$1.1M powers Centerville electrical upgrade

In about 19 minutes, Centerville’s council spent about $905,000 and celebrated receiving a $1.1 million grant.

Some of those expenses, which included a street sweeper, bucket truck and fire station roof, had been discussed previously. Council’s work session took place Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Electrical grant 

Centerville received $1.1 million from Department of Energy to upgrade equipment to improve service reliability. The town’s match is $285,440. 

Council President Dan Wandersee thanked Town Manager Kevin Slick for responding to DOE’s additional information requests during the nearly two-year application process.

“We went in the first time and didn’t make it to first base, but we decided to go back a second time and we made a home run,” Wandersee said. 

Bucket truck 

Centerville’s bucket truck is out of service. Ordering a new one would take three years. 

Slick is scouting used trucks. If one becomes available, council authorized him to spend up to $125,000.

Wandersee said Centerville had a power outage that it could have repaired immediately, but employees had to wait for an Indiana Municipal Power Agency crew to arrive. 

With a wet winter predicted, Wandersee favors quick response times for utility customers. 

Councilor Gary Holbert said you don’t realize how badly you need an item until you don’t have it, and Centerville can’t replace a light on a security pole without a bucket truck. 

Other purchases at a glance

• Water tower restoration ($461,054.75): Council approved paying contractors’ first installment. Work is substantially complete.  
• Street sweeper ($275,000): Slick said the current sweeper is inoperable and he found a good demonstration model with only 45 hours of operating time. Holbert said he was surprised the town’s sweeper “lasted this long.”
• Fire station roof ($22,365): Council previously reviewed bids to replace Chief Dennis Spears Station 2’s roof. Because L&S Lumber didn’t include tear-off in its bid, Gerald Millsaps, who oversees code enforcement, inspected the roof. He recommended taking off that layer. L&S added about $5,000 to its bid, still nearly $20,000 cheaper than others.
• Water service line investigation ($21,148.25): Cobalt Civil had the lowest bid; additional inspections are extra. Indiana’s State Revolving Fund will pay $10,000. Slick said the town will have to locate the lines sooner or later. 

Votes were 3-0. Jack Bodiker and Joshua Tudor were absent. 

In other business

• Council set trick-or-treat from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31. 
• Millsaps Construction withdrew its bid to replace windows at the new town hall. Council approved the next lowest bid, $13,605 from CBR Services ($580.65 more).
• Fire Chief Andy Aughe is gathering quotes and finance information for a Chevy Silverado to replace his Tahoe as command vehicle. Aughe said the state is planning a lot of training in Indianapolis, so the Tahoe could become a pool vehicle to save mileage on firefighters’ personal vehicles and a backup command vehicle. 

Council will discuss the truck purchase, along with ordinances for an additional $60,011 appropriation and a salary amendment, at its next meeting. It’s a day earlier, at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7. Some Centerville officials are attending Accelerate Indiana Municipalities’ Oct. 8 conference.