Superintendent Beck reports completion of 2-year long sewer project; final walk through to be held

For the past two years, the Fleming Town Council, maintenance employees and office staff have worked diligently on a major sewer project for the Town of Fleming and two weeks ago, the project was completed and the system was put into use. According to Maintenance Superintendent Keith Beck, the system is up and working properly and he expects a final walk through with all partnering agents later this month.

Beck gave the report to Fleming Town Council members during a Zoom meeting on Tuesday, May 12. He said the project’s generator has been tested and passed all necessary requirements and will power the sewer system in case of a power outage.

Beck invited council members to attend a final walk through of the project along with representatives from funding sources and the contractor and engineering companies on May 28. He also noted that Town staff are open to taking Fleming residents on tours as well should anyone be interested in checking out the project.

Fleming Town Treasurer Clay Gorman said work on the project started in 2018. Final construction costs came in at just over $2 million; the overall project totaled just over $3.1 million.

Plans are to host some sort of celebration for the project’s completion when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. The Council discussed celebrating, in some fashion, during Fleming’s Fall Festival slated for early September.

Beck also spoke to the Council about a number of other projects within his department, including a recent water main break. Beck said a contractor broke the line, however, he nor the contractor knew that it was there. He said the water line was not on the Town’s map. When the line broke, Beck said the best thing to do to fix it was to shut off water to the entire Town.

Once the line was repaired, he said the Town of Fleming issued a boil order for its residents until tests from the Northeast Colorado Health Department came back clear. He said Fleming was on a boil order for just under 24 hours.

Beck also updated the Council on a recent issued with a transformer at the Town’s primary well. He said the transformer blew, forcing him to switch to the backup well in the meantime. A new transformer has been ordered at a cost of $7,000. Beck said it should be here and installed within a week.

The situation with the transformer, the Superintendent added, is the cause of some cloudy looking, or bubbly, water at times for residents.

Later in the meeting, council members heard an update from DeeAnn Christopher, who had been tasked with gathering information on repairing Fleming’s main street. She said plans are in place to draft a formal document with official numbers, but preliminary research suggests it would cost the Town about $2 million to place an overlay over the existing main street in its entire length as well as install ADA compliant access to sidewalks and new curb and gutter.

The Council plans to continue to look a numbers to repair the street as well as options to complete the project in phases.

Before adjourning, the Council discussed ways to honor the graduating Class of 2020 as well as the class members who will be promoting from eighth grade this year since celebrations have been put on hold due to the current pandemic.

Council members voted to adopt two proclamations; one declaring Sunday, May 17 as Class of 2020 Day and the other as Tuesday, May 19 as Class of 2024 Day. The town clerk will print off copies of the proclamations for council members to sign and they will be distributed to members of each respective class.

In other business, the Council:

• Heard an update on the Fleming School/Community Library. Mayor Pro Tem Stefan Betley said the library has been open, with visitor restrictions, on Tuesday when students pick up work packets from teachers. He said Librarian Sandy Kinzie plans to draw up a proposal for this year’s summer reading program and review it with the health department. Betley said she plans to do more things outside, provide prepared snacks and use more take home activities for the program;

• Beck said new Town employee Rob Hobbs will attend a total of six electrical training sessions over the next few months. Total the trainings will cost the Town $340;

• Mayor Sue Einspahr said she has received communication with a gentleman who would like to help the Town of Fleming with code enforcement. She said the individual will do the same for Crook and Iliff. Plans are to continue discussion with the individual, who also works with the Logan County Sheriff’s Posse;

• Einspahr said NextEra, the company proposing to construction a new wind farm in the Fleming area, has expressed interest in donating money to the Town of Fleming for recreational use. She said he met with Betley and others who would like to see a new playground at the north park. The Council gave her the go-ahead to continue research on the project;

• The Council voted to add two line items to the November ballot this year including the question to release term limits for council members as well as giving the Town of Fleming the option to publish ordinances by title only when available;

• Betley gave a presentation on a possible new website for the Town of Fleming that would also give the option to have a notification system. He said the system could be handy in the situation as the boil order that was put in place a few weeks ago. Annual cost for the website, users and maintenance would be about $5,000. The website could also host the monthly Fleming Focus. Plans are to take a deeper look at the budget to see if it is something that could be feasible.