VILLAGE OF CONSTANTINE
Special Meeting
March 10, 2008
Council Room, 8:30 AM

President Weiss called the Special March 10, 2008 Meeting for the purpose of taking action on: Candidate Interviews for the vacant Council seat and Council seat appointment (tentative), the Sewer Ad Hoc groundwater Infiltration Report and recommendation to order at 7:34PM at the Village Hall.

Present at Roll Call: Trustees Brewer, Brown, Harder, Mathers and Witek, and President Weiss. Also present: Manager Honeysett, Treasurer Strawser and Clerk Strawser. The pledge of allegiance followed Roll Call.

President Weiss announced that the Village Manager would set the Public Hearing for review of the 2008-2009 Budget for March 17 th.

Manager Honeysett explained the interview process and candidates volunteered to withdraw from Council chambers until their interview. Council interviewed James McBride, Richard Larrance and Aaron Cullifer for the seat vacated by Scott Chiddister’s resignation. The Council was reminded that while candidates could be asked about general issues facing the Village, they could not be asked their position on specific Council action. President Weiss withdrew her question asking if they were in favor of the US-131 Constantine Bypass. The Council asked each candidate the same seven (7) questions from a list used for interviews to fill Leonard Moyer’s vacated seat. All candidates had also provided written responses to a separate questionnaire. All were thanked for applying and urged to run for office at the November election. Trustee Brewer asked that the decision be delayed until the fourth candidate could be interviewed; she was unable to attend the Special Meeting because of a prior commitment. Trustee Brown asked that they delay only until the next regular meeting as the appointee might fill needed committee seats, saying the majority of Council work was done on the committee level.

Motion by Brewer, Seconded by Brown, to table action on the Council seat appointment until the next regular meeting. Motion passed by Roll Call 6 – 0.

Trustee Brown led the discussion on the groundwater infiltration issues facing the Village, saying Fleis & Vandenbrink engineer Jon Moxey was working with the Sewer Ad Hoc Committee in finding a firm for the cured in place sewer lining (sleeving) recommended following an inspection by Clean Earth, Inc. that found the Village’s sewer system suffering from groundwater infiltration due to the aging infrastructure. Trustees discussed the sleeving and possible grouting of laterals on Riverside Drive , the suspected source of the greatest infiltration. Trustee Brown said that the committee had been shocked at the high price of the recommended work, but that the council must consider the increasingly alarming flow rate in relation to Three Rivers’ charges and our contracted allotment. Questions were raised as to whether the landowners would be responsible for the cost of the lateral sleeving and/or problems brought to light or exacerbated by the sleeving and/or grouting. Manager Honeysett said that the 2500 feet on Riverside Dr. (of the 7500 reported feet) would serve as a test for the efficacy of sleeving/grouting. He said that the project would not alleviate all infiltration and might not correct the overly high usage, but that engineers anticipating a 70% improvement in sewage flow due to infiltration. Trustee Witek asked if all four bids were based on the same materials and the anticipated life of the products. Trustee Brown said that all four bids did not include grouting, which explained the bid disparity, and asked Manager Honeysett to ask the two (2) low bidders for material specifications and firm price list, with grouting included to the sleeving bids. All Council members agreed that the unusual weather aggravated existing problems, and that care should be taken to minimize the impact and cost to the Village and individual residents.

Meeting adjourned at 9:05PM .

Ruth Strawser
Village Clerk