Sanitation District Gets $10 Million Surprise From State Legislature
(File photo, the Harrodsburg Herald). Mike Sanford of the Mercer County Sanitation District gives a presentation during a board meeting in 2018.
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
The Mercer County Sanitation District has learned the state is allocating more than $11 million for the Herrington Lake Force Main project.
House Joint Resolution 30—which was passed over the governor’s line item veto—includes $11 million in appropriations, with $769,100 for the initial phase of the force main project and $10.3 million from the Section 2 amendment.
The sanitation district was taken by surprise by the allocation.
“It’s crazy,” said General Manager Mike Sanford at the district’s regular meeting on Thursday, April 9.
“I’m still processing that,” Sanford told the board.
The appropriation will allow the sanitation district to proceed with a project that will roughly double the size of the district, initially adding 300 customers with the potential to add another 480. Sanford said the new infrastructure would carry the load for the rest of the shoreline.
“Which is huge,” said Sanford, who said he has received calls congratulating him. Once they get the grant letter for round one, they will proceed with engineering.
Even without the surprise appropriation, it is a hectic time for the sanitation district. It is hoped construction on the Gwinn Island project will begin this summer. They will have to work on design work on the next project simultaneously. They will also need to acquire the necessary easements.
In addition to serving as the general manager of the Mercer County Sanitation District, Sanford is the executive director of the Lake Village Water Association. He was also elected chair of the Bluegrass Area Development District last year. On Thursday, Sanford said they are looking at filling an assistant director position. He said the Lake Village board and sanitation district board are unanimously in favor of hiring someone.
Sanford said he first has to figure out how to pay for it. He told the board they may need to go before the Mercer County Fiscal Court to ask for more money, even though the fiscal court is not currently accepting budget requests.
The sanitation district may also have to contract someone with Bluegrass ADD to help out. “I don’t know exactly the details of what that would look like,” Sanford said.
“We can do what the industrial development authority did, we can steal one,” joked district Chairman James Dunn, referring to the Harrodsburg-Mercer County Industrial Development Authority hiring Greyson Evans as executive director. Evans had previously worked for Bluegrass ADD as a community planning manager.
The sanitation district was created by the fiscal court in 2005 to provide reliable wastewater service to Mercer County residents. In 2009, the district entered into a management agreement with Lake Village Water to operate and maintain all aspects of the sanitary sewer system owned by the district. The two utilities have completely separate operations, including the board of directors, banking and finances, real property, and regulatory permits.
“The Lake Village Water Association did us a favor,” said sanitation district board member Drew Rice. “At some point, we’ve got to carry the load.”
Sanford said he hopes to receive the award letter before the district’s next meeting. Engineer Liz Dienst, water/wastewater discipline coordinator and project manager at Strand Associates, recommended doing a preliminary engineering report.
“It’s going to look a lot different in five years,” Sanford said. “This is what the district was formed for.”
Sanford also gave the board a flooding update. The storm surge sent water over the Water Street lift station Sunday.
Worried about control panel, KU turned off the power at the lift station on a little after noon Sunday, shutting down sewer service for hundreds of homes in Burgin.
Sanford said he was glad the worst case forecasts did not come to pass.
“It water was over the top of the pump station.” Sanford said.
While the district was able to restore service on Saturday, April 12, at Thursday’s meeting, the lift station had been underwater for five days.
“It’s very concerning,” Sanford said.
In the last three months, Mercer County has received more than 20 inches of rain, with 10 inches recorded in February, 4.5 inches in March and nearly 11 inches between April 3 and April 6.
As for the Gwinn Island project, Sanford said they were still collecting easements and almost finished. He said they were verifying people were not currently on sewer. Sanford said one customer was paying for sewer and were actually on a septic tank.
Last year, the state announced more than $2.2 million in funding to improve water quality by enhancing wastewater treatment services and protecting the watershed near Herrington Lake.Officials say the project will eliminate 129 residential septic systems, six holding tanks and create two new pump stations on Herrington Lake.
Sanford said they were looking at the most suitable location to put pumps. Especially after the recent weather, he said they were concerned the pump station may end up under water. Sanford told the board they were looking at installing equipment to protect the pumps in case of flooding.
The district has approximately two and half weeks before their self-imposed deadline for completing all of the easements.
Attorney Larry Catlett said it would be two weeks until he had the necessary documents ready. Catlett said there were two that were “problematic.”
Sanford said they would be dropping off easements for Catlett to record. Sanford said they hope to advertise for bids in May.
Chairman Dunn worried about the bids with the economic uncertainty.
“We only have so many dollars,” Dunn said.
Dienst said her company had done projections to find the best way forward through the uncertainty concerning tariffs.
“There’s no good answer,” Dienst said.
Finally, the board voted to proceed with extending service to a businesses and residences on South College Street for approximately $30,100 pending review. The proposed extension is a part of the Gwinn Island project.
The next regular meeting of the Mercer County Sanitation District will be Thursday, May 8, at 2 p.m. at the Lake Village Water Association board room (801 Pleasant Hill Drive, Burgin).
