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MONTICELLO — At Monday night’s city council meeting, President Bill Cheever talked about a subject “no one wants to talk about.” He said the city’s wastewater utility rates will have to increase in order to start the last phase of a mandated project to improve the wastewater system.
A recent study by Baker Tilly, a financial analysis firm, shows a significant increase is needed in order to fund the final phase of the work that’s been ongoing since 2008.
Sections of the city were built with storm water and sewer combined. The six areas had to have the drains separated to comply with Indiana Environmental Management agreed order. This will be Phase 5, the final phase of the years-long project to bring the city into compliance.
Cheever said this will also be the most expensive phase. The city’s agreed order requires completion by the end of 2028. The study was done to determine if current rates were sufficient to qualify for a state revolving fund loan, and it is not.
Cheever said “We wanted to get it out there because increases are coming, and in increments, because it is significant.”
The cost for the project had originally been set at $40 million; however, through diligent work from both the wastewater department and the mayor’s office, that amount is now at $28 million.
“We’re looking at in increase as early as August 1,” Cheever said, in order to begin the rate increase in increments in order to fund the project and complete it in the time frame allotted. He then apologized to residents that this has to be done.
Clerk/treasurer Doug Pepple, a former councilman for the city, said there are no options due to enforcement by the state. Rates were increased in 2023 in order to fund Phase 4 of the project.
Before adjourning the meeting, Josh Leonard, a member of the city’s Board of Works, spoke as a resident of the city. He talked about the vacant homes in the city, some of which are in decay.
“Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of purchasing and renovating two vacant homes right here in town. These were once empty, unloved, in inhabited, and unnoticed. Today, they’re filled with life again.
“Monticello is facing a housing crisis. We lack enough quality, affordable, and available homes for the people who want to live, work, and invest here, and I’m sure, and I know that I’m preaching to the choir,” he told the council.
“But yet scattered throughout our town. We have dozens of houses sitting vacant, some for years. Some of these properties are stuck in probate, lost in the legal aftermath of death without heirs, others have simply been abandoned, still, and this is the most important part, others are being held as paper investments left to decay with the depreciation written off on tax returns, he continued.
“Let me be clear, this may be legal, but it’s not right. Not here in this small town. It’s unethical, and it’s unjust. When individuals allow homes to rot for years, knowing they will never repay repair or occupy them. They don’t just harm property values. They damage neighborhoods and suppress growth.”
He suggested they could put together a group to identify these properties, identify the owners and perhaps change the ordinance on abandoned homes.
Board of Works
During the Board of Works meeting, which preceded the city council meeting, the board accepted the retirement of 30+ year employee Dave Livesay. He has worked with the street department. Superintendent Frank Arthur said Livesay started working for the department three years before he did, and he is the last one who was there when Arthur began his career with the city.
Leonard said Livesay is a long-time resident of Monticello and is very knowledgeable about the city and its history.
Livesay’s last day will be July 28. The board also gave Arthur permission to hire a replacement.
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