WILTON — Selectmen on Tuesday unanimously approved a warrant article for phase two of the wastewater plant upgrade.
The decision followed a hearing that no one from the public attended.
Voters will decide on the $4. 9 million project at the June town meeting.
Clayton Putnam, wastewater plant superintendent, and William Olver from Olver Associates Inc., environmental engineers, who have designed the upgrade, discussed the project with the board.
If the town doesn’t accept the second phase, the town could lose control over the project, Putnam said. The Department of Environmental Protection could move in with basically a court order to make improvements to the aging facility. Current grant funding, which would provide 45 percent of the cost, may also be lost, he said.
The town has already accepted phase one, including an upgrade of all 31 pump stations and some initial work at the treatment plant at a cost of $4,696,000. Construction is expected to begin in July and be finished by the end of 2013.
The second phase includes all the work at the treatment plant, now 32 years old and way beyond its 20-year design life. The second phase cost is $4,962,000 with construction expected to start in the spring of 2013.
When funding for the project was tight it was split into two phases. The first phase involves work on the collection system, and the second phase work on the treatment plant, he said.
Wilton sewer customers, numbering about 944, have not seen a rate increase for many years. Rates remain well below the average rates of other communities, Olver told the board.
With an annual payment of $201,000 for phase one on a $3.5 million loan, customers would see $53.33 per quarter added to their bill for the first phase. The second phase loan would require an annual payment of $168,000 a year, adding another $44.50 per quarter to the typical sewer bill.
The average $265 per year bill for a sewer customer would rise to a projected $656 per year.
The town has to vote on borrowing the money for the project, Putnam said. The article will appear on the June warrant.
In other business, Selectman Tom Saviello and School Board Director Angela LeClair, whose terms expire this year, have filed nomination papers to run again. Some people took papers out to run but have not returned them, Town Manager Rhonda Irish said.
No one has submitted papers for Paul Gooch’s selectmen’s seat, she added. Gooch announced last month that he would resign as of the June town meeting with plans to move away. There are two years left in his term.
Nomination papers for the open positions are available at the town office and are due back at the town office by 5 p.m. on April 30.
abryant@sunjournal.com
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