FORTVILLE — Town officials have enlisted a construction company and engineering firm to lead them through a project for a new water treatment plant.
After interviewing several engineering firms, Fortville leaders recommended Orleans-based Reynolds Construction and Indianapolis-based GRW Engineers, which both specialize in water treatment plants. The town council voted unanimously to proceed with the companies earlier this month.
Built in 1955, Fortville’s water plant has been updated over the years, but is getting too old to operate for much longer.
“The plant really is at the end of its life cycle,” said Doug Tischbein of Reynolds Construction at a recent town council meeting.
The new homes being built in Fortville are all the more reason for a new and improved plant, he added.
“You got a lot of growth, not only today, but also forecasted,” Tischbein said.
Reynolds Construction proposes that the town enter into a build-operate-transfer agreement, through which the company would build, own and operate the plant for a time before transferring it to the town.
Tischbein said that path would come with scheduling and funding advantages for the town. It would accelerate the timeline for the project, allow plans to be completed about a year earlier than traditional approaches, and he estimated it would save the town close to $500,000. It would allow for financing to be secured on the open market, which can be obtained more quickly and where interest rates are currently equal to or lower than the Indiana Finance Authority and State Revolving Fund, he added.
“When we turn over the keys, we guarantee that the system’s going to work,” Tischbein also said. “If it doesn’t, then it’s our responsibility to make it right.”
Joe Renner, Fortville town manager, told the Daily Reporter that he hopes the town’s water rates won’t need to be raised to fund the new plant. Total cost for the project hasn’t been established.
“That’s always our goal, but we don’t know where things are going to land until the design is done and the cost estimate is completed and everything,” Renner said.
A schedule in Tischbein’s presentation to the town council indicates a study will be conducted on the town’s water needs and that design work will span from April to July.
The new plant will go near where the current one is off Church Street near Memorial Park.
“We’re going to try to build there, leaving the old plant up and running until the new plant is ready to go, then we can switch them out and tear the old one down,” Renner said.
