The March 11 Peterson meeting, the city council was noticeably smaller than normal, just meeting quorum. Councilors Gail Boyum and Tracy Seelbinder, in a planned absence, were representing the city at the state capitol.
The council unanimously authorized application or Lead Replacement Funding. This follows as part of the federal Lead and Copper Rule Revisions. Peterson completed required service line mapping in fall of 2024 and identified 24 Galvanized Requiring Replacement service lines, running from the city water main to private properties.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency website, “A galvanized service line that currently is or ever was downstream of a lead service line; or is currently downstream of a lead status unknown service line.” This presents a risk of lead exposure when pipes absorb lead particles from upstream sources and potentially release them into the drinking water supply.
“This project is starting to move forward,” said City Clerk Chris Grindland. “The Minnesota Public Facilities Authority is offering funding for replacement of these services. The estimated project cost is $600,000 based on 24 services at $25,000 each. These costs are eligible for the funding and a resolution is required to authorize the city to submit the funding application.”
The council also reviewed a proposed extension to the contract with Contact Harter’s Quick Clean-Up for sanitation and recycling. The current agreement ends on January 26. The extension would extend the contract until January 2030. Costs are currently $19.75 per month for 35 and 65-gallon totes, $20.99 for the 95-gallon totes. City hall dumpster service is $84.90 per month. All rates are guaranteed for one year, but subject to updates after.
Councilor Justin Simon asked whether the city had considered other options, despite acknowledging that costs are going to continue to go up with inflation. The contract extension is in line with other contracts, according to Grindland, but he offered to contact Waste Management to get pricing.
“It’s a small enough dollar value that I don’t think it’s worth the burden of exchanging them or not. There’s probably a cost associated with a new one for setup fees. It has to be a drastic difference,” said Simon.
Mayor Chris Stenzel suggested a city survey of residents to determine needs. Currently, waste is picked up curbside weekly, but recycling is picked up every other week. He questioned whether or not a biweekly pick up for all would suit the city needs better in a future contract The council tabled the contract decision until next month.
Public Works Director Jeff Rein presented an update for the month. He indicated the city had its first Minnesota Pollution Control Agency audit two weeks prior. It occurred February 26 and it did result in a letter of warning on three violations of the city’s permit. All were primarily administrative in nature, according to City Clerk Chris Grindland. Rein noted the audit is done at any random point within a three- to five-year span.
In the first, the city missed biannual testing. Failure to monitor 12 required parameters during two monitoring periods, spring and fall, in 2022 and 2026 was documented. Grindland this was likely due to a changeover in city staffing at those times. The sampling was done the following months and the samples were submitted. Grindland further indicated that Rein has a plan in place so the samples won’t be submitted late in the future.
The second infraction was a late submission for a biosolids annual report for 2024 and 2025. This sampling is done once per year. Rein indicated he hadn’t done one before and so contacted the point person at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for assistance. That person was on leave at the time and contacted Rein upon returning. The report was filed a week late, but the MPCA worked with him to complete it.
The last violation was a National Institute of Standards and Technology-certified thermometer in the sewer plant refrigerator which had expired a month prior to the audit.
“All things that would be common for new people coming in and taking over a program. The MPCA noted the wastewater facility is generally in good physical condition and no permit limits were found during inspection. Corrective action was completed and documentation was submitted to the MPCA on March 2,” added Grindland. “No further documentation is required.”
“I thought it went well, other than those things. There are just some things we have to clean up,” added Rein.
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