Columbus’ new utilities director will dip his toes into a host of challenges as he takes charge this week.
Scott Dompke will be running a city operation that is functioning with aging infrastructure — from pipes to water plants — and rates that haven’t increased in more than 25 years.
When facing potential changes, Dompke said he will rely on a master plan to determine improvements to the city’s water and sewer services over the next two decades.
Dompke takes over Columbus City Utilities from Keith Reeves, who attended his final Columbus Utility Board meeting as a staff member on Thursday.
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Reeves, who is retiring after a 38-year career with the city, agreed to stay on through July to assist Dompke in his new job, supervising the water supply and wastewater treatment for about 44,000 people.
Dompke takes over a department that utility board members agreed experienced a rough year in 2017. It included the shutdown of a well near the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds for E. coli contamination caused by equipment failure that resulted in a rare boil-water order for the city.
It was later determined that no city water in the system had been contaminated, but the boil order caused confusion among customers and some panic behavior, including a run on bottled water at grocery stores.
Reeves said a new concrete cap is being installed at the fairgrounds well, and work there should be completed soon. The well will be brought back online once testing is completed, he said.
The utilities also shut down two other wells in its south well field last year for 1,4 dioxane contamination and dedicated $350,000 to determine where the solvent is originating and how small amounts of it are being found in the two wells south of the wastewater treatment plant.
None of the three wells have been turned back on, and all three are among the issues Dompke will be handling as the new utilities director.
Consultants are mapping a groundwater model to determine how contaminants are moving in the aquifer that provides the city’s water and what wells could be affected in the future, Reeves said. The city has been considering finding a new well field to replace the well capacity lost when the wells were shut down.
Preparation for job
Dompke, who will be paid $120,000 annually in his position, previously worked at GRW Engineers, an engineering, architecture and geospatial consulting firm in Indianapolis. He spent 17 years there developing public works and water resource programs for utility and municipal clients.
A native of Michigan City, Dompke said he focused on planning and prioritizing capital improvements at GRW and also established stormwater programs for clients. He also spent 16 years working with the city of Bloomington water and wastewater utility, he said.
He earned a civil engineering degree from University of Evansville, but said, “I always felt more of a utility person than a consulting engineer.”
Dompke is in charge of 62 employees at the utility and will oversee a $15 million annual budget. He is planning on leaning on the current staff to make the right calls as the transition continues.
Infrastructure improvements contained in the city utilities’ master plan will have to be evaluated, in addition to any mandates required from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Dompke said.
The plan was completed last year by Strand Associates Inc., an engineering firm with an office in downtown Columbus.
“We have a series of assets and life cycles that are being updated and renovated,” he said.
Among the infrastructure improvements facing Columbus City Utilities include aging pipes throughout the city, while the city’s two water plants are getting older. A water plant at the fairgrounds dates back to 1968 and doubled in size in 1992, while another plant in Lincoln Park was developed in 1953.
Dompke said potential rate increases will be discussed in the future with the city utilities board. Those would help pay for the operation and maintenance of any proposed improvements, in addition to any projected capital costs, he said.
The city increased its wastewater rates in 2006 and again in 2009, while water rates have remained unchanged since 1992.
However, Dompke said he will look at others around him for feedback as he continues in his role as utilities director.
“I’ll have to depend on people in this building and the plant to make the right calls,” he said.
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Age: 58
Hometown: Michigan City
Education: Civil engineering degree from the University of Evansville
Experience: 17 years with GRW, an Indianapolis engineering, architecture and geospatial firm, where he served as program manager; 16 years with the city of Bloomington water and wastewater utility.
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