The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/970623
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, April 18, 2018 A-3 LOCAL Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg I've spent over 30 years of my life growing up and currently living in Winslow. I've spent the last 21 years working on Homeland Security issues, first as an FBI field agent and currently as a Homeland Security Specialist assisting counties across the nation with emergency response to active shooter incidents and acts of terrorism, as well as natural disasters. If elected Sheriff, I'll lead Sheriff 's Office personnel in working closely with others in the community as a team to focus on the following Homeland Security efforts: Protecting our children and adults from gun violence while at school • Work closely with school officials, teachers and students to consistently monitor our schools for bullying and situations where someone may pose a threat of violence – many school shooters have been bullied or threatened at school • Enhance current programs and methods for individuals to share information • Support current school efforts to deal with bullying, including the use of positive peer pressure and code enforcement • Work with our state representatives for mandatory reporting of individuals who are mentally unstable, who pose a threat to themselves or others • Conduct threat assessment investigations without delay to promptly deal with potential gun violence • Establish emergency procedures for obtaining search warrants and using appropriate technology to obtain evidence needed to prevent an imminent attack against one of our schools Homeland Security = Protecting Lives and Our Way of Life PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL ME WITH YOUR PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE 812-766-2047 • JohnBellamyPikeCo@yahoo.com PAID FOR BY BELLAMY FOR SHERIFF COMMITTEE SHERIFF JOHN JOHN Democrat Ballot CONTINUED ON PAGE Casting YOUR VOTE MATTERS FLAG RETIREMENT CEREMONY $4,000, $5,000 each month now, as these are failing," Klipsch said. "So, now, the question is, do we want to keep doing this or not? Well, it doesn't seem to me like that's a very good idea." The Neptune water me- ter – which includes a tran- sponder – can be purchased for $225 each, Klipsch not- ed. "Darren was telling me the price we're paying for the transponders with the company we presently have is equal or a little more than what the complete meter re- placement would be under this new program, where we'd have not only the tran- sponder, but the meter as well," Klipsch said. According to Utility Sup- ply Company sales repre- sentative Brad Stork, the Neptune water meter's tran- sponder has a 20 -year war- ranty, while the water me- ter itself has a lifetime war- ranty. "It's got a lifetime war- ranty on it because Nep- tune owns their foundry," Utility Supply Company meter specialist Ben Chris- tiansen said. "They're the only water meter company that does that. They're down in Tallassee, Ala., so every- thing is an American-made product." In addition, Klipsch point- ed out that the replacement of the utility's existing wa- ter meters with Neptune wa- ter meters would ultimately allow the city to read water meters remotely without re- quiring somebody to drive around with a laptop. "Ultimately, you would have an antenna or receiver, for lack of a better word, on our water towers," Klipsch said. "We would no longer be driving around town to do our readings. (City Clerk Tammy Selby) can sit right at her desk and look up any particular situation. That would be the ultimate goal." Klipsch told the board that the water meter re- placement program could be implemented without disrupting the city's cur- rent billing system. "We would actually be working with two sys- tems," Klipsch said. "In other words, we will start a program that will allow us to use our old system and the new system at the same time." "This register and meter are designed to read with walk-by, drive-by or the an- tennas in the air," Chris- tiansen said. "You don't ev- er have to change this to fit how you want to read your meters, nor do you have to invest in something new to read your meters." "In terms of functionality, you're not uprooting a sys- tem to a complete other way of doing things," Christian- sen added. "It's just main- taining the same way you're doing it with a different me- ter in the ground and a dif- ferent support system." Klipsch noted that the replacement of the utility's approximately 1,400 wa- ter meters could be spread out over a period of sever- al years. "This is not something that's going to happen over- night," Klipsch said. "I'm guessing it might take us five years." Klipsch said that he had recently spoken with Rock- port Mayor Gay Ann Harney regarding her city's experi- ence in replacing its exist- ing water meters with the Neptune water meters. "They decided to put them in over a five-year pe- riod, and they're going to be done in two or three years, so they've accelerated quite a bit," Klipsch said. "As to how long it would take us to get from Point A to completion, it's go- ing to depend on resourc- es," Klipsch said. "In other words, we don't enter into an agreement like this and all of a sudden we have to pay for all of it right now. We can add and build our sys- tem as time and money will permit." Klipsch said that the wa- ter meter replacement pro- gram would include approx- imately $16,500 in start-up costs – including $5,500 for software and $ 8,500 for a reading device – in addition to the cost of the meters. "They don't care if we buy one or if we buy 1,400 meters this year," Klipsch said. "We're having trouble with about 50 of them, re- ally, each month. And I ex- pect that number to grow each month." Klipsch noted that pur- chasing 48 of the Neptune meters – which are sold in quantities of six to a box – would cost the city $10,800. "So for us to get started in this transition, it would cost us $27,300 this year, if we put 48 in," Klipsch said. "Here again, we're consid- ering how do we get from here to finished," Klipsch added. "I don't know. Four years, five years, six years – it really doesn't make a lot of difference. It's going to be dependent upon how fast we can do this, how much we can afford to put into it each given year. But my point is, as we've been replacing some of the transponders on our old system, it's costing us more per meter than the brand new meter and tran- sponder complete." Klipsch subsequently made the motion to begin the transition to the Nep- tune meter system. "I don't know how many we'll do this year, but we can't finish until we start," Klipsch said. During the city's Board of Public Works and Safe- ty meeting immediately fol- lowing the water board's meeting, Klipsch said that the water meter replace- ment program would fund- ed, at least initially, by the water department. "At this point, we will be handling this with revenue from the water department, even though the wastewa- ter department does share with the billing, because it's based upon the volume of water, and the meter is a very important part of both the water and wastewater billing system," Klipsch said. "At this point, finan- cially speaking, the wa- ter department is in a bet- ter position to do this start- up than the wastewater (de- partment) is." In other action, the Pe- tersburg Common Council voted unanimously to ap- prove a resolution authoriz- ing the city's acceptance of an owner-occupied housing rehabilitation grant totaling $178,004. According to Jenny Dear- weater, of the Southern In- diana Development Com- mission, the grant would cover approximately seven homes. "If we have some that don't need as much mon- ey, you might be able to get maybe an extra one in there," Dearweater said. "But with half of the fund- ing that was requested, you should be able to get about seven." Dearweater said that SDIC will, in August, be- gin re-verifying the income of everyone who applied for the program. "I know it's April and we're talking August," Dearweater said. "We are working with four communi- ties that received the grant funding as well, so we kind of break everyone down." Dearweater added that the rehabilitation projects are scheduled to begin on Dec. 21, with the grant end date of Sept. 23, 2019. During the mayor's up- dates portion of the common council meeting, Klipsch is- sued a reminder to city res- idents to make sure that their house numbers are visible from the street. "People need to have their house numbers visible, not only for police and fire, but for the EMS, so when they get these addresses, they can recognize where the call's going, as well as our water department," Klipsch said. "We have situations where people call in a partic- ular address and they can't find the exact home because the house number's not vis- ible." "We did that a few years ago and it needs to be a point of interest again," Klipsch added. "It helps all the dif- ferent agencies that re- spond, whether it's an emer- gency or the people reading meters, for people to make those numbers visible." Continued from page 1 METERS A VFW firing squad does a silent 21-gun salute during an American Flag retirement ceremony Sat- urday at the VFW. VFW Commander Ray Stilwell speaks during the ceremony. VFW member Joe Cummings salutes during the playing of Taps by Boy Scout Justin Thorne. Scouts Cameron Smith and Dominick Garland present a folded flag to be retired to Petersburg May- or R.C. Klipsch. A-9