NORTH WEBSTER — The board members of Lakeland Regional Sewer District heard positive project updates on Thursday evening, Dec. 1, while also debating on approving a request to extend one contracted amount.

During the regular monthly meeting held at the North Webster Community Center, the board kicked off the evening with the looming completion date for the $28 million sewer project. Casey Erwin, project engineer with DLZ, provided photos, numbers and verbal updates for the board. As the group enters the last month of the scheduled project date, the new sewer system sits around 90 percent completion.

Throughout the four contracted areas, individual contractors are finishing up punch list items and small projects such as hardware and electrical, application of stickers and start-ups of pump stations across the area. Contractors are also completing any repair work or backfilling that needs to be done in yards and drives or access roads.

At Erwin’s recommendation, the board decided to winterize the exposed parts of one of the wastewater treatment plant tanks by disassembling and storing them. This decision will cost the district, but the board spent several minutes proposing ideas on how to cover that cost. Erwin suggested it may be something to use grant money for, and decided to submit a request to Rural Development to approve the additional expenditure.

Last month, contractor Seldge Construction submitted a request to extend the length of their contract past the original substantial completion date. The board rejected that request and Seldge presented a new, more reasonable time request of 28 calendar days. Seldge claims there were 20-30 small instances that caused delays, adding up over time to put the contractor behind schedule. The board decided to offer a calendar completion date to Seldge with any additional days to incur a penalty. DLZ’s Erwin has also reached the full length of his contracted work for the district of 540 days. The board recommended that if Seldge cannot complete their work in a timely manner, part of the expense will be added for retaining Erwin’s services for additional time.

Attorney for the district, Andrew Boxberger, reminded the board that billing can begin at the date of substantial completion, meaning once customers are able to hook up to the new system they will begin being charged, even if they wait the full allotment of time before doing so. The board does not yet know what the exact monthly rate will be as they wait to close on the massive loan to determine interest rates and final costs.

Board member Parke Smith suggested the board give an advance notice of the increased bills to allow customers of the district time to budget accordingly. Jennifer Ransbottom, representative from JPR billing firm, suggested the memo at the bottom of each bill be changed to “Happy Holidays” during the month of December and changed to the notice of the increased rates during January billing. The board agreed this would allow advanced notice to customers.

The district will hold the next regular meeting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 5 at the NWCC.