Marion water tower to get a little TLC

Marion water tower to get a little TLC

Patriot- themed tower due for touch- ups

news@theeveningtimes.com

Marion is hoping to relight the Patriot water tower and may even give it a fresh coat of paint and update the logo.

Mayor Frank Fogleman said they are looking at options to illuminate the tower but may have to go with lights on the ground.

The water tank has lights around the catwalk near the top of the tower which made it visible at night from the Interstate.

Fogleman said they are having trouble finding a company though that can come in and change the bulbs.

“We can’t find anybody to do it,” Fogleman said. “So we are going to try and find someone who can work on it and tell us whether we can illuminate it with some lights on the ground. We don’t have any names of anybody yet. We’re just going to move forward on seeing what it costs and if it can be done and if it will accomplish what we are after.”

Fogleman said the tower also needs to be repainted, which is an expensive undertaking.

“We don’t have an estimate yet on what it will cost us to light it,” Fogleman said. “But it is approximately $115,000 to paint the outside of the tank.”

Fogleman said he has also had a preliminary discussion with Marion School Superintendent Dr. Glen Fenter about updating the Marion High School Patriot logo if they decide to paint the tower. The tower has the old Minuteman logo painted on it which has since been replaced by the newer Tricorn hat logo.

“So we are going to look in to that,” Fogleman said.

“The lighting and the painting are two different things, but they work together.”

In other business, the Water and Sewer Committee is looking at options to help increase the water pressure for residents on Cherry Street.

“The water line needs to be looped,” Fogleman said.

“It’s a dead end line and the water pressure is low. So we are looking at a couple of options.”

Fogleman said the decision will come down to whether to go one block or two.

Extending the line for one block will cost about $13,000 and impact about nine homes. Going two blocks will cost about $25,000 and impact about 15 homes.

Fogleman said they need to see whether they have sufficient fire hydrants there to met the current code requirements. The homes are in an older part of town and the code standards have changed.

“We need to look in to that and see what we need to do,” Fogleman said. “There wasn’t anything decision made about what we’re going to do other than we have some projected costs.”

By Mark Randall