Jasper Utility Service Board meeting June 18

Jim O’Neil of WITZ provided most of the content for this article. The DC Free Press spoke with Gas and Water Manager Oeding last week about the water situation and that information has been added to the story.

The Jasper Utility Service Board met Monday night for their monthly meeting and during the course of the meeting passed approval for the final major payment on the Beaver Lake Dam project. The City will cut a check in the next few days in the amount of $827,914.19 leaving a small balance of $8,000.00 for clean up items.

The Board also passed the certification of substantial completion and signed off on it as an acknowledgment of the finishing of the project. Utility General Manager Bud Hauersperger said he was happy to get the such a large, impressive project completed.

Hauersperger reiterated the point that it will take many months to re-fill the lake and that the current dry spell only lengthens the process.

Also in the meeting last night, Gas and Water manager Mike Oeding reports that the City narrowly averted disaster last week when the intake pipes in the Patoka River for the water system were almost blocked by the build-up of debris and threatened a shutdown of the water supply to the City.

Oeding stated he was close to requesting citizens stop watering lawns and gardens and did shut down the watering systems for the Parks Department.

Oeding explained they were within 12 hours of a major emergency. “We (all the utilities departments) did some emergency removal of debris in front of our intake, followed up by a set of divers from out west that came in on Sunday (June 10)  and located everything for us so we could come in with a long-reach backhoe.”

Lechner’s worked with the Gas and Water Department on the following Tuesday and removed about 25 dump-truck loads of silt from the area to allow the intakes to have free access to the water.

The city is currently using over 3 million gallons of water daily. The city usually averages 2.2 million gallons this time of year but the drought has many homeowners and businesses watering their lawns and gardens. Historically the city doesn’t see 3 million gallons of daily usage until mid-July.

Oeding reports that quick work from all utility departments helped keep it from getting out of hand. Repairs were made to the intake system to help insure that it won’t happen again.

Monday night’s meeting also featured a lengthy discussion about the Third Street water main and how it needs to be replaced. The 60 year old structure is prone to breaks due to its age and the surrounding ground that shifts from time to time. Oeding reports that there have been 25 breaks in the last 5 years alone with 5 breaks in 2009.

Mike Oeding introduced Derek Wiggins with Loogootee based Midwestern Engineering who outlined for the board preliminary cost estimates of $938,000 for an 8 inch water line or $1,068,000 for a 12 inch line that would run from the German American branch at Third and SR 164 (2nd Avenue) all the way out to Meridian Road.

The board passed a motion to hire Midwestern at an amount not to exceed $68,000.00 for engineering work on the project. Included in the project would be an application for a grant through Indiana Region 15.

Hauersperger also announced last night that the City now has FREE public wireless Internet access (called WiFi) available at the Buehler Plaza on the Riverwalk.

Jasper Mayor Terry Seitz said that some attendees of the “Will Read for Food” event at the Dave Buehler Plaza Gazebo on Friday noticed the WiFi was available.

The WiFi is accessible roughly in the area of the Mill, the gazebo area and part of the shelter house. It is a line-of-site so foliage and structures can disrupt the service. “We are thankful to the electric department for contributing on their end, and of course the park department on theirs.” Seitz said.

Seitz said that there might be more public Internet access sites coming to the City, but probably not this calendar year.