by Alex Brooks
There was a special Town Board meeting held on February 7 to talk about the Water District. Water District Superintendent Ben Krahforst said the January meter readings have been taken, and he found that there are many water meters that are not working properly. [private]Most of the meters are quite old, having been in service longer than the manufacturer’s stated life expectancy, and a program for replacing them needs to begin. There are about 80 meters in the system, but Krahforst said there are about 20 in need of immediate replacement.
Making repairs to water meters is part of the job of the Water District Superintendent, but replacing them is not mentioned in the job description, and Krahforst asked the Board if they would like to contract out replacement of the meters or maybe have him do it for additional pay. The Town Board members present were Neil Geary, Jack Barnhill and Supervisor Krahforst. Krahforst had to recuse himself on this matter, so the two remaining Board members did not make a quorum, and they couldn’t act on this. Barnhill and Geary both said they were in favor of paying Ben Krahforst to replace the meters or perhaps putting the job out for bids at some point in the future.
Krahforst estimated that the cost to the Water District would be about $175 per meter replacement. He said the Water District had a surplus of about $3,200 in 2013, which would be almost enough to replace the 20 broken meters. But there is another urgent problem – providing a backup well.
Well #2 is the primary well providing the District’s water. It is producing enough water for the time being, but if anything were to happen to it, the Water District does not have adequate backup capacity. Well #5 is not producing water. Krahforst said it needs to be resleeved and cleaned out. Well # 6 will produce 30-35 gallons per minute, but he is not sure if this well is reliable enough to supply all the District’s water.
Supervisor Krahforst said he wonders why there is no sleeve on Well #5 and whether it should have been installed when the well was first drilled. Board Member Jack Barnhill and resident Gene Kluck volunteered to look at the plans and the contract documents from the original well installation to see what they could learn and talk to the engineer who was in charge when the wells were dug so the Town can decide what to do next.
Estimates for making improvements to the two wells have varied from $4,600 to $7,000, so this work also would put a strain on the Water District’s finances.[/private]