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Andrews penalty to be reduced if town repairs water infrastructure

Rather than pay a penalty to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management as part of an agreed order, Andrews will instead get to spend the majority of that money on repairs to water infrastructure, the Andrews Town Council learned at its meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 27.

Council President John Harshbarger reported that a supplemental environmental project proposed by the town had been accepted by IDEM. The project will see Andrews identify and repair leaking water lines.

While the town will still have to pay $3,675 of the agreed order’s penalty, the project’s acceptance establishes a 1:1 ratio where every dollar Andrews spends on the project will count toward a dollar of the remaining $14,700 penalty amount.

Harshbarger noted that the town would receive official notice from IDEM in the mail shortly. Once the project commences, the clerk-treasurer’s office and utility department will be tasked with logging the time and materials involved in the project.

Harshbarger also provided an update on the town’s pursuit of grant money from the State Revolving Loan Fund for its wastewater treatment plant project. He related that there was a possibility that Andrews could receive a grant for $1 million from the SRF, but that the town would have to raise its wastewater utility rates in order to obtain it.

Andrews would have to bump up the rates to a minimum of $65 per month, which is based on 4,000 gallons of usage, said Harshbarger.

An air sample will be taken at the Andrews Municipal Building as part of work being done through IDEM’s voluntary remediation program by United Technologies Electronic Controls. UTEC is conducting groundwater cleanup at the site of its former subsidiary, United Technologies Automotive, on North Jackson Street. Remediation activities at the site are currently addressing groundwater impacted with cleaning solvents, including trichloroethylene, used in past manufacturing at the facility.

Part of the cleanup process involves the sampling of air in buildings near impacted groundwater. The Andrews Municipal Building’s air was sampled for this purpose in 2006 and no chemicals of concern were observed above screening levels.
In accordance with IDEM guidance, UTEC is seeking a second round of samples. To that end, the clerk-treasurer’s office will contact Stantec, an environmental service company, to take another sample at the municipal building.

In other business:

Town Marshal Austin Bullock and the clerk-treasurer’s office will work on composing a letter to homeowners on Jefferson Street, requesting they keep the portions of the new sidewalk on their properties cleared of snow and debris so students can walk to Andrews Elementary School in the winter.

Council also discussed replacing the sidewalk on McKeever Street to facilitate student passage to the school, as well as implementing a crosswalk at Hendrick and McKeever streets in the interests of safety.

Dean Young, of the Andrews Volunteer Fire Department, discussed the potential for a fire protection contract between Norwood Health and Rehabilitation Center, in Huntington, and the town. Young estimated that the department made 19 runs to the center this year. Should a pact between the two entities materialize, the number of runs will give the town an idea of how much compensation to request.