Fremont hearing Tuesday
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 16, 2012 1:46 PM
FREMONT -- Fremont residents will have a chance Tuesday night to comment on and ask questions about a $750,000 federal Community Development Block Grant the town wants to apply for that would be used to make improvements to its water system.
The improvements, including new water lines and fire hydrants, are for a section of town between Dickerson and North streets on the east side of the railroad tracks.
The hearing will start at 7:30 p.m. at the town hall.
The town is currently in the process of preparing the grant application. Along with the required public hearing, the town also is required to conduct an income survey in that section of town.
There are 225 houses in that section and the survey could begin this week, said Town Manager Kerry McDuffie.
"I know a lot of people do not like to give out that information and I understand that, but the federal government wants to ensure that the money goes to low and moderate income," he said. "I am sure Fremont will qualify."
If approved, the town will have to supply a 5 percent match of $37,500.
The money is already contained in the recently approved budget.
The application deadline is Aug. 31 and it will be sometime this fall before the town will know whether or not it has been funded, he said.
"We will make improvements to water lines, improvements to hydrants and water vales," McDuffie said. "Our water system was originally put in around 1907 and 1908. We have a lot of old lead joint pipes. We have leaks."
Also, some of the older fire hydrants have 2.5-inch hookups compared to the 5-inch one now being used by the fire department, he said.
Along with making improvements to the hydrants, new ones will be added, McDuffie said. Those improvements and additions should help the fire department improve its protection rating which should translate into an improved fire insure rating and lower insurance premiums, he said.
In other business Tuesday, the town is expected to sign a water contract with Wayne Water Districts. The town has purchased water from the district for 15 years under a verbal agreement. It will be the first time there has been a written contract, he said.
Other items include updates on appointments to the town Planning Board and Board of Adjustments.
The town board also will look at updating the town's alarm ordinance. The ordinance was adopted several years ago to address an increasing number of false fire alarms.
The ordinance was modeled after one in another community that also included fines for false police alarms. McDuffie said that town officials do not want to discourage people from calling police and will look at removing that section from the ordinance.