After hours upon hours of discussions and document review, Western Wayne Regional Sewage District and its largest customer, Sugar Creek Packing Co., have come to terms for the food processing company to continue their relationship.
That decision will help keep rate increases much lower than they would have otherwise been for all residential and commercial customers in Cambridge City, Mount Auburn and Dublin.
Learning Sugar Creek had agreed to stay with the district prompted cheers during Monday night’s meeting.
Sugar Creek’s financial commitment leads the way for the sewage district to begin work on a new treatment plant that should be operational by the summer of 2023.
Wayne County Attorney Ron Cross will review the agreement before the county follows through with its plans to contribute $1 million to the sewage district’s recent lift station project.
The county’s financial incentive helped the sewage district commit to a larger plant than it originally intended for a broader regional benefit. It also helped keep down the treatment cost for Sugar Creek as well to make a deal as sweet as possible for the large employer to stay with the the district, helping all customers.
County officials wanted to make sure additional wastewater treatment capacity would be available to help lure other prospective manufacturers to create jobs in Gateway Industrial Park in Cambridge City.
Wanting to keep up the momentum, the sewage district board also approved a contract with Wessler Engineering at Monday night’s meeting for a little more than $2 million to begin a year’s worth of design and engineering work before the two years of construction can begin. Wessler has been working with the sewage district for many years.
Read more about Monday’s long-awaited deal and what it means for customers in the July 29 edition of Western Wayne News.