What's that? Yes, we're recording. It certainly works. So, this is um our monthly water and sewer committee. It's July the 8th, 6:30. With that, we'll we have a quorum with
Joe, Dylan, Ross, and myself. I had not heard from anybody else. I know John is working and um Ricky and Dean. Never heard either one of those either. Didn't one of those guys say they were going to be on vacation this month?
Dean was going to be in Alaska. He was he was in Alaska last time. Oh, maybe he's on more vacation. I think it's Arizona. Those retirees got made those guys. Yeah. Don't worry about any Oh, there's a packet of information
there in front of you for there. So with that I got Yeah, I've got some before I got Jason joining us. No, I don't think he's here tonight. No, I didn't see the card. Well, let's go ahead and uh
approve the um January 10th minutes. If somebody like to make a motion, I'll move that we approve the June 10th agenda. Second.
I'll second it. Okay. All in favor signify by saying I. I. The agenda up tohead there one time. Uh I would like to add poke metals on water
request. So add that to um I was thinking of like 3D. Yeah. Three 3 C D. What's that? 3D
after C. There is I don't have a C. There is Leon P or no. Oh, small B. Okay. I saw the big B. Okay. Three D is in dog.
Yeah. No, it's the small B. Okay. Oak lip. Yeah. The first page 3D small letter B. There's a request to help with the water
from their pond system or local states. That's called Hope Meadows. No. Oh, there is a D, isn't there? A E the other. No, it's just there. It's okay.
Let's move all down one. We'll make it part of B. Let's just say there it's all related to No, it's different. Yeah, it's different. That's what I was about to say. I large B or let's make it G. G working. That's
cute. GG. Okay. So, we're adding it to the last item under people service operation wastewater system 3 G of page two. Any
other requests? I make a motion with approve the agenda. Second to accept agenda and approve. Okay. Any other comments? See none will all in favor signify by saying I
I opposed. All right. update. Uh we'll have the final pay request for STAB uh hopefully in August. Um they just got to get our their IC134s to me. They've already given me the final pay
request, so they're kind of working on those types of things. U not really any outstanding punch list items. uh warranty item from the standpoint of mixers uh in bays 2B and 3A. Um they have been
removed by uh Zyllem and they're at the contractor u being repaired and presumably we'll get them back here I'm assuming next month. Um that's electric pump right?
Yeah. Yep. That's where they're at. I understand. How come the motor comped out quite I mean it's never been used or not much. I I don't know. I If they're going to fail, they fail right away.
Okay. Well, that's good. Get that one fixed and it runs maybe we'll last for 10 years or 20. Uh, so not much going on in terms of the contractor. I think they did actually
they did come and photograph the site from the air and ground. They had a professional in on like the 3rd of July. So yeah, I saw a plane around here. They had a plane, did they? Not a drone. Well, there was a plane flying around this way. Then it came through the
southeast side of I don't know. But they did I did more than you know about. Well, they're usually pretty good about sharing that. You know, in the past they've all shared their photos. So, I'm assuming we'll get some nice photos. That'll be nice. It was, you know, one contract says,
"Take a picture of this, take a picture of that, another one, and then I'll take about six other pictures just for foolish." We do have a wastewater treatment uh operations update um that just came in
today, apparently. Um, I talked to Dan a little bit this morning. Um, and he said that he was working on getting that processed. The admin person that usually does it is was out on vacation last week. So, we just we got him a little bit later, but um he
did kind of run through a little bit information uh that's maybe not even on the update. So, I'll just give that to you. Um the total nitrogen value in May was 7.1 in June was 3.9. Remember the limit is 10.
Uh total phosphorus uh in milligrams per liter was.2 in May and was 0.1 in June and the limit is 0.4. Um, so he felt like the plant was
running great and uh they're meeting all their limits. He said that uh they've had a few unusual things going on in terms of wastewater coming in the influent uh CBOD jumped
really high recently for unknown reasons. What's that? um urbanaceious biochemical oxygen demand, how much how strong the wastewater is. So, I don't know if somebody was cleaning out a grease trap
or I don't know what the reason for that would be, but somebody was doing something that was unusual and feeding a lot of load into the system. Um, not that he was necessarily concerned about it, but
so but yeah, he didn't have a whole lot to report. Um, things were basically going as they should there. Are they going to be
on track now with once, you know, everybody's more or less everybody is hooked up that fall? Are they going to be able to handle the cold weather? Like, oh, in terms of the issues we had with total nitrogen. Yeah.
Yeah. Um, well, presumably we've learned some things about how to operate the system more efficiently and building up some of the biomass as things start to get cold. So that um okay they're set up to do that. So yeah,
there's a bit of a learning curve there and I sounds like they've got a plan for how to better operate on Hey Jo. Yeah, that phosphorus moving average
you said is two.1 not the phosphorous moving average is that just a monthly monthly result not the moving average and they don't report that back. Okay.
Well, they do report some they do report it in terms of phosphorus effluent milligrams per liter you can see I I said it was 02 and that's what this says for April right so I think
12 month moving total is what it's like 15 May 24 we So that's what the graph is showing right 12 month moving total 15. Yeah. Okay. It looks like the limit's 128.
Yeah, it's a total I think that's a 12 months total. Yeah. And I gave you the May and June numbers um for 25. You just got May of 25 here. He just said he submitted June last week or
something. Um, terms of chemicals, I'm assuming chemical budgets probably about based on uh there was something on that. I think the chemical budgets about 50% used. Where did I see that?
It showed 93% used as of May% of the time. Oh, I was looking at the wrong column. Yeah. chemical budget 93%. Is that cane? Do you know anything about that?
That uh additive that was added during the winter months that uh the phosphorus loading. Okay. That was a lot of it to rebuild that biomass. Yeah. What' they call that?
Something fix. Yeah. Are we going to be in when does this budget is this budget is July to December year to year or is it mid year or something? It's January to January. Okay. Correct. Yeah.
End of December or something like that. So 93% used. Are we in trouble there? A little bit. How much is a little bit? 50 bucks or 5,000? Well, time will tell here.
We'll see. If I remember it, alum is basically on continuous no milk liquid polymer, right? No, they're they feed alum, but only when they need it. They can. It is controlled. No. Yeah. Yeah. Certainly. Yes. But are
they controlling it or is it just on at a certain low dose? No, it's it's it's being controlled. So it feeds when the system wants it. So none of the chemicals are just turned on and
there was a leak this previous year and that they got that fixed. There was a time when that was true though early on in the system when they were having is programming issues and things weren't good or just like last time they fixed
it a month later it blew out again. Time will tell. Is this any of this buried or is it all above ground? It's right in the right in the chemical feed building. It's right right there. It's not hard to get to. So, it's all above ground. Well, the the
place where it leaked was. The place where it leaked is is in the building. You can get to it, but then there's a portion that fied and then it is exposed over the SPR. things from time to budget. So, well, don't think somebody did a horse
job. Do you want to touch base on the uh anything on the maintenance report? Not that I know of. Well, we did receive So, you did receive four pages. Three pages is is what you've seen before, but what if now it's
14 pages long. And what they did is they added all of the lift station maintenance items. There's 16 items. They also added some things about the probes, the NH4 probes, and the hospital.
So, I didn't print off all 14 pages, but basically it just listed the 16 items they were checking at each of the list stations. And it's the task was annual PM
periodic maintenance. There was some electric pump on station two will be completed in the next few weeks. electric pump at all the stations in the next few weeks, but
they're just contracting with electric pump to do the annual maintenance of those stations. Peoples is not doing that. They are contracting that. So who who pays that bill? Peoples or
us? I imagine it's going to come out of their end. Be people service. Yeah. Then we don't have to play. We didn't choose contractor. At least that's how I
perceive it. We can circle the wagons with people and see exactly. Yeah. Something long as you don't have to plan and budget for it. Is there anything in the contract with
people about covering costs the contract work or that would be really the only thing they should be doing is changing the oil and looking everything over and so that's the same kind of work they're doing everywhere else. They just somebody's contracting this out
or or ser this may be part of the warranty too. I I guess maybe we need to check with people's Are you talking about them hiring uh electric? Not electric pump. Uh
Minnesota pump. That's not what I was thinking about. It was just the maintenance of the HVAC stuff. Um Valor. Valor. Yeah. Yeah. They finally did get a contract with Valor. So the HVAC emitted,
but I think this is uh annual the lift station maintenance is what they're what they've added to the work orders here where each year they pull the pump and they check things and
annual measure. Now bed order came out replaced all fillers into the spring PMS on HBAC. They're having some electrical issues with the main breaker. That's taken care of. In the same paragraph, we um asked for
an annual review and Herb has come back and uh up in the 16th or the 17th. So I think the from what I read on the email was it was sent to their director of sales and president and that the director of sales came back and said
well her is the best person to have the annual review with so be a person in person 16th and 17 is that your understanding? Yeah. So Kane, were you going to set a time up
or Jason or who's going to set that up? I think we're still trying to figure that out until my tomorrow list. So I was waiting to hear back when everybody was available. Who should who should be in that
meeting? Joe Jason I could be there. Yeah. Who's you're putting agenda together or who's well or I I think we should put formulate something to talk about have a agenda
otherwise it's just going to go nowhere free right it should give him an idea too of what we're going want to discuss yes so he's prepared too so so we
probably have something to t by Thursday morning at least. Thursday noon we can work on that Jason. Yeah. So you'll work on the agenda and pick a time and let me know. Yeah. Okay.
Next next Wednesday or Thursday is kind of the one of those one of those days. Morning works better for me. Yeah. Yeah. Wednesday works better for me. There was also a statement in here from
last week or on the agenda about discussion of people service development policy for handling PFAS PFAS strategy in bioolids that occurs in 2026. So let's keep that on the agenda then.
Absolutely. Yeah. It's just kind of the reality. PAS seems to be everywhere and um you got to test for it before you land apply bioolids and that's included in our permit.
That's messer um forget what the acronym stands for. They're actually meeting, I think, late this week, um, to talk about if they're going to challenge PCA's legal authority to require those
samples and that reporting without it being in anybody's permit. Good. That's what I have heard. I don't to be an expert or involved in any of those conversations. So, this
Not everybody is just falling in line with that. Well, I think the city is a member messer. You were at one point. They helped us uh
review the initial permit years ago. Who's that? Sorry, I catch the first question. at Messer. Um there's an attorney. Um can't think of his name. Um
but uh he agreed to help review our permit and um provide some commentary so long as the city became a member, if I remember right, what the city said. Okay. and became a member and paid the dues back then. And I I don't know if they kept
paying dues or if they're current or where they're at, but Daniel u is the attorney. I can't think of his last name, but uh he's really sharp. Maybe you've met him. I don't know. Yeah.
come across if you want to share that with Dylan. Oh, I don't said I don't I'm not really involved in any of those. I just hear things. Well, let's hope they have success. Life a little easier. Okay.
Next item was our request from Lewon. 150,000 gallons of sludge bio solid. U the details in your ABC was pretty well our discussion back in June
and um Kane did you reach out to fellow cities and I did I did it's kind of a unique request people's is asking of another utility you know usually the request is land applying it usually you're working
with a farmer to get rid of bioolids. You're not working with another utility to take it on. Dylan and I spoke briefly about this and how Rochester would handle things or
wouldn't handle things. I mean, it's it's already treated. It's already refined, you know. It's not just waste water. It's so it's kind of uncharted. I did speak with uh
go for septic gopher septic when they're dealing with bioolids much smaller quantities they're at 20 cents a gallon herbs herbs stated 5 to 8 cents I guess I just don't know
do you get a break on the quantity do you the the the other concern I had was uh the POS. Of course, if we go to land apply and the POS regulations change
between now and land application, is is that going to hinder us in any way? Are we going to have to dilute it more? Are we going to have to is going to cost us more to land apply? Oh, good questions. I I I don't have the
answers. Thinking back on what Herb said on our phone call last month, I didn't sense any additional treatment, but that's my interpretation of what he was saying. It'll get pumped into our digesttors, our large tanks
and it will be airrated and that's electricity. That's that's wear and tear. I get it. It's it's minimal. Uh it's just the quantity of land application. You know, we're going
to need to find that much more land to certify and Peoples is in that process right now of finding that land and doing that and that's takes time. We do have a lot of capacity at the
treatment facility. uh you know, we could possibly land apply a portion of it next spring. Doesn't all have to be land applied. I mean, there's there's strategy here. We could sit on a portion of that
150,000 gallons. We could there's a lot of things we could do. Well, if we enter into a contract with them, I think we ought to be up more like 10 cents a gallon, but not the five to
eight or six to eight. And then we have to have some kind of a rider in there that if that additional sludge gets us into any kind of trouble, we can't we have to pay
extra money to get rid of or whatever that that they absorb that for us. Otherwise, it's we we could lose, you know, I mean, if everything goes well, it's in the ground. It's gone. But
that's a big if that we don't have any people doesn't have any people contracted for us right now. So taking on that 125,000 gallons
is a little bit of a burden. Not a big burden. Just a little additional burden. And I'm kind of leerary about that. If people say we got contracted people soon as the
crop's out, we can throw in, you know, 150 200,000 gallons. Oh, well then we had no problem. We can get rid of it. But that's a big if. So in our
president told us about the he thought two to three cents a gallon would be the cost to apply the sludge. That's based on the 5 to8. So if we said 20 cents a gallon, that would even it should be more than enough to cover our
expenses. But everybody say 20 cents is too much. And if it is, that's someplace else. Behold it. Did Herb indicate a timeline of when they needed to get this sludge transferred? I don't remember Eva here.
I talked to Dan when I got my update and uh he seemed to say they needed to or wanted to um transport it ASAP and if it goes much longer, they're just going to figure out a way to hold it and let apply it
themselves this fall. I heard something about August once, but that could have been us talking to them. Yeah, I think they're wanting to do it. If they're going to do it, do it ASAP because it's kind of a hardship the way
they have to deal with things now. So, what's your gut feeling, Joe? Probably not a big deal. Kind of a pain in the butt to deal with. Um, but you do help another city and
everybody's in a pinch at one point and looking for help. So, if you can help somebody, maybe you can do it, but I wouldn't do it for free. Right. I'm I'm with you completely. I just don't know where to set that price per gallon. Somewhere between 10 and 20
cents. Was 20 cents a gallon for treating it or was that just for storage because this is just for storage. It's already been treated. The 20 cent rate was for the septic haulers who deal with a much smaller capacity.
uh you know 5,000 or less gallons at a time, but that would have to be treated and this wouldn't. No, they land apply that. They land apply those bioolids. We're going to store those until we land apply. Okay.
So, we're we're kind of a a holding a holding area for that. And plus, we'll have that additional cost of land applying. So, but we get a better deal than what like left or gopher or
Yeah. Yep. We we get because of the mass amount we get a better deal. Y usually know. So, we know we designed so we could do this too. Well, you're designing for a much bigger
facility than you have today. You know, you're designing for a 20-year facility and you're in year two. So, so is the 12,000 we would get from them, could that go toward the chemicals that the maintenance for the budget that's over, we're almost over.
Theoretically, the 125,000 that they want to give us or sell to us shouldn't need any treating. shouldn't the the revenue the revenue from that will end up being spent in disposal costs most of it
and you know pumping costs and electricity things like that you'll eat up most of it or a good chunk of it unless you're going to go with you know 15 20 cents then you've got a little more to play with but it's it's not in the big picture
meaningful money to the treatment facility when you're talking about the operating budget of that facility. So 20 cents is kind of, you know, they're familiar with five and eight, we show 20. That does seem like a big jump.
15 might seem more appropriate just because it's double, but we're helping the city out instead of having I think it was $75,000 or $7,500. Now we're talking 22,500 for it. So, it's a little bit bigger piece of the pie to cover our
expenses and our getting rid of it, too. So, I don't Yeah, I don't I think that's a good place to start, but I think it's uncertain. We don't have a land application program at all. We don't know how much it's going to cost. We don't know how far it's going to have to be trucked. We don't know who's going to
land apply it. Correct. So, in my mind, that 15 cents, that's that's just insurance. Yeah. in case in case we get we get in a bind and we got to haul it all the way to I don't know some township 30 miles away
and all we have is that herb was starting to look at you're right we don't know but he said he was he was thinking ahead it won't happen I guess so he's I think that's the scary part is that we don't have
a contract with anybody to get rid of anything right now So adding 125,000 gallons, we still got time, but we could probably go, you know, next spring
or next fall before we will get in trouble. But I just, you know, by the way, by as much as we're accumulating, but we haven't got everybody hooked up yet. There's still
few that aren't. So is people's responsible for finding the a place to ground apply it? Yes, that's the contractor. It's kind of their jam. That's their jam. Yeah. So in my opinion, Herbs is kind of in a little bit of a conflict of
interest here, but because he's charged Lewis and us, right? Well, like I say, my opinion is that I'm not opposed to it because we got room
and we can help out the neighboring community. But the contracts we sign with them should have some kind of a cushion factor in there that, you know, if we go 10 or if we go 15, bring it here, now it's here. They cut a check for that. If
it costs us, you know, 12 or 17 or 20 cents to get rid of it, that's we don't have that kind of a cushion in that deal. I think the numbers are hard to quantify and to put that into a contract and get
an attorney to make that happen, you're going to spend thousands of dollars and it's a if I were contract, I mean, it just does. I'm not sure that makes sense. part of that might say, "I want the flip side then, too. If you can get rid of it for a nickel, I want my money back." Right?
So, I would say, I mean, it's it's not really going to be a contract. It's just going to be we're going to charge this much. Okay. Hopefully, we get that number right. One time revenue, roll the dice and get rid of it. Yeah. Hopefully, you come out on the right side of the equation. You're
including insurance. Say if you go at the 15 cents, you're including pretty significant insurance based on the estimates. And if you come out on the right side of it, you do. And if you don't, you probably eat it all up.
But then you can always call on Lewis for a favor, too. I mean, we got We're kind of thousand gallons to bring back. We're kind of trading favors here. Really? I hope they realize that or people's Do
we want to before we forward this to the council, do we want to put a penny amount, you know, per, you know, 12, 15, 20. Do we want to do that for the council? And I like 50. I guess 12 10.
Okay. I kind of agree. That's where I'd land. All right. Sorry. I just kind of agreed with Joe. I think 15 cents probably doesn't feel too bad and it's it uh
provides a little bit of insurance to protect the city's interest if indeed you want to do it. A little caution. So we a motion but it charge 15 cents a recommend. Yeah, I'll recommend 15 cents a a gallon. Recommend we do that with a 15 cents a
Okay. Is that the minimum we'll take? cuz you know they're going to come back at 10. Oh, they might. Yeah. And they might just they might gag on 15 cents and say we'll figure it out on our own. It might be that too. No skin off our back. I mean, we we've
got another year or two before we'll absolutely have to land apply. So, I will second motion 15. I think we can't get gas for that, you know.
Too bad we can't get gas for that. Well, that's in that's covered in that cents per gallon. I was talking fuel, automotive fuel. Too bad we can't get gas for our cars for 15 cents. Oh, yeah.
Well, that's another story for another time. I have a motion recommend um council a 15 cents per gallon to accept those keys 150,000 gallons of bio solace.
That was 125,000. It's 15. Oh, it's here. Okay. I'm sorry. I read the wrong page. I still second it. Any other comments? I think it's Yeah, when Joe, excuse me, when um Herb
said five days sets up that was gold rate a couple years ago. So I think we're just like everything else has gone up. So I think 15 cents is I mean instead and he quote us or he said to would be two to three cents that might be 6 to 8 cents. So we're still
just don't know on the tariffs. What's that? Believe it on the tariffs. This is what's all right. Any other any other comments? That's true. It's not import duties. Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I.
Oppos. All right. Um. Okay. Should we preach back out to her and say we're going to recommend that to council or wait for council's decision?
It's up to you. It's a week away. Let's wait. Okay. I was going to say the PCA certification item B. I know that uh Jason and Kane are getting close. Maybe you even did did you submit that um form today? I
know you were working on it was about collecting sufficient funds for operation maintenance and repair the treatment facility. The one I called you about. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I just wanted to touch base with Kane before we emailed it out, but
I think we've got it 99.5% done. So, I just wanted to get the final touch of Kane. Okay. So, so be submitting in the next week or less. It doesn't have to go to council.
Thank you. One we added was the oak mill pond wire. your packet in an email. This is late breaking news today. So this is or state oaks now.
Joe, do you want to just kind of give a brief overview? Yeah, the uh challenges operator for Oak Meadow Estates reached out to the city and asked if city would be willing to take
the waste water in the ponds before they're fully decommissioned. So, we would just be taking the water and they'd like to pump it to the treatment facility. And so, I started asking questions about, you know, when and how much and those types of things. and they
didn't really know any of those answers. Um, so I did a little simple math based on the limited information that I have and that they provided me and calculated that there's about 2 million maybe more
gallons of waste water that would be metered back through. when talking with the operators, the city could take, you know, somewhere between 20 and 50,000 gallons a day and not impact the number of bays that were running. And so, you
know, kind of do the math, that's somewhere between uh 40 and 100 days of taking their waste water. And um otherwise, I'm not sure what they can do with it. Um it gets to be a bit of a
a problem for them. So, and I pointed out the fact that, you know, we'd want you to kind of meter that waste water in so we're not getting a slug of it at any one time at those kind of maximum discharge rates. And uh the other thing is is
if we accept it, we should probably get paid to treat it. And so, is there any tests been done so we know what we're getting? They don't seem to know what's going on. Okay. They haven't done any tests. Um
I did talk to the operator about that too. They don't seem to really have a concern about it so long as you know we keep the rates within uh what we think we can handle and that you know there's not something unexpected in that wastewater which we
should get tests but I don't think they have any. Uh and then the other thing they said is they absolutely don't want any of the bioolid at the bottom of the pond. How do they control that? How do they control that?
Well, good question. Um, they could just let that thing drop. Well, you know, you're pumping. I suppose it depends on what kind of pump they have and how they set it up. I guess. Yeah. How they draw it from the pond. Yeah.
The flow does it. There's ways. So, you know, it's another one of those things where we've got a partnership with them that's been a little wavy.
Yeah. Have they paid their bill? I think they Jason knows. Yeah, they've got everything but the uh interest fees, the late fees and interest on the ones that they've missed. So, we're still uh trying to figure out that. Um, so council's not
budging on it. So I'm not sure exactly what our next rout's going to be. If they don't, they say they don't want to pay them. We have to take them to court because we're talking tens of thousands of dollars. So I suppose technically you could assess them.
Assess the late fees. So that might be the next option to assess them and through the township though. The township. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, so we're kind of working on things, but at the same time, they're not paying their bills up in full, which
they've made good faith to get everything paid up minus that one portion of it. You know, we're taking on more stuff, doing stuff for them, and they agreed that you might want to get paid up front. like a soprano's deal, you
know, sit on a table at the Italian restaurant and we'll take your pond water, but you got to, you know, make the payment. Well, and what is that payment? That's the other piece. You know, is that
at their municipal rate? Is it half their municipal rate? It, you know, I guess we should really know what we're taking before we make those types of decisions. If if we are interested at all, but if but if they
if we do I mean if there is just full municipal rate then they can just pump it down their own lift station and pump it to us and as long as they stay under their maximum monthly flow 55,000 is it? Yeah. Then
yeah, you're right within their agreement. Yeah. And the agreement is tiered. So the more they pump, the more they pay. Um, and they do have a maximum. Um,
and the agreement may may proclude doing that. I I don't know. Um, but that is a thought. They what did they used to this used to be discharged, right? I mean portions of
it from the irrigated regated and so maybe that's you know at least partially a option I don't but maybe there's too much waste I you know I I just don't know my my question is where does water come
from? They're treatment ponds. So before they were hooked up to us they treatment ponds. Yeah. But what what do we expect? And I guess looking at it from the RV side, is it
gray water or black water? Well, the Well, the one pond is is probably polished, ready for discharge. They say the secondary pond is 4 feet of clear water. Yeah.
And so that would be almost I mean it'd be silly to pump that to us if they don't need to. But they they don't seem to have a very good handle on how much waste water they have.
Uh I have seen nothing about what strength the wastewater is. Um what their timeline is. You know there's a million questions for us. You know, and I I pointed out I'm assuming that we're going to want to get paid for it. We should get paid for it in my opinions.
And I pointed that out in my email. They didn't respond to any of that. What's the con the contract right now is they got what 20,000 gallons a day is the the max that we can expect from them.
I think it's more like 55,000 somewhat gallons a day. And so how much are we receiving right now? I I don't know. Well below that. Well, they were going to go back
supposedly next week and get more accive measurements of how much water is actually in it. I think the point of tonight is first, are we interested in considering that? Is the city interested in considering that? You know, if you're not, then then
it doesn't pay to invest any more effort into it. But if you are, then, you know, then then we play 20 questions with them. I think we have to be. It's a wastewater source from a community that we serve. I don't think you can just say no
responsibly. Yeah, I don't think we dare to say no. Yeah, we got a lot of state money that said we were going to be Well, they benefited from the state money to the same ratio as the city did. Uh, you know, and you could extend that to the bioolid then. Are you willing to
take their bioolid? Well, no. I mean, we speaking with the operators, the answer is no. And the volumes of bioolid might be pretty huge depending on what's in those ponds. They've probably never been cleaned, right? Yeah. So,
at least probably three years since we were they were irrigating when we were building the plant. 22 or 23. That's a little different than the bioolids. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm think you're right.
It's not the bioid, just the water. I would suggest if we're going to take on their waste, which we should being a partner in this, they should pump it back to their lift station at a metered rate that would not
raise concerns with our operators or our plant and and they pay for it. They pay full price. Whatever we meter through our flow meter they pay for after they've paid their bills their use
as a lever. So is that metered at their lift station? No, it's at our wastewater waste wastewater plant. We have a meter for just about right now we're metering from the waste from the trailer work. Yep. So that what they add how do we know how
much they're adding though? Again the meter is at the treatment plant. So anything that they deliver to the treatment plant gets metered. Yeah. Okay. So right now for the month of May, they were at like 24,000 a day. Okay.
So, we could take on if the limit's 55 or however the contract states that tiered rate, we could take roughly 20,000 and maybe we could wave those fees while they're doing this for these
two months or whatever the time period is. Maybe we wave those fees, but only, you know, be responsible about it. Tell them you can only pump for they can only pump to their lift station for
20,000 gallons worth, however many hours or whatever that is, right? Honestly, they could connect to the pipe that they used to gravity flow back to the lift station, uh, install a couple hundred feet of pipe. It could even work as a siphon.
You know, it doesn't have to be deep. and they open and close the valve, control the flow rate, have a steady rate. That would be one way to do it. That might be pretty efficient. Are we worried about their piping? I
mean, I know we've had problems down that area. Uh, not in that way. It'd be a temporary use. You know, since it's not domestic waste water, it should be tested. That ain't right.
That would the acceptance would be contingent on the results of those tests. Then you do pay the test. Yeah, they should be doing that. If you trust and pay your bills, well, you get copies of the test results. Well, where are they taken? You know,
those types of questions, you almost want to know. You know what I mean? take taken out of your kitchen sink or was it taken out of the pot? You know how Oh, I see what you're saying. I'm collecting samples from where it
get water. This stuff's amazing. You know, we do have time, Joe, right? I mean, this doesn't need to be done. Well, it takes a 100 days to do it. It's three months. So, they got to You don't have all the time in the
world, but you got a little bit. November, October, September. Maybe it could be next spring. Maybe it could be some this year, some next year. I don't think it matters from the treatment process standpoint. I mean, we probably wouldn't want to accept it.
Well, I don't know that it matters. you know, when when uh Orno Estates was experiencing some cold weather, a lot of the trailer homes ran water. And so that actually helped the wastewater treatment plant with uh
their processes when we were going through some of the hard times this last year. All that additional water kind of helped out. So maybe having this for the winter months, maybe that would help out. But then you deal with freezing and
might drop the temperature of that water pretty fast if it's all exposed to the air right there. I suppose it freezes too. Right over by the development just west of the treatment plant, east of the treatment plant quarter mile. No idea.
So I guess we should wait to hear what they have to say. But I think Joe, when you're in and your conversations between you and Kane and responses, Becca, I think we have enough questions to to go back and forth to maybe get us a better direction at our next meeting
and all. I'll ask some questions. I'll let them know we're at least interested. And yeah, I think there's an interest here. I think we could we can help them out and we should, but we got to test what we're getting to make sure that we don't get screwed with
what we get. I mean, if we're getting paid for, it's just a matter of Yeah. Well, if we accept a bunch of 10,000 gallons of hazardous waste, our facility will just tip upside down. You know, I don't want if there's something
in there that shouldn't exist. I'm I'm I'm really questioning. I don't understand what they had there. So, where' the water come from? It was their waste water. The same stuff we're getting every month right now. Okay. So, it it came out of every
trailer and then as it was what as their tank or their their field. Oh, so usually a pond system, you you have a series of ponds. You pump your dirty water into the first pond and then from there, you know, it's got to sit in there for so many months and then you
pump it to the next one and maybe the next one. So this and then just over the course of this is supposedly it's going to be clearing of um It's going to be good. It's going to be more or less pure water,
not quite drinkable. solids, right? No solids. That's the word that I was looking for. But so this should be just plain water with no solids. And we don't know if there are any additional,
you know, chemicals that could somebody threw their junk into. No, but you don't know that right now. The question is how do we control that? But I mean, we should test what we bring in just so our operators have heads up what the heck is going on.
Yeah. I wouldn't I wouldn't be suspicious about any of that. It's more how much is it going to cost to treat it? Yeah. Well, because again, it's the same waste water we're getting right now. It's the same thing we're accepting now. Yeah. So I I think that we should, you
know, accept on the same conditions as long as there's no hidden troubles in it. Okay. Well, that's I think Joe has enough background to
Katie some more definitive answers for our questions. So, let's just wait for that. Table that one. Okay. Um, last time there was a certification form and I think that's what we're going to
submit tomorrow. No pay request. No, not this month. Ter restoration. the rain's helping, but we'll see how it all looks two months from now
or those areas. I think a lot of areas improved a lot. Um I know we still have a handful of areas that need some attention, but we've had a pretty darn good spring terms of growing grass and rain. That has helped. And they did rework uh
they reworked stuff for a month. And uh that's helped too from what I've seen. My front yard and the areas across the street from me are all looking much better than they were. Dylan, is that the case for you too? You how is your stuff looking?
Oh, it's all crab grass and I sprayed it for weeds so it's it's green. They take care of a bunch of the um Yeah, they picked up the rock those types of things. style rocks and and kind of feathered out the approach to
the driveway and took care of those hill. Before we finish this, I want to bring up a sore subject up at the VFW there west of the building.
Fitzgerald piled stuff up 20 foot high. I don't know what it was, but right now, okay, we had grass in there with dandelines. Okay, what we got right now, we got
black top, got gravel, and we don't have any grass. So, I showed drill once and and I'm I'm still not happy because, you know, I mow that every day or every month, every
week, but what we got there isn't what we had before. Now, we're we're working with uh Lions Club. They want to put up a sand pit, and they're talking about a permanent one, one they can dig in and
bury. It'll be kind of in the southwest corner of the property and it'll be buried. It'll have a cover on it so the cats can't ferment it. So,
we're working on that and that'll be a different subject. But the grass that we have now isn't the grass we had before. And anybody wants to, I'll go up to this meeting and show you. I can walk right down the line. I can say we never had
black top in our in our lawn before. We've got black top. We never any gravel. There's two spots that's just all gravel. The grass can't grow. That's not what we had before. And I I
had some reservations, but I didn't want to stop the project by saying you can't put on our lawn. I said, "Okay, as long as long as it's, you know, put back in original shape, we'll let you do it, you know, but it
isn't." Are there any other spots around town that were getting kind of the same? You got a handful of spots. Your spot was on the It was on the punch list. I understanding that they were there and did address it.
They haven't done a thing. I mowed today and I still got the same black top and gravel that I had before to mow. Yeah. No, there are there are a handful of spots that I'm aware of and I'm sure Kane is too. So, the punch list hasn't been closed
out yet. Not completely. No. Okay. I mean, it's a lot better. Yeah. But not everywhere. Um, right now they're not seating anything. not in July. Um the scene dates open up again in the middle of August.
Last time they brought in some, you know, filled in after they raised the road or whatever, then they brought in fill. They, you know, seed it down. I watered it every day or every other day. And uh some of it grew pretty good. Some
of it didn't even grow at all. I watered the hell out of that stuff. that was out there every day. I had somebody else come in one of the days when I was off at a state convention. So, we watered it,
you know, trying to get it going. Maybe over watered it. I don't know. Well, that's um it's not like anything's going to happen until this fall. So, is there a time frame? You say August or September or is it
you know, when the seed dates open up again. Well, that requires like adding dirt and filling to it or these other areas are like this. Well, some all the all the areas are a little different. So,
there's different ways to approach it. But it is on the punch list. It is right. If it doesn't get taken care of this year, it still has the warranty on it for next spring. And once they're gone,
once they're gone, it's going to be really tough, especially if you start closing out projects, making final payments. Yeah. Then you lose your leverage. Okay. All right. Thanks. Thanks, Ross. Um, next item.
Um, where we at with our connections, sewer and water left? Got about 20 sewer and 15 water. And there's about 10 vacant homes in town that we should make it priority for the city to do
something with vacant homes. But that's another story. That's another committee. We could just sell and take the money. But you know, I I got I just counted Joy. I got 20 sewer and 15 water. Like I said, there's
about 10 vacants that are not lived in or special circumstances, I guess. They got curb stops. They got services provided. There's just no one living there. So, does that mean
that there's 20 sewer, but 10 of them are vacant? So, there's really 10 people that could connect that won't. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Let's see. One, two,
three, four, five. Excuse me. Sorry. Uh, six. I got about six sewers and
at least six waters, give or take. Some people have approached the city and and voiced their concerns that they don't live there. They're going to sell. They're going to they're going to do something with their property. and
they've voiced their concerns to us and now we're in that waiting period of okay when will that happen when do you sell your house when does this happen so we can
you know stay on top of these things make connections wherever available so so just to clarify the 10 vacant or 12 vacant Six sewer and six water. Yeah. Some are both.
Other than that, it's 20 sewer and 15 water. Yep. Okay. Thank you. That's pretty good. Very good. Very good. I'm one of them that hasn't got it done yet. I signed a contract with the cook
over in Byron and got the permits fold. I'm waiting on it to cook and it's it's not happening. I wish it would happen because once I get that in,
then I know how much money I have left. We got hit with hail this spring, two months ago or whatever. So far, they've replaced the roof of the house, roof of the gazebo, roof of the metal pole shed, the
gutters, screens on a gazebo because it was all screens. Garage doors got to be replaced. Deck has to be redone. Now, I'm trying to if if if
after the cook gets done, I got any money left, I'd like to go with a composite like TX, but I can't do it till I know what the cook's going to charge me
cuz they did say something in there that if we hit rock, it could be more. Do we hit Do we have any rock in or so? So, I don't know what I I don't know. I'm in limbo.
I can't until I get the cooks done and know what their final bill is. I can't do a thing with all the rest of stuff I got going on. And I'm so damn confused right now. I got so much going on.
Uh Joe, phase 1B, what's your status? Uh still a still a work in progress. I don't have it. Uh I don't have it complete. It's been too many too many
other fires lately to address that. So, do you think it's a August or September? Yeah, I do. I think I've said that before, but it
obviously needs to get done. Stretching Joe in the city right now. Yeah, we're there's a lot going on. He's working hard. All right. I assume the you got the email from Evan. Yes.
Yeah. There's update from Kilmer just scheduled. No update. They haven't received the equipment yet. Yeah. Well, let's say equipment on order is the update.
It's ordered. No. Okay. Budget in your packet was a Madnick and Joe after our last meeting, your meeting. And uh so we had him to put together a water system comprehensive plan
and a dormant water utility. Yeah. So, this is memo is really just for the budgeting purpose and it lays out, you know, essentially makes an argument that a water system comprehensive plan is well overdue.
Um, we've really never had a water system comprehensive plan with the exception of maybe the first facility plan and I don't can't tell you how many things have changed since then. Uh, and the system continues to be augmented and it
grows and we've done some limited modeling, but more modeling is needed and it's important to know where you're at and where your water demands going and you know when you might need to have additional storage or an additional well
or what size those water manes need to be to extend to that new development and how far can development go based on the existing system. And you know, there's there's 20 questions that really need to be
answered. Um, and this would help identify what needs to be done, approximately what it's going to cost, and what things will look like probably for at least the next 10 years. And so the cost to do that is estimated
at about 35 to $45,000. Um, and we're recommending that as you go through the bud budgeting process, um, consider this. Um, another important point that has come to light recently
is the fact that uh, City of Rochester um, Rochester public utilities has kind of uh, created a a group of cities that all pull from the same aquifer. We all pull the same water. So
Rochester, Byron, um Steuartville and Oronoko were giving together on a quarterly basis to talk about um some water appropriation issues. Um DNR has told Rochester that they're not going to
issue additional appropriations. are not going to allow them to drill more wells because they're concerned that so much water is being pulled out of the aquifer that it's impacting surface waters specifically at Cascade Creek and
also Calcarius Fence um most specifically on the south side of Rochester. And so for that reason, Rochester is pretty darn concerned. And you know the options for additional
water are limited and expensive. You could go to a deeper water deeper aquifer potentially have issues or water quality issues with that or you can treat surface waters and uh both of those
options are expensive. Um and at least the city of Rochester is not really well conditioned for that. And so Oronoko um you know Rochester probably has 40 wells. You have two. Byron has two. Um
Stuartell has two or three. You have 40 balls. Oh yeah. Yeah. And maybe it's 35. It's a lot. The answer has always been for expansion. Just drill a new well. Yeah. And and now it's not.
Yeah. And so it's a concern for Oronokco because DNR is going to look at Oronokco potentially similarly to Rochester and you know critique and criticize or not criticize but scrutinize your
application and may or may not grant it. Yeah. How does this just how they pick up 500 homes and say we're going to build them and shut off the water? If they build them
water come from some place or I got a question. So know if this is going to interfere with our discussion, but there's a got a letter that there's another meeting
about the property around Glenn's motor coach north and east. There was supposed to be 14 town homes built there. And we got another letter that there's another meeting. Anybody know what it's about?
The public hearing for the conditional use permit and preliminary plat for the development of the property. Okay. I thought that was taken care of three or four months ago when the city approved after the last meeting. It went
to the council and whatever they're proposing was approved. I think they proposed a reszoning of a portion of that. That's all it was. Yeah, they had the green field. Oh, okay.
Two acres. Those little little strip along the had to be reszoned to from B to R. R2. Yeah. What's this one about? This is the plan itself. drawing of how they're going to use the land
and there's a a cup I think too based on how it's being proposed air plant and conditional use permit. So it's a it's a sequence of steps that need to be followed to develop land and they're following the
process. So with that comes public hearings for different facets that if we hadund what was it 140 more town homes or res you know residences
that's going to affect us a little bit and what water we have to we're in good shape on the sewer part I think but we have we still have to provide water for that that's what this plan is going to help us do. Okay.
So, there's 56 units, by the way. 14 forplexes. 14, not whatever you said. 14 units or plexes. Yeah. 56 units. Um,
so this 35 to $40,000 request that would come from um our water utility fund or would that be a CIP? Ideally, it'd come from the water utility fund. Uh, you know, once we find
out our our current numbers with the audit, which is taking place now, right, Jason? Yep. So, you know, we're going to get those numbers here where we're sitting at the water and sewer utility funds and
hopefully they can uh fund these items, but if not, I'd say CIP any chance of using that with the leftover money? There was
some money from the Wolface 1A project. Yeah, I don't think so. The phase 1A project money that we do have available, we've kind of assigned to the facility plan for phase 1B, that 47,000 we're hoping to use there.
Uh the rest of it's just clean water and drinking water involving loan funds and they won't let us use that for for any any additional study future water for future Yeah. expansion. So, we have asked that question.
Okay. Anything else? I had to ask a storm water building. Well, on that. Yeah. And that was another thought that I'd had and Kane and I and Jason have visited a little bit about um
most cities have storm water utilities and that is a mechanism uh to collect revenue from uh property owners that you know everybody that owns property. um produces runoff. And so that runoff
goes somewhere and uh the utility uh generates revenue so that the city has a designated source of revenue to clean ditches and replace culverts and to sweep sweep streets and to clean catch basins and to install storm sewer and to
clean ponds and to do things. And today you don't have a designated revenue source for that. Um you you use general tax revenue which you know is very sparingly doled out or allocated
to you know maintenance. And if you drive around and you start looking the number of culverts and ditches to clean, there's a lot of them and street sweeping and maintenance that needs to be done. Uh swailes that need to be
repaired. um and eventually storm sewer that needs to be installed to improve drainage. Those are big costs. And so you need to generate some funding. And so most cities have a storm water utility to do
that. And so to set up a storm water utility takes some time and effort. Uh I think you should start thinking about it because I think there's a need there. Um, I know that Kane could use funding to address drainage problems that he has
in probably every corner of the city and downtown. Um, so I did some very simple math within the last page of this. You know, you've got about 825. You got se about 7 750 developed
parcels, which equates to about 825 equivalent residential units. Thinking that, you know, commercial properties with bigger parking lots produce more runoff. They should they're more than one eru. They might be two, three, four ERUs, but you don't have many commercial
properties. So, I'm I'm just kind of taking a guess here. And so if you say that each eru is going to pay $5 per month uh over the course of the year, you generate about $50,000. And that $50,000 would be put into a storm water
utility fund that um builds up cash revenue or cash balances and the city can assign to I think the biggest need right now is ditch cleaning and covert replacement um especially in the downtown areas. Um,
and as things develop and change, you're going to want to put storm sewer in and improve drainage, and this helps you do that. And if you don't have this type of fund, um, you know, it's hard to do that. And I I just kind of picked round numbers that there's nothing magical
about this. You can massage the numbers to match the amount of revenue that you think you need to generate. you know, if that's $20,000 a year or if it's $100,000 a year. The ERU calculation is different, but it makes sense to do
this. Most cities do it and you have a need. Um, so you're in the budgeting process. It would cost, you know, 10 $15,000 to get some assistance to set this up. You want to do it, you should start thinking
about it. What are the systems that set this automatics? Uh basically figuring out um how many parcels you have, what how to calculate the erus, what would be fair
and equitable in terms of you know how to treat commercial properties, apartment complexes, residential properties, um you know undeveloped properties, they all contribute in different ways. And
then you're going to need some um policies written and legal help and there's a process and of course a public public engagement process that need to be included. So it would probably a
combination of um engineering and legal. So when we look at you mentioned commercial properties but commercial developments at least in the recent years have storm water retention ponds. So why would they be interested? Why would they have to be charged?
Well, they all discharge and that discharge still flows through the city when they reach a certain limit when they fill up. No, they all discharge storm water continuously comes into but yeah all the sewage would they might retain it and they might
retain most of the sediment but it still discharges from their site. you know, you still have ditches and culverts and roadways that all need maintenance and Okay, that's So, the other question I
had was like on phase 1B, right now they have no water, no sewer. So, would that be put on their taxes then? Um, there's different ways to do it. That's potentially one way to do it. Yeah. Or is it something, you know, you don't have to collect this
monthly, you could collect it quarterly. You could collect it annually if you really wanted to. Um, you could probably put it on your taxes, but I, you know, I I'm most cities don't do that, but most cities are sewer, but after phase 1B, this would be
covering all the residential units. Well, I would say that this should cover all the residential units now regard it doesn't matter if they're on sue or not because they all have impervious area. They all have coverts and ditches and Yeah. drainage.
That's true. So the the issue that complicates it is how do you collect it? You know, if you you pay a sewer bill, well, um people in phase 1B don't pay a sewer bill. So you don't send them a
bill on a monthly basis. So you don't have a mechanism to recover it and you probably don't crazy about adding those additional users, especially for five bucks a month. Sooner or later, we're going to have to add them for phase one beef. But, you know, it it is it
I would get a little salty if I had to come down and write a $5 check every month as a as a resident. We could we can set up options. We can set up options. There's there's more options out there for paying now with our new software system and
or quarterly payment, you know, or or by annual payment or an annual payment. May maybe you could include it as part of a tax. I I I don't really know how that works. It would essentially be another $5 a
month charge on your water and sewer bill that you get now if you set it up that way. Does this commission have the authority legislatively enact that would it have to go to the city council? This has to go to the Well, even even then as the water and sewer committee,
are we are we the water, sewer, and storm water committee? I mean, I don't know. I I think we if we're not, we probably should be, but yeah, maybe we're not. Yeah, I don't know the answer to that either. The answer is yes.
We I mean, we're we're stewards of the environment, right? So whether it's waste water or drinking water or or storm water storm water we we need to be stewards of the environment and
those as as unimportant as it sounds storm water is pretty important. So I think we need to be I think we need a good story um just based on what happened with our phase 1A how many coverts residents thought should have
been replaced but that project didn't cover it. So when we talk about replacing coververts we're talking about paving over it again or to replace rock for rock or wellverts get all paving or pubous. That's that's the story we need to make
sure we have in place. Well, that's a policy issue. How How do you want to do it? Standard you set, but you can't do it without money. And right now, you don't have revenue for it. So,
I know when we built our church, we had to build ponds and runoffs and we pay I don't know how much for our parking lots every month. I can every square foot of parking lot we get charged by Rochester for. Yeah. They're very aggressive with their utility.
Roofs, parking lots, everything won't soak up water. We pay a fee. And honestly, storm sewer systems are expensive. Big pipes are expensive. Culverts are expensive. Um, it takes a lot of money
to make that go and they don't last forever. And you know, Rochester's been around a long time. and they've got a lot of big pipes and a lot of drainage and a lot of deficiencies and needs and so that's that's how they fund those. We have we have some curbed gutter from the
B VFW that gets designated handic handicap parking during gold rush. Rest here it's just open parking. Where does that drain go to now? The river. It just goes down the river.
Yeah. Eventually it gets to the river. All our storm sewers eventually get to the river. We don't have any city-owned ponds, do we? No, not yet. Well, the city's been very careful not, you know, the city council has been very
deliberate in saying, "We don't want to own your pond." So, River Park, you own that. You own those ponds. The association supposedly owns those ponds. Well, someday they're going to money for that either. Well, there isn't. And so, someday they're going to come knocking at the
door of the cult saying, "We didn't know we own these ponds." And, you know, they're not working anymore. and they need to be cleaned and that's going to be $100,000. We don't have any money. We're taxpayers. Here, you take them cuz it it
mark my words, it will happen. Um it might not be for 10 years or 50 years, but it it will happen. And the council might say, "Tough, but they might say, okay, you're right."
Yeah, I I generally support it. I think it's a good idea. I would just as we set the fees recognize that it's getting more and more expensive to live in this town and property values are going up and I know one of the benchmarks is that 1%
tax base or whatever number I don't my property value because of the housing shortages market values are going very high and so you know understanding saying that just because
we have that tax base doesn't mean everybody can afford to pay that, right? I could not buy my house today, right? And so paying the taxes on my house, um
it's concerning that they keep going up. And so I I'm sure that there are folks in town that even have more of a concern than I do with that. So, I just think keeping that in mind, $5 a month, you know, doesn't seem like a lot, but when you compound it with the school
district, Rochester levies and uh the water, the sewer, the tax increases, it just it all adds up. So, recognizing that it's all part of the bigger tax that folks pay and keeping that at a
reasonable level, I think is going to be important. Um but you know the one concern I have too I think is just these are all great ideas. It's just a matter of the timing of doing them and and
no doubt if we look at a storm water approach which we don't have at all. I think of the 10 15,000 sounds kind of low myself especially if we need to start developing ordinances and legal fees and
it's going to add up. So I'm not sure the timing is right. I want to say we can't do it. I'm just saying I'm not sure when the right time to do it is. You also got to remember that it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take nine months to you might might take a
year before you're ready to enact anything. So well I the needle moves slowly as you guys all know. I agree the water comprehensive plan I think that is something we do need. I think that is because of our eminent growth that's going to happen and I
think we need to do that because we just know it's going to happen. the storm water will be kind of held in temporary with is everything's going to have um all the new growth will have retention ponds of some sort or dedicated. Well, take take for an
example uh downtown re redevelopment. It's happening now. Um things are getting proposed. Other things are going to happen. So let's say a uh Jeff
something wants to open up and he they want to redevelop or develop new and install a parking lot. Well, right now you don't have any storm sewer. No. It's going to go find its way to the river. Well, it it can't you can't drain a
whole parking lot down the street and find it. You that's not that's not okay. And so, how do you deal with that? Well, cities put in storm sewer. Okay. So, you don't have storm sewer anywhere. So,
that costs money. And where does that come from? If you want to support the development, you're going to have to have some funds to make that stuff go. Are you going to turn to the property owner and say, "Yeah, we don't have any storm sewer." You're going to have to put in
two blocks of uh of storm sewer and that's going to be $75,000 or $100,000 and he's going to say, "Thanks. I can't do that." So, and that could happen very soon.
It could. It probably will. Yeah. When your customers get out of their car and they're ankle deep in water trying to get in the door or or your neighbor across the street is pounding on city hall's door and saying, you know, I never used to have park uh
water issues and but in a giant parking lot and now I do. And who approved that? And you know that happens and uh it really puts the city in a tough spot cuz who who doesn't want that parking lot to go in, you know, who want
who who doesn't want to see that the church expand or um you know whatever happened, a daycare go in. Um, everybody does, but you if you don't have first sewer and water, but then you
know there's streets and there's drainage, you know, and it all comes kind of hand in hand. And right now, you know, your drainage system is covers and um digits by and large.
And well, the question we see the problem coming. The question is, are we going to kick it further down the road or go ahead and start the process? That's That's right. Correct. Well, good points. Cuz it's coming.
Yeah. I mean, I don't want to pay it, but I don't want to be ankled deep in water walking into businesses either. So, or have my septic tank flood my house. Yes. Exactly. Which has happened. Those are all good points. The more we talk, the more I think, you know, it's
eminent. Side note, you guys, uh, RPU's bill has, uh, five different charges for the water, drinking water, two charges for wastewater, and two more charges for
storm sewer. So, you're looking at nine charges in the city of Rochester for water, sewer, and storm sewer. What are the two the base? What are the two charges for sewer and water? What are like what are they called? Or
water customer charge for water and then wastewater customer charge and storm water customer charge. Those are kind of your base, your base rates, your base fee and then your metered usage. Metered usage, fire hydrant facilities
charge, statemandated charge, and then your tiered rates, your usage. Wastewater is your flat fee and then your units based on metered usage for us. And then storm
water. I don't know how current this is, but there's a $530 $5.30 for storm water utility fee and a $5 for storm water customer charge. That's your
flat fee. So what's a hydro fee? Used to be like a dollar a month. Dollar. Yep. In Rochester. Now they put bags on them in the winter so it lasts longer. Believe it or not before the salt.
In Rochester. The fire department has to pay the city for every hydrant that's out there every year. They have to budget whatever that amount is. So when they put into development and they add 10 hydrants
10 more whatever it is on the that's the budget. It's kind of like a dine I think and they charge in one city department for I don't know but that's the way to do it.
What would be the next step for us to take ask the council to start working on this or I think it needs to go through the bud budgeting process. You can't do it unless you have funds. So if it gets incorporated in the budget, it's deemed important and then then
move it forward. So right now we'll talk about our budget workshop. We have one coming up 5:30 next Tuesday night. I'm not sure. So we'll have a series of workshops um sign lined up with our c monthly council meetings or maybe some special ones too.
So, so we can when it's our turn to talk about sewer and water and storm we that's when we'll talk about our request um and just see how all these boil up and what eventually comes out or what's being proposed that we have to have a
budget a preliminary budget by the end of September. Okay. And that's a very high number that we could work for the next three months to lower it. We can't increase it, but we can lower it to a more favorable rate if that's that's discussed. So, um, my opinion
again based on what Kane said, I believe that our committee should be in charge of their charge with looking at
waste water, our storm source. I mean, we got water, sewage, and then there's storm sewer. Mhm. And I think that we should be that's I don't know if it's right or
not, but that that should be added to our headaches and try and help recommend solutions for it. So, that's a mandate that the council would have to add to our portfolio. Yeah. I don't know. It's in your name.
You're a sewer and water storm water. Yeah. What's water? It's water. Whatever. I don't think they're going to come up with somebody else. No, they are either. So I guess for the takeaway from our
discussion here on Joe's litter, um if there's either a consensus or a motion to accept Joe's proposal for wasteful system, water system and the storm water utility system and Jason, would this be
acceptable to you to put into the workshop information? Do you need more? It's got background information plus the dollar figures. I' I've got it in my I've got 15,000 for storm sewer and 45 for water.
Okay, those are in my budget request for without you guys. We need that stuff when you got to deliver. I think I think the big thing we're going to need to do no matter and kind
of what we're seeing with a lot of departments is we really need to start set the bar of you know having these annual budget requests in there like the amounts of okay we're start making it a customary thing we're raising the bar um
you know that I know taxes is a sore subject in this town and raising things and the cost everything but it's really going to be beneficial for you folks as committee members to help fight for this because you're getting all the information. People only see one side of
it. We have to be able to explain as a city and as a committee going, "We need this and here's why." It's not just a one-time thing. You know, this city has a tradition of kicking the can down the road and we've now come to a point where
we have so many cans piled up, it's going to be expensive. Um because we need to start dealing with some of this stuff. um otherwise it's going to cause even more problems down the road. So, you know, I I think it's definitely something that should be in
there and if Kate's already got it in there, this is just more support for it and reasoning for it. So, so would you see So, we have a a water water utility seat utility and a storm water utility a third column of utility
603 or whatever the number is. Okay. You want a motion to support that? Yeah, I think we should put a motion in our minutes. So move it. Go ahead. I'll second it. I already did. Oh, did you?
Soon as he made the motion, I said I'll second it. Anyhow, it don't make any difference. You can't. No, no, no. Difference. recommendation. Any other questions or comments? I agree
with Jason, too. It's something we're going to be the budget is going to be a difficult process, but we need to be clear in our delivery of of of the need for all of this. So whether it's for committee members, I think it's
important that you know when you get the opportunity to speak on either public forum or it's important we share that support. So if no other comments, all those in favor signify by saying I. I post
approved. Thank you. and make a motion. The last thing on our item was next meeting is u August 12th 16th
law takes a motion to adjourn second 14. Thank you very much. Just to let you know, I'm on August meeting. It depends on when my daughter-in-law goes into labor in Alabama. Wonderful. Well, that's exciting. That's right. Grandkid number 12. Oh,
wow. Well,