OOLITIC – The Oolitic Town Council provided necessary updates to the town during their Monday, February 28th meeting.
The town officially hired and introduced Michael Andrew Collins to be the third town laborer effective immediately. Collins will be paid through the Sanitation/Water/Sewer General funds a total salary of $31,190.50.
Issues with potholes in town as well as Highway 37 were discussed, with town crews patching up areas that desperately need attention. The town had previously looked into and made contact with a representative from Purdue University about a Community Crossings Grant.
This grant would award the town $108,000 with the town matching only $27,000 to then use these funds to repair the roads that need help. Councilman Steve Kerr will contact the Purdue representative to see if they had already applied for the grant or if they will need to apply for the July grant cycle.
“Our roads are in desperate need of repair. They have gotten out of hand and it has gotten to the point that we have no choice but to fix the problem now,” said Councilman Jon Broglin.
Broglin then discussed the necessary updates to the wastewater treatment plant. Eight pipes pump the necessary liquids around that tend to freeze. Broglin advised the council to approve a $456.46 bid from the company Raychem to replace these pipes. This was approved by the council.
The clarifiers in the plant also need replacing and will cost $9,608 per clarifier, and with the cost of shipping and labor, the total cost of installation will be $20,416. This was also approved by the council.
Lastly, Clerk/Treasurer Annette Norwick requested approval of a $2,376.36 contract from Duke Energy to replace the lighting in the building with LED lights. This was also approved.
