Council hears growing stormwater and wastewater concerns as assets, capacity strain require planning

Town manager Carmen briefed the council on repeated stormwater problems in the Maple Crest subdivision, describing collapsed driveway pipes, inadequate swales and the absence of curbed conveyance in older neighborhoods. Staff said a previous dirt regrading had worsened conveyance and proposed engaging an engineer to GPS/GIS‑map storm assets and produce an asset‑management plan. "Let's get them mapped. Let's identify our problem areas. Let's get some prioritization of what those projects look like," Carmen said, and she planned to take the item to the stormwater board for project prioritization and cost estimates.

Public works and wastewater staff reported an IDEM inspection that rated the collection system "non‑satisfactory" due to ongoing inflow and infiltration (I&I) and assigned a moderate non‑satisfactory for maintenance related to a raw well issue that has since been rectified. Wastewater staff said the system handled 31.66 million gallons for the month (about 122% of monthly design) and an annual average near 95.2%, data councilmembers said could constrain approvals for new subdivisions or large apartment proposals without capacity improvements.

Council directed staff to pursue realistic, prioritized fixes (including temporary shoulder/stone repairs on certain roads) and to pursue engineering options that balance cost and constructability, such as open‑ditch versus full piped solutions for large drainage stretches. Staff also described coordination efforts with county drainage authorities and the school for potential shared projects and emphasized the need for private easements where practical to protect town utility assets.