Board approves Commonwealth task orders for wastewater help and wellhead protection update

The Board of Public Works and Safety authorized task orders with engineering consultant Commonwealth for wastewater permitting support and for a five-year wellhead protection plan update to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM).

City utilities staff said Commonwealth will help with the city's MPDS permit, industrial pretreatment matters and other wastewater needs under a contract capped at $50,000; staff said the contract includes a breakdown of billing levels and that the city reissues similar task orders when the cap is reached. Staff also described a separate task order for Commonwealth to prepare a wellhead protection plan five-year update to IDEM, including mapping and coordination with Madison State Hospital.

Staff told the board the wellhead protection planning effort began decades ago and that the city submitted an earlier plan in 2018 that IDEM did not finish reviewing until 2020, a timeline that has affected the current update schedule. Staff gave the task orders identifiers as task order 2025-2 and task order 2025-3 (as read into the record). A board member moved to approve the task orders, another seconded, and the board voted in favor.

Commonwealth was described in the record as an engineering firm that has assisted the city for more than 40 years on similar matters. Staff said the wellhead update will include an outreach/planning meeting to be scheduled later this summer or early fall and that Commonwealth will prepare the mapping and paperwork for the Madison State Hospital as part of the effort.