By TJ HEMLINGER
Staff writer

    The Columbia City Board of Works on Friday listened to a proposal to purchase $17,350 of hardware and software that will allow city workers to catalogue and locate all city utility lines.
    The effort would save the city money in the long run because when repairs are necessary the city could dispatch just one employee who could locate the lines instead of three employees, one each from water, sewer and electric.
    The equipment will be purchased from Seiler Instruments of Indianapolis.
    City councilman Dan Weigold presented the plan to the board of mayor Jim Fleck and councilmen Walt Crowder and Roger Seymoure.
    “We’re trying to develop a geographic information system for all city utilities,” Fleck said.
    In other business, in voting to pay the city’s bills for February, the board noted the rise in the gas bills.
    “The gas bills for the wastewater facility are astronomical,” city clerk-treasurer Rosie Coyle said. “Within the last year they’ve just been horrible.”
    To date this year, the city has spent $20,890 for gas utility bills.
    The city’s wastewater treatment facility has been undergoing expansion, and traffic in and out of the buildings has been heavy and some of the building had to remain open during the cold weather.
    The board also received an invoice for $1,780 from the Whitley County Soil and Water Conservation District.
    The city has certain requirements handed down by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and it contracts those services out to the Soil and Water “because they are credentialed to do that work,” Fleck said.
    The district charges the city $40 an hour for its services.
    Also, the city considered but took no action on restricting parking during the annual Eagle Glen two-day garage sale. The board is considering banning parking on the side of the streets where fire hydrants are located.