The special meeting of the Villae Board of Colfax was called to order on Tuesday evening, March 15, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Ricardo Onken.

Trustees present were: David Rathke - Aye; Carol Stephenson - Aye; Lonnie Meiner - Aye; Rick Wagoner - Aye;
Trustees Absent were: Donna Poppe and Bruce Green.
Also present were Superintendent Damon Getty and Village Engineer Ed Duran

Mayor Ric Onken stated that there is one item on the agenda, Discussion and Possible Approval of the Sewer Project. Ric turned the meeting over to Trustee Rick Wagoner, Chairman of the Water and Sewer Committee, who had Village Engineer Ed Duran explain what we have been looking at to update the aeration syswtem at the sewer plant.

Village Engineer Ed Duran explained that it is the recommendation of the Water and Sewer Committee to go with the WTR Floating Aerator System and how it applied to the Village of Colfax sewer system.  Ed explained to the Board that we are here tonight to get approval from the Board to apply for the permit from the Illinois EPA.  This will be put in as a supplemental system and will be leaving the current system in place as a backup system.  The EPA permit will take forty-five (45) days to obtain but should be able to get a verbal okay from the Illinois EPA this week on whether we can use this system or not.

This system will be costing in the neighborhood of $53,500.00.  This should save approximately $8,000.00 to $10,000.00 per year in electrical costs.  Will see a considerable savings.

There is an Energy Efficiency Grant from Ameren that the Village can apply for now that we know which way we are going to go.  This grant is for a 2010 fiscal year grant which ends in May.  Will have to commit to spending this money by May.  The grant is equal to whatever our savings are for the year which will be approximately $10,000.00.  It is still from DECA and is in addition to the other grant that we already got.

Mayor Ric Onken asked if this was the same grant that we had already applied for.  Ed said yes and they have already given their approval they are just waiting to see which system we are going with.

Rick Wagoner explained why we are sort of scrambling here.  This is new to WTR in Illinois and to us to know what the Illinois EPA really wants.  They are presently primarily in Iowa.  They originally said we would only need three (3) aerators but Ed says we need five (5).  We are applying for five (5) with the EPA.  Ed stated that we should know this week whether the IL EPA will accept the system.  Mayor Ric Onken asked what the advantage is of this system over the other one - primarily cost.  The maintenance difference is that you can take these motors in to get them worked on instead of having to pay someone to come here to work on them.

Trustee Lonnie Meiner stated the ADS system was going to cost us in the area of $120,000.00 and would have taken seven (7) days to install.  The energy savings would have been approximately the same.

Trustee Rick Wagoner explained that he knows that we are sort of rushing to get this through but it was the consensus of the Board that the Water and Sewer Committee has done a lot of research and work on this and they feel this would be the best thing to do at this time.

Trustee Lonnie Meiner made a motion to approve applying for the permit for the WTR Floating Aeration System with five (5) floating aerators.  Trustee Rick Wagoner seconded the motion.  Vote:  Donna Poppe - Absent; David Rathke - Aye; Bruce Green - Absent; Carol Stephenson - Aye; Lonnie Meiner - aye; Rick Wagoner - Aye; Motion carried.

Trustee Carol Stephenson made a motion to adjourn.  Trustee Rick Wagoner seconded the motion. Vote:  Donna Poppe - Absent; David Rathke - Aye; Bruce Green - Absent; Carol Stephenson - Aye; Lonnie Meiner - Aye; Rick Wagoner - Aye; Motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Nancy Kiper, Village Clerk