By: James Pruitt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
The village of Metamora is seeking a new with shorter terms and lower interest to pay off nearly $1 million in bonds from the USDA.
The village has 31 years left on the federal loan at 4.13 percent interest on $911,400. By seeking a 20-year loan at 3.25 percent, the village could save $388,610 in interest.
Fiscal Officer Susan Clendenin has been working with Metamora State Bank on a new loan and the Village Council gave her its blessing to proceed.
Clendenin will see if a portion of the loan could be paid off with new bonds and to see if there are even lower interest rates available.
The village will be collecting grass clippings and weeds if residents place them in a container suitable to dumping (i.e. trash can, box). The containers cannot weigh more than 50 pounds.
The village will look into finding a chipper to rent or hire for brush. The cost to take brush over Lammon Brothers is rising.
The village will be accepting bids for sidewalk concrete grinding in the business district of town. An alternative is to rent a grinder for $200 a day.
The village may fill in the Clear Well at the water plant. The village could cut power or look for fill dirt to cover it up.
Street Supervisor Chip Vance said the clear well is not in the building up front. The clear well has a locked door and a person would have to climb in through a 30-inch hole to enter. All other openings to the clear well have been concreted over. It is all underground. There are large pits in the actual building and this is where the security is in place and needed.
The village is going to rent a jet truck to help apply chemicals to a sewer line to eliminate roots. Vance has been to one house five or six times for the sewer across from the train station.
It has all plastic pipe from the house to the creek and weeds and roots keep coming into it.
There is also a line on Swanton Street that had roots coming through it before crews brought in a cutter to handle.
By using a jet truck, a “sock” may be pulled through it with a chemical that foams up and should kill all the roots. Twenty gallons of the chemical costs about $1,700.
Using the jet truck with the root cutter costs about $1,500 for one trip.
Council directed Vance to see if there are communities who have used it and get their review of the chemical and/or check for another supplier. Council has previously approved getting the jet truck once a year to do a section of village.
In other news:
The next work meeting for Park-O-Rama is scheduled for 7 p.m. July 12 at the village office. Richard Sauerlender is working on kids’ games. Gary Loar checking on the Fire Department offering games for kids. Justin Kreischer said he knows someone in a band that will play music for a few hours.
The probes put in by Jones & Henry indicates the village has infiltration on Garnsey and Park streets.
“We can’t check more out until we get more rain,” Council member John Hudik said. “We know there is infiltration but need to determine from where. We need to look at it when it is raining.”
The village is interested in selling the motors at the water plant. Vance has taken a picture of the motor plate specs. Staff can then research the approximate value and check with Swanton and Delta to see if they are interested in purchasing them or if Metamora should advertise them for sale on the internet.
The next council meetings will be July 25 and Aug. 8 and 22.
James Pruitt may be reached at
publisher@thevillagereporter.com