Council hears slow-moving Paysville/Haysville sewer project update; approves short appropriation request to continue financial work

Dubois County council members received an update on the regional sewer project that has been in planning for several years and agreed to advertise for an additional $15,000 appropriation to continue financial analysis and negotiations with the City of Jasper.

The council was told Baker Tilly (consultant) billed $5,370 on Sept. 22 for ongoing time-and-materials work assessing treatment costs and negotiating terms for tapping into Jasper’s wastewater plant. The transcript shows the council believes roughly $1,800 remained of an earlier $45,000 appropriation funded from ARPA; members agreed Baker Tilly’s invoice should be paid and that an appropriation of $15,000 would provide leeway for continued design, negotiation and financial analysis.

Council members described multiple outstanding issues: Jasper’s preliminary request that the county help pay for plant upgrades (a figure discussed informally in the meeting as about $4.5 million), uncertainty about Jasper’s final treatment rate for incoming flow, questions about how many customers would connect to the system, and how monthly customer rates would be structured. Members said the project originally aimed to include multiple communities but has been narrowed to address Haysville first; participants repeatedly said household sewer bills above roughly $125–$150 per month would be unaffordable for many residents.

The council also discussed timing and grant status: the county previously received a $1 million grant but members said Jasper had not yet secured required funding to build its new plant. The council asked for more consistent updates from Baker Tilly and the engineer, including a short emailed synopsis in advance of council meetings, and requested a future meeting with Baker Tilly and the project engineer to present final costs and options to the council and public.

Action: the council reached consensus to advertise a $15,000 appropriation to cover outstanding invoices and near-term consultant work so the county can continue negotiations and cost modeling. Members emphasized the need for clearer cost estimates before the council would consider construction funding and asked staff to press for a timeline from Jasper and the project consultant.

Why it matters: the sewer project addresses ongoing environmental and public-health concerns in Haysville and surrounding communities, and long-term rate and funding decisions would affect residents’ monthly bills and county capital obligations.