commonwealth Engineering for $37,000.00. Commonwealth is the firm that constructed the original wastewater plant and so the council felt the most comfortable working with them in a relatively new process.
Wastewater Superintendent Roger Schaefer told the council in the January town council meeting that the town’s NPDS permit lists a new threshold for Phosphorus – the nonmetallic chemical element — a mineral — of 1.0 milligrams per liter.
According to Schaefer, “Too much of a good thing is bad.” And unfortunately for Ferdinand, the wastewater plant expels more phosphorus than 1.0 milligrams per liter.
Phosphorus is a nutrient that can be found in all sorts of items, from soaps, cleansers and de-greasers to foodstuffs including cereal, grains, soft drinks, even vitamin supplements. It can also be found in fertilizers.
When the permit was issued to Ferdinand this month, the clock began ticking for Ferdinand to lower the level to compliance levels. “We have three years to get in compliance,” Schaefer said.
The council voted unanimously to use Commonwealth to complete the process. The total cost for the mitigation plan implementation is not yet known.
