The Trenton Board of Public Works held its regular monthly meeting on Thursday evening at Trenton City Hall and took action on several items.
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The board approved an agreement with Larkin Group of Kansas City to provide engineering services in conjunction with water distribution improvements in the area of Highway 6 and Lake Manor in the east part of Trenton. According to Water/Wastewater Distribution Supervisor Kenny Ricketts, the project will eliminate several old lines in the area as well as allow for the connection of new fire hydrants along with the looping of water distribution lines in the area. The project will connect the Bailey addition to the residential area north of Highway 6 and since there are many issues with both water and wastewater lines in the area, the engineering services are needed.
The project also requires approval from the Missouri Department of Transportation, which is another reason for the request for the engineering services. Larkin will be paid for services provided up to a maximum of $36,000. The money will come from a part of the budget set aside each year to make water distribution improvements.
Two other bids were also approved. Nutriject submitted the low bid of $64 per dry ton to remove lime sludge from the lagoon at the water treatment plant. Five bids were received. Comptroller Rosetta Marsh said $100,000 has been budgeted for the project, which would allow for approximately 1,558 tons to be removed. Work is expected to being within two weeks. The company has done the work previously for the utility. Also approved was the purchase of a hydro excavation unit for use by the wastewater distribution crew. Key Equipment will be paid $39,000 for the unit, which the utility has been using on a rental basis the last several weeks. The rental cost was credited to the original price to reduce the cost that TMU paid. The vacuum unit is used to remove debris from the sewer line instead of flushing the problem further down the line.
In other information at the meeting, Ricketts noted the new sewer line from the new Wright Memorial Hospital in nearly complete and TMU will use a video camera to inspect the line as well as perform tests on the new line before it is put into service.
Mrs. Marsh provided information to the board concerning the LAGERS retirement system in which TMU employees participate. The board had heard a presentation at last month’s meeting from LAGERS representatives and Mrs. Marsh said the annual report showed TMU’s unfunded liability in the program had dropped from $1.429 million to $1.299 million from 2009 to 2010 without any additional contribution by the utility.
Mrs. Marsh also discussed the financial performance of the utility with board members, noting the electric department shows a loss for the year-to-date of $11,871 compared to the same time last year which showed a loss of $143,008. In other year-to-date figures, the water department shows net income of $42,642 and the wastewater department shows net income of $154,573.
The board also discussed holding a public open house at the new wastewater treatment plant in south Trenton. A weeknight during September was selected as the best possible time and more information will be announced closer to the date.
The next meeting of the board is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 24.