Village officials feeling flushed after sewage back-up causes problems

It wasn’t good news at the regular Gilman Village Board meeting May 12, as reports of a broken sewer line by the village hall/library, were rather grim. The break caused a back-up in the building, including in the basement. Rick Johnson, director of public works, says they are going to try inserting a sleeve into the sewer going out to Main Street, if they can get the line routered out. If not, they can go back to McSloy Street.

“But, you’re going to dig your whole street up,” said Johnson. “We go this way (to Main), she’s going to be a lot of headaches, too.”

The village will have to have permits from the DOT, with signage and possible road closures, and will be more expensive if the sleeve doesn’t work.

“Well, we’ll just have to do what we have to do,” said village president Jane DeStaercke.

Regardless, the work is not something the village workers can do on their own, so Johnson contacted Jakel Plumbing, recommended by Romig’s in Gilman, to complete the job. However, Johnson has no time frame as to when the project will be done.

With that in mind, DeStaercke and village clerk Candice Grunseth agreed they should bring in a porta potty for the library patrons to use until the situation is dealt with.

Village trustee Greg Steinbach said as part of the Improvements Committee, he is informing the board that the committee is kicking in money that was designated for crack sealing, for almost $15,000 to help out with the sewer repair.

“That (crack sealing) got canceled out for this year, to help with that cost,” said Grunseth.

Grunseth also had some news about the back-up, as the raw sewage contaminated some of the records stored in the basement, such as vouchers and receipts. The village must have approval from the State Historical Society to dispose of records, which was received, prompting the village to agree that they need a Records Retention Policy. The village has to keep some things for seven years, such as vouchers, while some things do have to be kept forever.

A retention policy would mean that the village does not need approval to dispose of certain records going back more than seven years. Grunseth said she will now get the village on a disposal schedule.

“I’ve never gone down, prior than two years, to look for something for the auditor or something on it,” said Grunseth.

Moving from the street to the park, police chief Tom Tallier reported that Flytec computers, out of Florida, will have the best system for the park’s needs when installing new security cameras. The project will cost around $5,000, and though Tallier is still investigating internet options, he says the service will run less than $50 a month.

Tallier also said the village needs to create a line of sight from where the system hardrive is, for the cameras to function.

“Otherwise, they said there should be no issues,” said Tallier.

Trustee Eileen Grunseth asked if cameras could also be installed at the public works shop, to which Tallier said it shouldn’t be a problem, as they can use the old park cameras for that. Tallier promised to look into the matter and get back to the board.

Johnson also reported that wiring work has been completed by Brent Mallo, of Nite Electric, at the park and should be ready for anything, and any event.