Aldermen Will Take Bids For Aerators For Treatment Plant

Mayor Larry Hart

By Jack Gurner
Reporter

WATER VALLEY – Mayor Larry Hart called a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen on Monday to get approval to advertise for four mobile aerators for the sewage treatment plant.

Hart told Aldermen that Steve Pond, the city’s environmentalist, had digested the samplings and data sent to him by Water and Sewer Department Superintendent Morris Surrette.

“He has come to a conclusion. We’re definitely going to need more air in our lagoons down there and probably about four fans to start with,” the Mayor said. “They’ll be mobile and (we’ll) move them around as we need to.”

Pond is branch manager for MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. in Richmond, Virginia. Air quality and pollution are among the company’s specialties.

Pond has worked with the city and the poultry plant in the past, Hart told Aldermen at the September board meeting. At the time, the Mayor said that Pond did a good job of analyzing what was going on in the sewage lagoon system.

All four Aldermen present voted to advertise for the mobile aerators.

Hart then closed the meeting for an executive session to discuss a personnel matter. That portion of the meeting lasted just over ten minutes.

When the board returned to regular session, Hart said that Aldermen had accepted the resignation of Patrol Officer Lan Smith, a three-year veteran of the Water Valley Police Department.

Present at the meeting were Aldermen Donald Gray, Bobby Cox, Phillip Tallant, and Larry Bell, who is recovering from back surgery. The next regular session of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010.