Trenton officials are working on getting plans in place for water and sewer system improvements that Administrator Ron Urton says are likely eligible to be funded through the American Recovery Act. While he told the Trenton Utility Committee on Tuesday evening, he had no details; the city of Trenton portion of the federal funding remains $1,061,000.
The committee, following discussion with Allstate Consultants LLC of Marceline, advanced to the city council plans for engineering proposals and repairs at the reservoir and river pump stations at the water treatment plant.
Easements are sought at 2nd and Connie Lane regarding a new and larger sewer line to the waste-water facility. TMU crews are planning to replace a sewer main at the Courthouse possibly next week, repair of a sinkhole in the parking lot of the Nestle plant, and the rehab or installation of manholes on sewer mains crossing 9th street in preparation for the lining of the sewer pipe.
City Hall officials continue to work with Tantalus on the advanced metering infrastructure project, which involves automated meter reading. Crews are to replace some 500 old water meters for the new AMI system. The city has approximately 2,700 water meters overall.
To clarify an existing city ordinance on shutoffs, the city council is expected to consider additional wording that explains Trenton Municipal is exempt from the Public Service Commissions’ cold weather rule; however, it’s the intention to “follow the state rule” in that TMU will not shut off services when temperatures are forecast to fall below 32 degrees in the next 24 hours. Doing a shut-off, the city says, could cause pipes to freeze, thus leading to a larger problem.
TMU also will follow the states’ hot weather rule and will not shut off utilities when the temperature is forecast to be above 95 degrees or a heat index above 105 within the following 24 hours. Comptroller Rosetta Marsh said she’s working on finishing fiscal year 21 in anticipation of the auditor being at city hall next month.
