By Jeff Kenney
Staff Writer

CULVER — The Culver Town Council wrestled last week with how best to handle reports showing sanitary sewage flow from Culver Academies’ campus to the town of Culver sewer plant is significantly higher than previously believed, necessitating de-cisions as to fees for sewer services and costs to the school.

Town Manager Michael Doss reported a meeting had taken place recently with he and Council President Sally Riccirardi — as well as councilman Ralph Winters and Steve Carter of the accounting firm Umbaugh & Associates —  met to examine a report Carter created of sewer revenue and flow over the past six years.

Council member Ginny Munroe explained the Academies’ meters show a sewage outflow of around 2 million gallons per month, whereas a meter recently installed by the town on Academy Road shows a flow into the town system of 2.7 million gallons per month. Both meters have been checked and recalibrated for accuracy.

It’s fairly certain, then, the Academies’ sanitary lines are experiencing infiltration, most likely from rainwater, between the school’s meters and the town’s, according to council members.

The Academies, it was noted, had previously been charged for the two million gallon outflow rather than the actual outflow, which is considerably higher. Council member Ed Pinder felt the school should be charged for the actual outflow.

“I don’t know how we could be any more fair than when we have a meter that reads a certain amount of flow, and we charge them for the flow,” said Pinder. “If we don’t, other people in town will be paying for part of their flow.”

Munroe said the question at hand was whether the town could adjust the Academies’ rate in order to free up more of the school’s money to conduct the costly engineering survey needed to pinpoint infiltration problems in its system as well as even more costly repairs to the system.

Ricciardi noted correcting the excess flow from the Academies would not only lower the school’s bill, but could reduce flow into the Culver system enough so as to eliminate the town’s need to expand its present sewer plant, a move being discussed in order to accommodate Lake Maxinkuckee’s Southwest Conservancy District, which hopes to help fund the expansion and connect its sewer outflow to the town plant in the future. The town’s share of that expansion, added Ricciardi, would be in the $1.5 to $2 million range, a cost likely eliminated if Culver Academies corrects its excess outflow and an expanded plant is no longer needed.

“They (the Academy) is asking us to hold back on extra costs they’re incurring (from extra sewer outflow) so they can use some of that money to then fund a study via an engineering report,” Ricciardi said, adding the few millions dollars in needed repairs is “not going to be a cheap thing for them.”
Winters said he was concerned a rate break for the school now could facilitate less pressure on the Academies to alleviate the problem with expediency.

Munroe noted the cost of fixing the Academies’ outflow problem is much higher for the school than any individual’s repair, adding the Academies is “a very significant part of our revenue. This is extremely costly for them and a shock for sure.”

Town clerk Casey Howard and Doss said Culver Academies would likely face sewage costs around $72,000 more in 2009 than in 2008, based on an average of higher monthly rates since the outflow difference was discovered earlier this year.

Winters explained “the other side of the issue” involves the council’s having been approached in recent months by the Southwest Conservancy District, which represents residents of the southwest side of the lake, in hopes those residents could hook up to Culver’s sanitary sewer system, which would have to be capable of handling the 300-plus gallons a day of sewer outflow from the area during its peak occupancy in the summer. The Conservancy District will build its own collection facility and also pay its share of the cost of a plant expansion in Culver in a lump sum.

“What we’re afraid of,” said Winters, “is we commit to our plant expansion and Southwest pays their share of the plant expansion. Then the Academy doesn’t fix their flow and says, ‘We don’t want to pay for this higher flow (cost).’ “But if they…build their own plant, we’ve spent $1.5 million on (plant) expansion (and) we’ll pay the rest of the share after Southwest pays. We’ve got a really sticky thing.”
Ricciardi, noting she felt there have been some misunderstandings on both sides of the issue, said the school will likely consider whether building its own plant may be more cost effective than the combined cost of higher outflow charges as well as engineering studies and repairs to infiltrated lines to the town. “The question is,” she added. “Are you willing to come to an agreement with them?”
Munroe noted a planning grant the town is seeking in order to pay for in-town infiltration problems doesn’t require citizens of Culver to pay for those problems, but the Academy is being asked to pay for similar infiltration issues. “I think we have to hold back from getting emotional about it and look at every aspect of it.”

Doss said town-wide infiltration involves “so many pockets,” including many homes in Culver, whereas the Academies’ infiltration issue is more compacted. Winters added many town sewer lines are under the water table, making repair to them “a real challenge.”

Munroe said she felt Culver Academies was waiting for a decision from the council in order to determine the school’s direction regarding an engineering report. However, she and most council members agreed no decision could be made without further dialog with representatives of the school. The council agreed to contact the Academies and seek to schedule a work session to discuss the matter further, with a school representative present.