near OC

By JONDI SCHMITT

jondi@pdclarion.com

OAKLAND CITY- Oakland City will become the second location in southwestern Indiana for an air quality monitoring system.

Oakland City Councilman Jerry Richardson told the council Tuesday that someone was in the area from the Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management a few weeks ago and they looked at several locations for the air quality monitoring system, finally deciding on a location at New Lake.

The system - which will monitor particulate matter - requires a 12 x 12 foot area clear of trees in order to get correct readings. IDEM will put a fence up around the area and they will provide a key to city officials.

While the monitoring system will be on city property, IDEM will incur all the expenses for installation, electricity and upkeep. They only request that the city keep the grass within the area trimmed.

Richardson said it was the combined effort of the council and of the Oakland City residents that convinced IDEM to install the system. "They received 80 or 90 letters requesting one for Oakland CIty," Richardson told the council. "They said they didn't even know there was much of a demand for the monitoring system in southwestern Indiana until they received all those letters."

Once the monitoring system is installed, IDEM officials from Evansville will read it twice a week and the system will be operational for a minimum of three years. The only other IDEM monitoring system in southwestern Indiana is in Evansville.