[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6611701,"mediaKeyId","2893085-4ab1f44cdfc3fcf45500fde0e1462e0e","parentId",2893085,"title","Votes at a glance: Angola Council rejects Pokagon bids, adopts RFP ordinance, approves engineering supplement and several abatements","audioSeconds",4870,"startMs",223000,"endMs",5093000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2893085-4ab1f44cdfc3fcf45500fde0e1462e0e&start=223&end=5093","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2893085-4ab1f44cdfc3fcf45500fde0e1462e0e/thumbnail_223000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6611701/Angola-City/Steuben-County/Indiana/Votes-at-a-glance-Angola-Council-rejects-Pokagon-bids-adopts-RFP-ordinance-approves-engineering-supplement-and-several-abatements","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6611701-bde9dbfccfb59167960678d8ab88a7c5/orig.mp4?Expires=1771171675&Signature=nP9v6tlgj2ogZO89dfJbEQGeVbxMxBPLjG6lolOkY6WTsBKdJk~Q8iJQU-bMVw63jWc4BIczh8bjoIDm-fqTkN4MwbhRONq8aOXG59cpZvTdLMTmOBVS~1xH4AyCiRYkw1QSzNYkDtaGf762V~r5Rspr4jVugVRONZ3~WqefPELtJqPfnWbM5XpP9es1CDFbBWaNKoa3x0ZTSNACV9g4jmI4Wvjfdu0xNkeItNfPvJcNKgKebpiBVgLRQ3ncAGmy2GJlBZpgcPIn2eBqjKb5moRjyGHABXN87M0u3vkQJWfXsrSr4-8f2zpVdJt6SdFdW~zoMekt3t-GdlVYlFuEiw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","City of Angola, CA","date","2025-04-08T01:21:44.1Z","article","The Angola City Council unanimously rejected any and all bids for the Pokagon Infrastructure Improvement Project (divisions 1 and 2) and approved a series of routine business items, including an ordinance authorizing procurement procedures and several findings of substantial compliance for local property and personal-property abatement agreements.

Key actions: the council adopted Ordinance No. 17722025, which adopts procedures related to Indiana Code 5-23 for requests for proposals and qualifications and related actions; the council waived its three-reading rule to consider all readings the same night and approved the ordinance on a voice vote. The council also approved Supplemental Agreement No. 2 for professional engineering services with Butler, Fairman & Seifer, Inc., for the Pokagon Trail project in the amount of $30,450.

Economic development items: Council members reviewed and voted to find several entities in substantial compliance with statements of benefits tied to tax abatements. The items taken up in the meeting and the council's conclusions included:

- Barrel Coatings / Braille Coding USA LLC (transcript names varied): staff recommended finding the business in substantial compliance with its statement of benefits; the council approved the finding.

- JK Ice Ventures, Inc. (personal property resolution cited in the meeting): staff reported added employees and equipment; the council found the company in substantial compliance.

- Terrace Place Apartments LLC (real-estate improvement abatement for a 10-year period referenced in the meeting): staff recommended the project was complete and in compliance; the council approved the finding.

- Precision Edge (referred to in the meeting variously as Precision Edge Surgical Products LLC / Precision Edge Vertical Products LLC): staff reported the business exceeded job commitments and the council approved a finding of substantial compliance for the abatements discussed.

Fiscal items: the council approved claims and payable allowances as presented by the administration. The meeting record shows general approval by voice vote on line-item claims and fund transfers presented at the meeting.

Several of these votes were carried by unanimous voice vote; the transcript does not show a roll-call tally for each motion.

","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","2025.04.07 Angola Common Council","oneSentenceSummary","The Angola City Council unanimously rejected any and all bids for the Pokagon Infrastructure Improvement Project and approved an ordinance authorizing procurement procedures under Indiana Code 5-23, a $30,450 supplemental engineering agreement for the Pokagon Trail project, and several tax-abatement compliance findings.","taxTitle","Angola City, Steuben County, Indiana","taxId",52121,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6611706,"Angola City Council weighs legal route over five-year compliance plan for wastewater chloride limits",4292,715000,5007000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2893085-4ab1f44cdfc3fcf45500fde0e1462e0e&start=715&end=5007","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2893085-4ab1f44cdfc3fcf45500fde0e1462e0e/thumbnail_715000.jpg","/articles/6611706/Angola-City/Steuben-County/Indiana/Angola-City-Council-weighs-legal-route-over-five-year-compliance-plan-for-wastewater-chloride-limits","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6611706-23e7035242e8332733b60371fcc3ec78/orig.mp4?Expires=1771171675&Signature=Ol3~OjcZMKlff8IO6ihIMKZuYaMyIZXZONK8BPZ1ZsuDu8oA2EUIjNgto7aWiSDrSi0C8a2FX4JutSWvwllByFk0CHhVuNKvqCpatytRbCHIEhP5u7FNNFXRp4ZcjjjokQCwAi2IxtlMBFdZWHNTlVF3YgvejSxkDGgMfnv~d~svJrf3m1LOD74fpVujrwHFJC2tAW8uyZMaWDrMUtThtq-y-VfW9EspLnn780XoYJhpApAQdjk67kcviGj21VQR95r-4Vu-9XnMKHDBZNoSM5dkO9ojBsyFr8JdodD2hLdE7orIcpCdlKVurjGYkna3y9FrjbbvJXyLdTxQ507MHQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Craig Williams, a former superintendent of the Angola Wastewater Treatment Plant, told the Angola City Council that meeting numeric chloride limits in the plant's discharge permit would require costly, technically difficult steps that still might not achieve long-term compliance.

Williams summarized nearly two decades of work, saying the plant has long operated under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit administered by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and that Angola is currently the only Indiana permit holder with an individual chloride variance. He told the council that engineering studies and outreach efforts have not produced a reliable path to meet the water-quality-based effluent limit IDEM calculates for the plant.

The issue matters because IDEM has signaled that EPA Region 5 is unlikely to approve future variance renewals, and Angola's current variance and permit cycle approach renewal in May. Council members said the potential capital and operating costs could impose a significant burden on residents and local businesses if the city is required to build and operate energy- and chemical-intensive treatment such as full reverse-osmosis filtration.

Williams described the technical challenge: wastewater treatment does not remove chlorides, and roughly half the chloride load to Angola's system comes from water-softening processes, he said. He summarized other source estimates he reported to the council: about 20% from residential wastewater, about 15% from industrial or commercial processes and the remainder from other sources. He said three study pathways presented by GEI Consultants were vetted with IDEM in 2023 and were not accepted as likely to be approved by EPA.

On costs, Williams cited a 2019 engineering estimate of about $12 million for some treatment options (he said that figure had only a national inflation adjustment applied and could be meaningfully higher now) and pointed to engineering estimates that annual operation-and-maintenance costs for a reverse-osmosis system could be roughly $1.3 million a year. He said those O&M costs alone would be a very large portion of the plant's current annual O&M budget.

Williams outlined four broad pathways the city could pursue: (1) reduce chloride sources (including municipal and private water softeners), (2) change municipal water-softening processes, (3) capture and treat softener brines separately, or (4) install reverse-osmosis or electrodialysis at the wastewater facility. He told the council none of the first three options guarantees continuous compliance because the city cannot control all private and industrial sources, and the fourth option would be capital- and energy-intensive and create additional waste streams.

He also described a potential regulatory path used elsewhere: a focused Use Attainability Analysis (UAA) or limited-use designation for the specific 2.9-mile stretch of the HD Wood Ditch downstream of the plant. That path would seek to recognize stream characteristics that limit the ability to meet statewide water-quality criteria. Williams said the city previously proposed similar approaches and that IDEM did not accept the options in 2023, but he and staff think there may be new opportunities through continued technical and legal engagement.

After discussion and questions from Mayor Martin and council members, the council gave a consensus direction to the administration to begin consultation with environmental counsel to explore legal options, rather than immediately committing to a five-year compliance plan that would include capital expenditures. Council Member Dunne explicitly recommended against entering a five-year compliance plan; Council Member McNeriff also favored pursuing the legal route; Council Member Coffey signaled agreement with those positions. Administration staff said they already have a relationship with GEI Consultants and can arrange an initial attorney consultation quickly.

Next steps: staff said they will obtain a budget and scope estimate from environmental counsel and report back at the next council meeting so the council can decide whether to formally pursue a regulatory appeal or to accept a permit-based compliance plan. The permit renewal process and the city's variance timing make a decision time-sensitive, the administration said.

","City wastewater adviser Craig Williams told the council that technical fixes to meet chloride limits would be extremely costly and might not produce durable compliance. Council members gave consensus to pursue legal consultation rather than immediately commit to a five-year compliance plan as the plant's permit renewal approaches in May.","actionData","errors"]

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Votes at a glance: Angola Council rejects Pokagon bids, adopts RFP ordinance, approves engineering supplement and several abatements

Angola City Council weighs legal route over five-year compliance plan for wastewater chloride limits