Burnside residents get answers to odor woes

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November 3, 2009

Engineers talk about smelly sewer station

By CHRIS HARRIS, CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Tue Nov 03, 2009, 11:22 PM EST

The Burnside City Council sought to provide some answers for frustrated residents with a particularly foul problem at Monday’s November meeting.

Citizens living in the Cumberland Heights area of Burnside, just of Ky. 90, let the council know last month that they’d had it with the smell of the city’s sewer pump station — located right there at the entrance to the subdivision.

The sewery stench — particularly odious during warmer weather — had even caused some to consider selling their houses according to Oris Stanton, who spoke in October on behalf of the neighborhood’s homeowners association.

In an effort to assure citizens that something was being done, and to potentially arrive at a solution for the problem, repres-entatives from GRW engineers came to Monday’s council meeting. GRW, a regional firm headquartered in Lexington, engineered Burnside’s sewer system, which finally came to fruition in 2006 after many years of planning and fundraising.

One possible solution, according to GRW’s Alan Bryan: The sewer system isn’t complete yet. A section of Cumberland Heights, and a large area north of Ky. 90, has been waiting on sewer access. The city has now secured the necessary grant money to finish up the project, and the 75 or so additional sewer customers (currently about 400 Burnside residents use the sewer system) should help increase the flow of wastewater, which in turn will effect the smell.

That’s because when the sewage doesn’t move, it effectively gets stagnant and begins to stink. City officials said last month that they’ve tried to keep it flowing as often as possible, but it hasn’t been often enough. Part of the problem is the large containment unit, where it collects while the pumps seldom run, reducing healthy flow. Councilor Craig Richardson suggested reducing the size of the holding facility if GRW’s other solutions don’t work, although GRW’s Laura Gilkerson said regulations require a unit of that size currently.

Aeration will also play a role, said the GRW representatives. The wastewater needs oxygen to kill “all the bad bugs” that cause the smell, said Gilkerson. Pumping fresh air into the system should help alleviate the problem.

New sewer manager Richard Troxell, who was officially introduced at the meeting, also said that they’d try washing the pump down with more regularity — it’s recommended to be done every three months or so — and changing the charcoal filters which help eliminate odor. The filters are expensive, and Mayor Chuck Fourman told the Commonwealth Journal Tuesday that he had been in meetings that could lead to the city using a more expensive chemical that could potentially eliminate the need for the charcoal filters altogether.

Troxell said the sewer water was a “dark brown” color when he looked at it, and it should ideally be a “light brown” to avoid the kind of problems Cumberland Heights residents have experiences. He added that last month, the system averaged a flow of about 37,000 gallons per day — not a lot. “It’s just not pumping that much through it,” said Troxell.

That’s why the completed sewer should help K. Carrender Construction will likely begin work on the six-month project within a couple of weeks, meaning when summer rolls back around, the odor dilemma should be solved, or at least alleviated. Through the winter months, engineers expect it won’t be ad problematic.

It should also rely more on a gravity system as opposed to grinder pump flow, which is primarily what Burnside uses now. Gravity was seen as too costly at first because of the city’s hilly terrain, said Gilkerson, but Fourman expects that gravity technology, which keeps the flow moving a a more regular pace, will be better utilized in “phase 2” of the sewer project.

Councilor Dean Lovins, who lives in the area affected by the smell, was pleased with what he heard at the meeting. “I’m sure people would like to know ... that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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