A more thought out five year plan for the village, as well as if the village should continue to process their own water and the intentions of a business in the community, were big items of discussion at the Feb. 10 Evansville Village Board meeting.
The five year plan was first brought up when Trustee Pam Bruegemann was giving the water/sewer report. She highlighted work that had been done, work/repairs that needed to be done and a new meter costing $5,600 that they needed to get in order to be compliant with EPA testing.
“We need to find a way to get out of the water business,” Trustee Kenny Kempfer said. “We can’t keep raising the bills. We need to seriously look into it (other options). People in town can’t take another hit on their water bills.”
He elaborated that water bills for residents keep going up, but it is due to the increasing cost of processing water and complying with continuously changing regulations. And there’s not a lot of customers to help spread out the increased costs. “We need to take a hard look at alternatives.”
Trustee Justen Kempfer agreed, pointing out that they’re constantly buying and/or repairing water pumps. “It (the village’s water account) will never get in the black,” he said.
“We need to put it on the five year plan,” offered Trustee Joy Kessler. “We need to quit talking about it and do something.”
For more from the Evansville Village Board meeting, please see this week’s print edition.