The Jennings Northwest Regional Utilities, commonly referred to by its acronym “JNRU”, has rarely, if ever, been identified (or recognized) as a “success” in the world of regional sewer districts (RSDs). The simple reason for this is that once JNRU was formed, a little over ten years ago, JNRU didn’t communicate well with the public. Patience and better communication skills could have united the community rather than dividing it over planned improvement projects, which is what put JNRU on the map as an RSD with some of the most difficult problems being faced among RSDs in the State of Indiana.
JNRU’s problems revolved around plans to expand sewers out into the County and building a new wastewater treatment plant (WWTP); both of which spent years entangled with litigation among its customers and other governmental agencies within the county. Construction funds were spent on litigation rather than the new infrastructure and no new customers were added to help repay new debt. To further complicate matters, the WWTP design was flawed and process tanks began to freeze in the winter and became damaged and unusable. IDEM eventually put the WWTP and the original collection system under an “Agreed Order” demanding repairs. (Still not sounding very successful, well it gets better.)
JNRU completed four separate preliminary engineering reports (PERs) that address existing sewer problems and needs for sewer expansion. None of these plans are financially feasible for our customers, which has taken JNRU’s board to the point of threatening to resign unless they receive some form of financial assistance. The JNRU board collectively passed a resolution in 2007 setting their resignation date as March 1, 2008. Afterwards, they developed a transition plan for the continued operation of the District and put everyone on notice that the State and/or County would be running the District if JNRU didn’t receive some form of financial assistance. As a result, our State Representative asked the board to postpone their resignations long enough to meet with him and other officials. Thereafter, a meeting with State, County, and local community officials was arranged by our State Representative in an effort to work through project needs, development and funding alternatives. But, JNRU’s circumstance was so critical that serious consideration was being given to dissolving the District or changing the name rather than correcting the problems and expanding sewers; this may seem contradictory, but everything is literally on the table. Communication within this planning group appears positive and a solution in one form or another seems evident, but JNRU is obviously, and literally, a fine historical example of “starting off on the wrong foot”.
As overwhelming as it may seem (and is at times), the current staff and board have spent the past eight years working on recovery. Our success, given these extraordinary circumstances, is not in that we have eliminated the excessive debt (because we haven’t) or repaired all of the problems with the WWTP or the original collection system (again, because we haven’t), but in our ability to persevere with a new board and staff that has far exceeded many people’s expectations. We have done this by building and training a qualified staff of office and field personnel, providing them with the tools and equipment they need to perform their work, and improved the operation of the WWTP and antiquated collection system. But most of all, we have greatly improved our relationships with our customers and other governmental entities in the County and State. Ultimately, our success is measured each day as we gain our customers trust and support; and building communication skills at every level in the organization is essential to every RSD’s success story.
