NORTH WEBSTER — Although Lakeland Regional Sewer District has seen great progress with the sewer system going in around the Barbee Lakes chain, progress has been slower in helping the public and getting some customers on board.

Last month, the board worked with Jennifer Ransbottom of JPR to create a plan for delinquent customers who had missed their bills by 120 days. Thursday evening, March 3, Ransbottom let the district know she had mailed letters and certified letters to those customers alerting them to their late status. Although JPR received quite a few additional payments from those letters, the remainder of the customers had until March 7 to pay up before pre-lien notices were sent. Following that notice, customers will have 25 days until a formal lien is filed on the property April 4.

The property liens can create a problem when buying or selling property. Once the lien is in place, a buyer or seller must work with Kosciusko County to pay the balance. The hangup lies in the property being released, as the county only releases the paid balances to JPR twice a year. The liens could create additional time for a purchases to be able to work with the property.

The district is also working to make it more convenient for customers to access information on the project. The new website design has been completed and the programming is about 90 percent done. Several board members will be meeting again within the week to discuss plans for the website.

The board heard comments and questions from the public during Thursday’s meeting, and were able to provide useful insight to several customers. Casey Erwin, DLZ project engineer, reported about 250 to 300 grinder pumps have already been installed across the district in response to one public member’s question.

Patrick Dailey and Richard Heath both addressed the board on their shared property. The previous owner had attempted to sign an easement, but needed to first provide the county with a copy of her late husband’s death certificate. According to the board, the easement was never signed and just three weeks later the property was sold to Dailey and Heath. Now, the gentlemen are stuck trying to come up with the funds to personally pay a contractor to install and maintain a new grinder pump because they missed the deadline.

Dailey inquired whether the men could request an easement from the neighbors and pay to hook up to the grinder pump that is already planned for that property. The board requested the Erwin look at the property again to determine the feasibility of sharing one pump at that specific property. Erwin noted although the plan isn’t impossible, engineers had already previously selected each property to have its own type A pump, which doesn’t share lines.

The board directed the gentlemen to speak with Greg Gear from the district in order to find a better plan, and agreed to meet with Erwin and crew in the upcoming weeks.