Council says New Trafton Lift Station a Possibility

The Malta City Council held its bi-weekly meeting on Tuesday night, May 11, in the City Hall, at 5:00 p.m.

The meeting was called to order by Mayor John Demarais. In attendance were council members James Sintler, William Hicks, Bonnie Wiederrick, and David Rummel. Also in attendance were City Clerk/Treasurer Lorie Bond, Public Works Director Jim Truelove, and guest Bob Church from Great West Engineering.

Mayor Demarais asked the council to approve the minutes from the last meeting, approve the agenda for the nights' meeting, approve payment of claims, and approve the April 2021 payroll. All of which was motioned, seconded and passed by general vote.

Public Works Director, Jim Truelove, then gave his report to the council.

Truelove stated that the city crew has done a couple of digs since the last council meeting. One service line and one storm drain on 1st Street and 2nd Avenue. Both were repaired. They will have one more dig tomorrow, (May 12), with a couple more to follow. They will be just service lines.

He then said that all of the sprinklers have been turned on in the parks, and are ready to go.

Truelove updated the council on the city pool saying that the city crew is painting the outside of the pool house. They started that today (May 11). He said that they should be done with that by the end of the week.

PWD Truelove then stated, "My plan is to start painting the interior of the pool next week, and then fill on the week of May 25th."

Truelove continued by saying the pool is set to open on June 7, the Monday after the car show. Filling the pool the week of the 25th would give him enough time to get the balance right with the chemicals in the water.

Truelove continued his report to the council by saying the city crew is continuing to patch the city roads. No large asphalt patches, just the small pot-hole bag patches.

PWD Truelove reported that the furnace had been delivered to the Women's Club House. He then said, "It should be in by this weekend. The ducting may take a couple more days because it was terribly undersized."

Truelove reported that R&G has seeded and fertilized the city lots.

PWD Truelove finished his report by stating that a toilet is on order for the Trafton Park bathroom. The bathroom doors will be taken off and painted, and the bathroom will be opened next week.

City Clerk/Treasurer Lori Bond then gave her report to the council.

Bond first handed out the April financials, the current check register, the current shut-off list, the April payroll, overtime, vacation, sick leave report, and the current revenue and expenditure, budget vs. actual report to the council members.

CC/T Bond added to the budget report saying that, "There will be a need for an amendment to the sewer budget in the near future as we have used 99% of it.

She added, "With having to replace the blowers and completing the outfall line this year, we have had some unexpected expenditures."

Mayor Demarais asked, "Would we have been ok on the budget if we didn't need to replace the blowers and order the extra pipe?"

Bond answered, "Yes, we had set a conservative budget for the sewer this year. We have just had some unforeseeable costs."

CC/T Bond reported that there would be a town-hall meeting with the League of Cities and Towns on May 21, at 9:00 a.m. to talk about the American Relief Plan. (Covid money) She said that she had forwarded the email to council members.

Bond then stated that there was a request to use the dance hall to get ready for a wedding. She said that the party requesting it was not renting out City Hall, they just wanted to use the dance hall because of the big mirrors.

The council discussed the request and a motion was made to allow it. It was seconded and passed unanimously by a roll call vote.

The council then moved on to a couple of old business items that were tabled during the last meeting to give the City Attorney a chance to look over a couple of items and make changes to them if needed.

The first was a request for a signature on an application by PhillCo for the MBID DEQ. (Malta Business and Industrial Development, Department of Environmental Quality)

This was given an ok by the City Attorney and a motion was made to grant it. It was seconded and passed unanimously by a roll call vote.

The second old business item was a request by PhillCo for a signed letter regarding Malta's ability and willingness to serve the MBID subdivision with water and sewer and accepting the low fire flows.

The City of Malta's Attorney office, Cole Amestoy & O'Brien made a few changes and additions to this letter.

It was discussed by the council and a motion was made to sign the amended letter as it was changed by the Attorney's office. It was seconded and passed by a unanimous roll call vote.

Mayor Demarais then moved the council on to the new business at hand.

The first item was a project update from Bob Church of Great West Engineering (GWE).

He started by informing the council of the reasons for a Trafton Lift Station replacement.

The first of which is that the facility is 70 years old. All of the sewage in Malta goes through this facility and then gets pumped to the treatment facility.

It is getting harder to find replacement pumps and parts for the lift station.

There is standing sewage in the pump room which is a health and safety issue.

Church said, "The facility could probably limp along for a few more years, but my viewpoint is that there is some money available right now to take care of this and pay for the investment, and really take care of one of, if not the most important pieces of the cities infrastructure at the same time."

Church then went over a handout that he had prepared showing the council some of the problems that exist with the current facility.

Church told the council that the current lift station is a tri-plex pumping system. Which is a fancy way of saying that you have three pumps.

The new lift station would be a submersible lift station. GWE would recommend a small building to house all of the controls for this type of project.

GWE would also recommend a dedicated generator. Due to the fact that if this facility goes down, you have nothing to do with your sewer and it will start backing up into the residents.

Church then showed a schematic that gave an example as to where the new facility would be put.

"The nice thing about building a brand new facility rather than rehabbing the old one is we could build the whole new facility, get it ready to connect it, test it and make sure it's ready to go, and then tie it over to the sewer system the same day."

Church told the council that with submersible lift stations, they are lower maintenance and there is a much lower hazard to operators. There are just a lot of advantages to this type of setup.

Church then moved on to talk about the cost of this project.

He said that when you do something like this, it comes with a big price tag. We are estimating it to be a $1.1 million project, which is very significant.

He went on to say, "We are fortunate right now that there will be a direct appropriation of about $500,000. This is funds given to the city for water and sewer projects only."

Church went on to inform the council that there is also another bigger pot of money that the state is going to hold a grant competition for and that those applications are due by July 15.

One thing that is needed for this grant is a technical report, which GWE is working on for Malta.

Church said it is GWE's belief that through this competitive grant fund, that the city could get the other $614,000 to fund this project.

GWE feels that, because of the health and safety problems this project would fix, it is a very good competitive project, and that can be demonstrated on the application.

Mayor Demarais asked Church, "So what you're saying is that we could get this $1.1 million project basically for nothing? With no rate raises?"

Church answered, "Yes, that is what I want to do for you guys if that is the direction you want to go."

Mayor Demarais then informed the council that he would be bringing a video to the next meeting to show the council what the problems are with the current lift station.

Demarais said, "It's basically a death trap. I'm surprised that all of the years that we've been here, that nobody has died down there. We've been very lucky, even though we take all of the precautions in the world. I think this is a win, win, win, for the city. I've been looking at this all day, and I can't see anything wrong with it."

Councilman David Rummel commented, "I think this could be one of the easiest decisions that we ever make."

Rummel then asked Church what would happen if the city didn't get the other $614,000?

Church responded, "I think that if you didn't get the other money, then you are still looking at the $500,000 and would need to figure out what other water and sewer projects need to happen."

The council decided to put the project on the next meetings' agenda to have a vote.

Mayor Demarais then moved on to try and do a better job of explaining exactly what a CIP (City Improvement Plan) is and why he feels it is a necessity that Malta has one in place.

Demarais explained to the council that he had talked to many other mayors across the state and asked if their city's had a CIP. All of them stated that they did. Some saying it is an invaluable resource and is a priceless tool for doing budgets.

The Mayor went on to explain that the cost of getting a CIP done would be paid half by a grant, and that the other half could be found from seven or eight other areas within the budget taken in equal amounts.

Church added that the way the new fiscal year is falling, it would also be possible to split the other half of the cost between this year's and next year's budget.

Mayor Demarais asked that the council rethink the vote for a CIP, and asked that it be put on the agenda for the next meeting.

The last item of new business was a request by PhillCo for an engineer to do the water/sewer construction inspection and 'as builts' for the MBID property.

It was tabled to the next meeting to allow the city attorney time to reply.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:14.

The next city council meeting will be on May 25, in City Hall at 5:00 p.m.