Friday, 08 December 2006 08:22

Ione City Council Looks To Addition Of New Engineer For Waste Water Projects

This week the city of Ione ceremonially swore in three new city council leaders; those being the top three vote getters in the recent election. Lee Ard, Jeff Barnhart, and Jim Ulm were welcomed warmly by Ione citizens, with a room full of onlookers extending all the way to the doorway.

slide10The first order of business was to elect a new mayor and vice mayor. The new council elected Jerry Sherman as mayor and councilmember Andrea Bonham as vice mayor. Mayor Sherman, and Vice Mayor Bonham then presented awards of appreciation to the three outgoing city council members. The three, Gerry Podesta, Jennifer Germolus-Dean, and Gary Thomas, were gratified for their service and giving four years of their life to the city of Ione.

The council then discussed hiring a new company to prepare the environmental impact report for the city's waste water treatment plant expansion project. Previously, the entire expansion of pond 7 and the construction of pond 8 was in the hands of the engineering company Eco-Logic, however the city council approved the EIR portion of the project to now be completed by engineering firm MHA.

slide12City Administrator George Lambert told the council, "Staff feels its best to get some new views on our wastewater issues because this has been a complicated process. Though this is a very narrow scope of work that MHA is doing, I feel it is important to make the change." Eco-Logic is still the lead engineer for the waste water expansion project. MHA has been given 6 weeks to prepare the final proposal for the EIR.

The council then approached an item requesting approval for the construction work done on pond 7; stating that it is complete, and signing the check for the contractor of the pond. The completion of the pond puts the city in compliance with state code.

slide14Citizen Jim Scully addressed the council telling them that the work on pond seven is far from done, approaching them with pictures and documentation to back his claim. The Council told him that this item is not checking to see if the work is correct, but that it is finished as the engineers engineered it. George Lambert reported that the work on pond 7 had been certified by the city's engineer Roark Webber, inspected by Eco-Logic engineers, and has been looked at by the state. Lambert states, "There's not much else you, as a city council, can do. It has been inspected, and approved by all the engineers." The city voted unanimously to accept the work on pond seven as completed.