Lakeland Regional Sewer District is beginning to feel the gravity of its situation. The past five years of applying for loans, planning and engineering sewer grinders and waste management stations must be finalized by May 11.

After taking the time to meet with U.S. Department of Agriculture officials March 18, LRSD board members are anxiously awaiting their fate on a $5 million loan or grant from the USDA. The meeting of USDA and LRSD members was successful, but also informative. The USDA ended the meeting of heads with a list of tasks for the district to address before the grant money would be considered. Board member Bob Sanders noted a few of the items on the list had already been attended to prior to the meeting with the USDA, but hadn’t been documented.

The board did agree there would be a need for a special meeting to finalize rate ordinances, pending the approval of the $5 million request. After discussing several possible dates, the LRSD board did not set a final schedule for holding the special meeting, but noted it needed to be posted at least 48 hours prior. LRSD has been sure to address concerns with posted meetings, as many of the residents the sewer district serves own summer homes. Thursday night’s meeting was a full house, with more than 25 public residents joining in the discussions. Many of those residents were visiting their summer homes in the Lakeland Regional Sewer District area while on spring break.

The board also came back to another tough issue, the classification of mobile homes and campgrounds. The district set forth proposed rate ordinances that define a special rate for campgrounds, but only one property has been allowed in that category. Pic-A-Spot campground located on Barbee Lake in Warsaw is owned by LRSD board member John McDaniel and wife Paula. Pic-A-Spot is the only campground that will be honored with these special rates, which operate on the idea the sewer levels will be very high for a period of three to five months, and almost completely out of use during the rest of the year. John and Paula McDaniel maintain the campground during its open season, from April to October.

While the board discussed amendments to the drafted rate ordinances, one member referenced the operations of another new sewer district that was losing money as people continued to build on property. In this scenario, one property owner could buy three other small houses, each on separate parcels of land, and knock them all down to build one large house. At that point, there would be approximately one-fourth of the sewer usage as compared to the use with four separate families. This would create nearly the same amount of upkeep for LRSD, but bring in much less income because usage would be lessened.

During public comments, Kathy Selby suggested unneeded grinders be removed at the cost of the homeowner in the event that homeowner had a similar situation with buying up multiple parcels of land. Selby referenced the way NIPSCO and other companies operate their meters, an idea very similar to metered sewer usage LRSD has discussed.

Owners of Elliot’s Nest stayed after the meeting ended to discuss their cottage-style resort and the rate plans for the resort under LRSD classifications.

LRSD expects to hear from the USDA soon, and hopes to break ground May 12, pending the May 11 closing on the project.

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