New Village water system still not operational
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Mt. Auburn — The Village of Mt. Auburn held a regular meeting on Tuesday, August 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the Village hall.
At the meeting, Mayor Mike Whitehead told the Board that the new water treatment plant near Illiopolis that the Village was supposed to be connecting to was still not completely operational. The project had been beset with delays, like many projects started during COVID, which included delayed shipments of necessary treatment chemicals that Whitehead was a little concerned about. He also explained that two of the pumps at the plant were found to be defective, so they had to wait for replacements to be brought in.
Whitehead asked Water Superintendent Skye Trudeau if anyone had come out to inspect and work on the water tower. Trudeau replied that people had shown up – without the necessary tools to do the work. They had to reschedule, which was the second time Trudeau has had to do so. Trudeau also told the Board that currently the water tower had no way of reading how much water was in the tower and the pressure, which he said needed to be done before the hook up to the new water system.
“I don’t think the system will work without it, but I don’t know. Nobody talks to me.” Trudeau expressed some frustration with the project situation, which was shared with Whitehead and the Board. Whitehead described some parts of the deal as “sketchy” while recognizing that the supply chain issues and lack of qualified workers were probably attributing to many of the problems. Village Attorney Dennis Atteberry suggested that the Village postponed decommissioning their current water well for as long as possible after the hookup and switch over to the new system was completed, just in case the whole project went belly up.
The Village has finalized the purchase of the Community Building in town. Atteberry just needed to file the deed with the county. The Village has set up a Community Building Fund and a Community Building Committee to handle all matters concerning the building and renting it out for events.
Whitehead apologized for “dropping the ball” on getting side-by-side and golf cart stickers out for the Village residents. Normally, they are handled in April, but Whitehead said he still just hadn’t gotten to them. The Board asked that he send out a notification on Facebook on a day and time he would be at the Village Hall to complete the necessary inspections and hand out the stickers so all the side-by-sides and golf carts in the Village were legal once again.
Whitehead said he had been dealing with another dog bite situation in the Village.
Also approved at the meeting:
– Treasurer’s report
– Paying July bills
– Approving July meeting minutes
The next regular meeting of the Village of Mt. Auburn will be held on Tuesday, September 6 at 7:00 p.m. in the Village hall.
