Six of the seven appointed members of the Marshall County Regional Sewer District Board of Trustees met Tuesday morning for their first meeting in the second-floor meeting room of the County Building.
The initial meeting was to begin the process of creating the board with the Oath of Office for trustees attending the meeting and the election of officers. Tom McFadden was elected President and Jay Stone was elected Vice President. The remainder of the slate was Treasurer Brenda Myers and Secretary Diann Parsons.
The Sewer Board adopted bylaws to govern the administration of the meetings and the business of the board.
The attorney, Andy Boxberger explained that the Regional Sewer Board has no official affiliation with Marshall County government and the commissioners don’t have oversite over members. This is an independent board, and you govern the Regional Sewer Board and operate independently from the county.
While discussing the bylaws the motion was made to approve them as presented with the removal of term limits for elected officers.
The new board also adopted a resolution setting up the Internal Control Policy. It was stated that the State Board of Accounts requires governmental boards that have operational funds to have a policy. All members of the board were urged to take the online training before their next meeting on October 17th.
Sewer Board members were encouraged to complete Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statements and submit them to board secretary Diann Parsons. Board member Debbie Palmer asked about being a lake resident and receiving a benefit from having the sewer at the lake. It was explained that being a member of the Regional Sewer District Board requires you to live in one of the districts so there is no direct benefit.
The motion to approve the resolution for the Conflict-of-Interest Policy was unanimously passed.
The sewer board also set the meeting dates and times for every other month on the third Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the second-floor meeting room of the County Building. Their next two meetings will be on October 17th and December 19th at 6 p.m.
The sewer board also approved a remote participation policy that requires a member to be seen and heard, at least have the board must be in person, requires a roll-call vote when a member is online, and only permits online attendance for 2 consecutive meetings. There are some limitations for those attending online that pertain to voting for budget adoption, the rate ordinance, eminent domain, or terminating an employee.
The sewer board approved the remote participation policy with a 6-0 vote.
The board also approved the banking resolution with Everwise Credit Union and authorized two signatures on checks with all members having signing authority. Members also agreed to cover Trustee Bonds in the amount of $15,000 for all trustees and officers and to obtain Directors’ and Officers’ Insurance.
The Regional Sewer Board also passed a motion approving professional advisors including Baker Tilly for financial, JPR for Engineering, and Carson Law from Fort Wayne for legal services.
According to the Formation Order and State Statute, the regional sewer board must submit to IDEM by September 12th the district’s plan. The sewer board approved allowing JPR to submit the plan since they have already completed the preliminary engineering plan when it was submitted with the county’s application to create the regional sewer board. JPR will assemble many documents and refine the material that was submitted in the spring of 2022. The plan is for the future operation of the regional sewer district.
Once the plan is acknowledged by IDEM and approved they will give the authorization to proceed with an actual project.
