Hancock County officials have thrown their support behind a regional wastewater treatment plant for Maxwell that could cost up to $22.5 million, a project meant to replace two aging package plants that have outlived their usefulness. The move comes as E. coli has been detected in the water well at Maxwell Intermediate School, adding urgency to a planning process that has been years in the making.
Commissioners and Council Sign On, One Body Still to Go
County commissioners and county council members signed a letter of intent from NineStar Connect on Nov. 4, according to The Daily Reporter. The county redevelopment commission still needs to sign the letter before the arrangement is fully in place. The paper reports that Hancock County has already submitted the project's preliminary engineering report to the Indiana Finance Authority as part of its State Revolving Fund program.
The proposed plant would sit along Ind. 9 between Barrett Ditch and Mill Drive, and is designed to initially handle 100,000 gallons of wastewater per day once it comes online. With additional tanks, it could expand to treat up to 1 million gallons a day, per the same report.
Replacing Plants That Have Reached Their Limit
Maxwell and Eden are currently served by small package wastewater treatment plants that NineStar Connect purchased about a decade before this reporting. Maxwell's plant has a peak capacity of 50,000 gallons a day, while Eden's tops out at just 10,000 gallons a day. NineStar leaders say both have reached the end of their useful life, the station's report notes.
George Plisinski said the existing package plants lack the capacity for much additional growth and cannot readily be expanded, the report states. Project planning, Plisinski said, considers the area's needs 20 or 25 years out, aiming to avoid having to replace costly infrastructure again in just five or 10 years.
A Decades-Old Infrastructure Gap
The push traces back to a wastewater master plan Hancock County adopted in late 2022, which proposed a comprehensive system for the county's rural, unincorporated communities. That followed years of concern about the region's utility shortfalls: a 2019 ULI panel report found that Hancock County had been underserved in terms of water and sewer infrastructure, a gap that had negatively affected development, land value and growth opportunities, according to the Hancock County Economic Development Council.
NineStar's broader utility push includes plans to decommission an older wastewater plant on Sugar Creek north of I-70 and pump flows to a new regional treatment facility near Philadelphia, per the Economic Development Council. The cooperative has also outlined a companion water treatment plant initially sized for 1 million gallons per day, with room to expand to as much as 7 million gallons per day.
How the County Plans to Pay for It
Engineering and design costs for the Maxwell project are projected at $1,575,000, and the county plans to pay that portion from tax increment financing next year, The Daily Reporter's report indicates. The remaining cost would be bonded through the county's regional sewer and water district via the State Revolving Fund, with repayment coming from a future pledge of tax increment financing.
A separate report from May put the project's estimated cost at about $21 million, according to Citizen Portal — a figure that differs from the up-to-$22.5 million estimate in the more recent reporting. It is not clear from available reporting whether the estimate changed over time or whether the two figures cover different components of the project.
Timeline Stretches Into 2028
Updates to the preliminary engineering report and State Revolving Fund asset-management submissions are due by April 1, 2027, with final plant and collection-system designs targeted for completion by Christmas 2027. The latest allowable loan closing is set for March 2028, and construction is projected to begin around April 2028, per the same account.
Greg Guerrataz said the county's regional sewer and water district was proposed to build the project, with NineStar operating the plant and eventually taking ownership. The plant would remain a county asset for the life of the loan, the report notes. Guerrataz also said Indiana Finance Authority personnel were excited about the project because State Revolving Fund-financed projects elsewhere have struggled to retain operators, and he said pairing the water and sewer projects together creates substantial cost savings.
Design Details and a Parallel Water Project
The proposed plant would occupy 18 acres of NineStar-owned land on Ind. 9. Gravity interceptors would extend north at an 18-inch diameter and south at 21 inches, while local collection lines connecting Maxwell and County Road 500 North would run at around 8 inches. Pump stations are planned to serve both Maxwell Intermediate School and Eden Elementary School, the report states.
NineStar is already working to acquire easements for a parallel water project that would include new water mains, a water treatment plant and an elevated tank in the region. The utility notes that some residents along Ind. 9 may not want to connect to the new sewer system once it is built.
NineStar Frames the Project as a Public Service
Michael R. Burrow said failing or illegal septic systems present a health issue, and described the infrastructure investment as intended to serve future residents and businesses for as long as 100 years. Burrow said NineStar is undertaking the project as a service rather than for profit, to help Hancock County remain healthy and grow.
NineStar Connect is structured as a utility cooperative rather than a for-profit corporation, and it allocates any project margin back to its cooperative members, according to the report. The Maxwell project scored 97 on the state's fiscal year 2027 project priority list — second only to Winamac, which scored 104, among Indiana municipalities with fewer than 10,000 residents.
