Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Regionalization of treatment plant rolls forward for Montrose, Waverly



Plans to expand its wastewater facility rolled forward,
as the Montrose City Council discussed the project at its meeting last Monday.

The city expects to break ground in June, and have the
project completed in the fall of 2003, said City Clerk Barb Swanson.

The Montrose project will regionalize sewer service to
include services for City of Waverly and 12 Hi Estates, a manufactured home
park located about halfway between Montrose and Waverly, Swanson said.

The project includes a force main from Waverly to the facility
located in Montrose, several lift stations, facility changes, and improvements.

The council approved a last minute design change regarding
phosphorous discharge, as required by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The change amounted to $50,000 additional cost, said City
Engineer Brad DeWolf.

The council approved land acquisition from Emily (Terning)
Rachel for expanding the treatment plant. The land contains 18.7 acres
and is located west of the existing facility, extending to Highway 25.
It was approved for $15,000 per acre, for a total of $280,500.

The council also discussed ideas about adding a permanent
public works employee to the city staff in the future.

This spurred an interesting discussion about maintenance
staff at both Waverly and Montrose.

Waverly has a class C plant right now, said Director of
Public Works Del Haag.

Montrose has a class D facility right now, which will jump
up to a class B when the facility is upgraded.

This will cause a catch 22 situation with staff, Haag said,
since a class B license requires someone to already be working for a number
of years at a class C facility. Montrose maintenance employee Roger Vanderlinde
would be unable to train in as the result.

Haag has a class B license, but the city may want to hire
someone with a class C license already for the future full time position
to keep more than one person on staff to operate the plant.

Haag expressed a preference to hiring someone in time to
witness the installation of the plant, in order to be fully aware of the
situation.

It was noted that Waverly maintenance supervisor John Rassat
has a class C license. Rassat took his class B test in March, and Jim Woitalla,
who also works for Waverly, would be taking a C license test, Haag said.
Haag did not know what the results of the tests were.

Neither one are employees of Montrose, but it may be something
that could be addressed in a joint powers agreement, Haag said.

Turning to other subjects, the council heard from resident
Sylvia Henry at 600 Nelson Boulevard.

Henry asked about restoring her yard from utility work
done by the city last summer, as well as a stand-up pipe located at the
center of an extra driveway on her property.

The pipe is a sewer extension that services that lot, Haag
said.

Mayor Charles Nelson assured Henry that as soon as the
ground dries out, the city would be over to restore her yard and address
the pipe, he said.

In other matters, the council: recognized the Montrose
Lions for $1,000 donation to youth ball, $2,000 to SPARK (Community Ed),
$6,000 to Montrose Days, and $11,000 toward the loan payment for the community
center.

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