City department heads update Board of Works & Safety

News

Members of the Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety were updated Monday evening from various city department heads.

Utility Superintendent Donnie Davidson asked the board to approve an agreement for engineering services on the city’s water project that includes a rehab of the west water tower and updates to some water mains.  The contracts are $177,000 for design work, $15,000 for the bidding process and $48,000 for the construction engineering portion for a total of $240,000.  Davidson said the amount is in line with the OCRA grant application the city was awarded in the amount of $700,000.

The Board of Public Works approved the contracts. 

Davidson said the grant application from the Indiana Finance Authority was approved in the amount of $9,933.  The plans are to work with the city’s consultant trying to determine the last few unknown service lines.  The grant will help offset some of those costs to determine if there are lead water lines. 

The last item the Utility Superintendent discussed was the request to purchase a portable generator. The council had approved the purchase and anticipated a cost of $85,000 to $95,000 for the unit.  Davidson said, through Sourcewell Purchasing they were able to purchase the portable generator for slightly under $75,000. 

Police Chief John Weir told the Board of Public Works and Safety that he received 20 applications for the open position in the department.  He said 3 of the applications are lateral while 17 are civilians that have no experience or training.  The first testing will be held on April 6th and will include written and agility testing. 

Park Superintendent Mike Hite told the Board of Public Works and Safety that the pickleball project is moving forward with Brown & Brown who will lead the project.  He said they will be breaking ground soon and anticipates the project to take a maximum of 60 days.  The project is for 6 pickleball courts between the tennis courts and the Freyman Shelter.  Hite said the pickle ball courts can be used as youth tennis courts which were removed from the tennis project due to costs.