President Danieta Foster called the meeting to order. Four council members were in attendance. Brenda Holzworth could not attend. Town Attorney, Jeff Lorenzo, was also in attendance.

Chad Wilson made a motion to approve the agenda. Robert Lyttle seconded. Motion carried with a vote of 4-0.

Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

Crothersville Water Utility

July 2018

We’re pleased to present to you this year’s Annual Quality Water Report.  This report is designed to inform you about the quality water and services we deliver to you every day.  Our constant goal is to provide you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water.  We want you to understand the efforts we make to continually improve the water treatment process and protect our water resources.  We are committed to ensuring the quality of your water.  Our water source consists of three (3) wells ranging in depth from 64 to 85 feet and 16 to 42 inches in diameter.  The wells are drilled into a confined aquifer.

We’re pleased to report that our drinking water is safe and meets federal and state requirements.  No detected contaminants were found in our drinking water supply.

If you have any questions concerning your water utility, please contact Crothersville Town Hall at 111 East Howard Street, Crothersville, Indiana.  The telephone number is 812-793-2311.  The facility is owned by the Town of Crothersville. Any questions or concerns can be directed to the following number: 812-793-2540 between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.  We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility.  If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regularly scheduled meetings.  They are held on the first Tuesday of each month at the Town Hall beginning at 6:00 p.m.

The sources of drinking water (both tap water and bottled water) include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs, and wells.  As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally-occurring minerals and, in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity.  Contaminants that may be present in source water include:

• Microbial contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.
• Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, which can be naturally-occurring or result from urban storm runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas production, mining or farming.
• Pesticides and herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, storm water runoff, and residential uses.
• Organic chemicals, including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production, and can also come from gas stations, urban storm water runoff, and septic systems.
• Radioactive materials, which can be naturally-occurring or be the result of oil and gas production and mining activities.

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations that limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems.  Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water which must provide the same protection for public health.  Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants.  The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that the water poses a health risk.  More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791.

Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population.  Immuno-compromised persons such as persons with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections.  These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers.  EPA/CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infection by cryptosporidium and other microbiological contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800) 426-4791. Special Note on Lead: If present, elevated levels of lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young children., Lead in drinking water is primarily from materials and components associated with service lines and home plumbing. Our system is responsible for providing high quality drinking water, but cannot control the variety of materials used in plumbing components. When your water has been sitting for several hours, you can minimize the potential for lead exposure by flushing your tap for 30 seconds to 21 minutes before using water for drinking or cooking. If you are concerned about lead in your water, you may wish to have your water tested. Information on lead in drinking water, testing methods, and steps you can take to minimize exposure is available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline or at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lead

A complete review of all testing performed on our utilities water can be seen at the Crothersville Utility  office, 111 East Howard Street, Crothersville, Indiana between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and until noon on Wednesday. Crothersville Water Utility works to provide top quality water to every user.  We ask that all our customers help us protect our water sources, so that Crothersville residents may enjoy a safe and healthy water supply.

Respectfully yours,

Crothersville Water Utilities

The full detailed report can be viewed at the link below.

View the Full Report Here

Rumpke will pick up trash from each residence in Crothersville each Tuesday, except in the event of a holiday. Holiday pick up is delayed by one day. Each residence may sit out 3 bags, up to 30 gallon each. If you have more than 3 bags, you can purchase tags for 75 cents each at Town Hall, during regular business hours.

Recycling is picked up every other Tuesday. It should be placed in the same area as regular trash and be put in one of the red tubs or equivalent.

§ 50.02  DEPOSITION OR STORAGE OF GARBAGE.

§ 50.03  CONTAINERS; LOCATION.

Relief could be in sight for Crothersville residents in the area of one of the town’s lift stations.

In recent years, people living near the Seymour Road lift station on the north side of town have experienced drainage and flooding issues around their homes after heavy rain events.

To help alleviate those problems, the town is applying for a grant from the Office of Community and Rural Affairs to replace the lift station and also make drainage and force main improvements in the area.

If the town receives the $550,000 grant, it would have to provide a local match of $144,272, which likely would be derived from the water utility and sewer utility operating funds.

Trena Carter with Administrative Resources association, the town’s grant writer, said if the cost of the project comes in lower, the local match would be lower. If it comes in higher, the match would be a little more.

Carter is asking residents to help by submitting letters and photos to include with the grant application.

She said they could write a letter explaining what has happened to their property that makes them feel this project is necessary.

Crothersville Town Council member Bob Lyttle, who lives in that area, said he has talked with some neighbors who feel the project needs to be done, and Carter encouraged those people to write letters.

Council President Danieta Foster submitted recent flooding photos from that area, but more photos could be sent to Carter.

Letters and photos need to be emailed to tcarter1@aracities.org within the next couple of weeks. The application deadline is Feb. 9, and Carter will be getting all of the necessary items together before that time.

A second public hearing about the grant was conducted during a recent town council meeting. Sometime before that, a couple of council members attended a site visit with OCRA officials.

Mason Boicourt, the town’s wastewater superintendent, said the lift station is one of three in Crothersville.

Another one is along Moore Street east of town, and the other one is along U.S. 31 south of town.

Both of them are less than 15 years old, but the one on Seymour Road was installed in the 1960s.

It was a pneumatic lift station years ago until switching to submersible in the early 2000s, Boicourt said.

They experience periodic trouble with the lift station, and over time, they have had a lot of problems with various items clogging it up.

“We have to pull them a lot,” Boicourt said. “It has no backup power. It doesn’t really have a good alarm system attached to it. The force main, we’re not sure, but we think maybe it’s leaking a little bit, as well. Bypass pumping capabilities, we use a gas pump.

Just different things like that that IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) doesn’t necessarily require, but they like to see if you’re doing improvements.”

Also, the actual station itself, the wet well, is deteriorating.

“The ladder that you can provide access down there, if you step on it, it will just deteriorate,” Boicourt said.

The town has not experienced any major problems with the other two lift stations, he said.

A new year brings a new leader of the Crothersville Town Council.

During Tuesday night’s meeting at the town hall, Danieta Foster was selected to serve as president for 2018. She was elected to the council in the November 2015 election and began serving in January 2016, when the council changed from three to five members.

Her new role came after a 4-1 vote. Lenvel “Butch” Robinson, who had served as president since 2016, cast the lone dissenting vote. Robinson was elected to the council in November 2011 and began serving in 2012.

On Tuesday night, Councilwoman Brenda Holzworth made a motion to retain Robinson as president, but it died for lack of a second. Councilman Bob Lyttle then made a motion to make Foster president, and that gained a second and passed 4-1.

Chad Wilson was elected vice president on a 4-1 vote, again with Robinson casting the lone nay vote.

The council also made other appointments during the meeting.

Wilson, Holzworth and Charlie Densford will remain on the safety board; Robinson will continue to serve on the Jackson County Solid Waste Management District committee; Duane Davis will be the town’s Indiana Department of Homeland Security representative; and Curt Kovener will remain the town’s Jackson County Industrial Development Corp. representative.