Congressman Wenstrup tours Piketon water, sewer plant

PIKETON — Congressman Brad Wenstrup and his Regional Director Teresa Lewis were in Pike County last month to make stops at Kirchhoff Automotive, Pike County Community Action, and tour Piketon’s new water and sewer plants.

Wenstrup’s office was able to get the village $2 million dollars worth of grant money for construction of the wastewater facility.

“I believe this is the largest investment the village of Piketon has made in quite some time, if ever,” owner of the contractor, WAI Construction, Steve Moore said.

“When you’re trying to get funding for your community, when the community is showing they have skin in the game too, and they’re reaching (out) to state and federal (government for funding), they (Piketon) did a great job,” Congressman Wenstrup said.

Moore said, as a private developer, it’s super easy for him to invest in projects in Piketon, such as the Rio Grande building, when he sees everything on the infrastructure side getting upgraded at the same time.

“It’s an example of what communities should be looking at and how they turn things around.

“When we’re doing these projects, it’s got to be something everybody wants,” Wenstrup said. “What I was always looking at was to get something kind of project done in each of the counties you represent, but it’s got to be something everybody in the county will agree ‘Yeah, we need this.’

“Domestic or trusted foreign entities that want to come into the states and develop manufacturing and this and that, you’ve got to have utilities,” Wenstrup said. “You have to have the energy. You have to have the water. All those things have to be there.

“This is fun to see,” Wenstrup said.

The contract date for the water treatment to be complete is in the summer of 2025, but discussions during council meetings have mentioned, optimistically, about having the plant up and running by the end of the year.