BISMARCK — The village board heard a presentation Tuesday night from David Kieser of Kieser Consulting of Indianapolis. Kieser’s firm is doing the environmental studies for the proposed wastewater treatment system for Bismarck.

According to Kieser, the village’s primary engineering firm, Beam, Longest & Neff of Indianapolis, for the sewer project has changed the proposed connection point with the Danville Sanitary District from West Newell Road to Bowman Avenue. In changing the connection point, the sewer will now run alongside Bowman Avenue from Bismarck to West Newell Road. According to the design plans, the village sewer system will connect to the Danville Sanitary System, which will save the village money by not having to construct a sewage treatment plant.

This will mean Kieser’s firm will have to do additional environmental studies along the proposed route for the sewer line.

After Kieser has completed the environmental studies, he will submit them to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development.

The village is seeking a grant for $150,000 for engineering fees from the Community Development Assistance Program administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development. The village also is seeking a construction loan from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development loan program to construct the proposed sewer system.

According Kieser, interest rates for the USDA Rural Development loan have fallen since the project was first designed. Current rates are 3.25 percent for loan periods up to 40 years.

Kieser said he was optimistic in receiving loan approval by February and hoped substantial work can begin on the sewer system in 2009.

The board approved a contract for $2000 for Kieser to perform the additional environmental studies.

In other action, trustees:

-- Heard a report from Karel Volpert, the village representative to Keep Vermilion County Beautiful. According to Volpert, the KVCB presented the Bismarck-Henning Grade School an award for the garden that it planted outside the school and it also presented the Bismarck Woman’s Club an award for the work it did in improving the Lion’s Club Park.

-- Approved line-item transfers from the contingency account to the Old National Bank line-of-credit account to cover the fi-nal payment on the line-of-credit for $100 and approved a transfer from the insurance contingency account to the general insurance account for $250.

-- Approved a special use request from Sharon Folkman to operate a dog kennel on her property which is located next to Gundy Cemetery. The planning commission had recommended the approval of Folkman’s request.



WHAT’S NEXT

The Bismarck Village Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 16 in the Bismarck United Methodist Church annex.