Water-sewer plans for Houba expansion
By Gloria Reed
Culver � Houba Manufacturing is expanding, adding 50 to 55 jobs, and will need to connect to town water and sewer plants.
Town Manager Jeff Sheridan said talks between the town and Houba for the possible connection came about when he toured the facility recently. Sheridan toured the plant to familiarize himself with the company as part of his position as town manager.
Connection to the town�s services would benefit the company greatly as it expands the type of chemical products it plans to produce.
John Guenin, plant engineer, said the company has recently received licensing from the Food and Drug Administration Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to produce a different schedule class of drugs.
The new licensing from the DEA was given to Houba to be used at the existing plant on Ind. 17 outside of Culver.
With the new licensing comes a need for town water and sewer services.
�With the DEA licensing, the company is looking at this long term,� Guenin said. �In the past we have really needed access to the city�s sewers.�
Houba has offered to split the town�s cost of obtaining an engineering survey to see what is needed to upgrade the town�s system.
The survey would include what is needed to upgrade the system to serve South Shore residents and the residents on the town�s north end.
�Where we are at right now is the company has verbally committed to support the project substantially,� Guenin said.
Sheridan said the plant is required to have city water and sewer for the DEA licensing.
�They are willing to commit out of pocket for the public infrastructure improvement,� Sheridan said.
Sheridan said the project would also benefit town residents without potentially using taxpayer money. He has already applied to the Indiana Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to begin the process for an application for grant monies for the project.
�I�ve gotten a significant verbal interest in the process to apply from the DOC,� he said. �They are very interested in projects with high paying jobs. Indiana was last in high tech jobs in the nation, so there is a real concern there.�
Sheridan has submitted an executive summary and has been invited to submit a pre-application to the economic development administration. He said every project the EDA looks at out of 100, 20 percent are invited to present a pre-application. The next stage is a full application.
�Out of those submitting a full application, 90 percent get funded,� he said. �If accepted, the EDA may pay up to 50 percent of the project cost.�
As a part of the project, Houba would agree to annexation which would greatly increase the town�s net assessed valuation. That increase could potentially reduce the town�s tax rate. The annexation can be done which would not exclude any property owners who does not wish to be annexed, Sheridan said.
He said the project is twofold: One: to serve Houba and include annexation. Two: the customers would benefit improvement by serving Houba and the town customers by providing better water pressure through either a new water tower or other upgrades to the system through grants.
�A new water tower would provide a huge benefit to the citizens,� Sheridan said as an example.
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