MOUNT VERNON — On Thursday morning, the Knox County Board of Commissioners met with Ron Simpson, superintendent of Water and Wastewater, and Jason Figgins, assistant superintendent of Water and Wastewater. Simpson and Figgins discussed a number of items with the commissioners.
An item which occupied the majority of the discussion was the Water and Wastewater Department’s appeal letters to the Ohio EPA concerning two locations in the county. Simpson said he is appealing five items of the EPA recommendations at the Little Jelloway plant, and three of the EPA recommendations at the Shannon Farm treatment area.
EPA recommendations at the Little Jelloway plant include adding tests for copper, residue, hardness and phosphorus, as well as a 24-hour test. The 24-hour test involves taking samples over the course of 24 hours; current testing can be completed within about two to three hours.
Recommendations at the Shannon Farm location included testing for nitrogen and amonia levels in winter, as well as daily inspections. Simpson has appealed the recommendations, citing time and funding constraints in carrying out the additional tests.
Other items Simpson reported on included the ongoing sludge removal from the lagoon near Howard, and the rehabilitation of well No. 3 near Howard. According to Simpson, both of these projects should be finished within the next few weeks. However, there was more sludge than was previously estimated, and Simpson recommended that removal continue, even though this would put the project slightly over budget.
Simpson also reported he was beginning work on a proposal for a larger water tank at Apple Valley.
On Thursday afternoon, the commissioners took part in a DKMM Solid Waste District Policy Subcommittee meeting. The main item for discussion was the part-time placement of the AlleyCat recycling trailers in the county to increase their cost effectiveness. After some discussion, a motion was approved to halt recycling services in Brown Township due to the limited amount of recyclables that were picked up throughout 2007. However, Commissioner Bob Wise proposed the possibility of leaving an older recycling trailer there for a more extended period of time, which would not require as much fuel to place and remove the trailer.
Under the current schedule, the trailer is placed in Brown Township for one week at a time. All of the subcommittee members present agreed to take this into consideration.
The final meeting for the commissioners Thursday afternoon was with Knox County Sheriff David Barber. Barber presented the commissioners with several documents that required their signatures, including a renewal of the contract for the Knox County Jail to house prisoners from Fairfield County. Barber also received the commissioners’ signatures to proceed in the acquisition of an electronic fingerprint scanning system, which is funded by a grant through Franklin County, the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program. The system will allow the Knox County Sheriff’s Office to share fingerprint data throughout the entire state; the state database is connected to a national database, according to Barber.
