Stantec Engineer Peter Daniels reviewed a preliminary engineering report regarding the city’s wastewater treatment facility at the city council’s October 21 meeting. Preston Public Utility Commission (PPU) members were also in attendance.
Past major projects to improve the facility were completed in 1962 and 1986. In 1997 a sludge storage tank was added. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s five-year permit expires July 31, 2027. Daniels described the several steps in the process which treats sewage, removes solids, and cleans water which goes into the Root River. Liquid sludge gets applied to farm fields twice a year.
Stantec has been working on a preliminary engineering report and an environmental report. The report will be reviewed by USDA Rural Development. Rural Development provides loans and grants for rural utilities.
The design for an upgraded facility will allow a significant increase in the volume which can be treated. The design will be based on population growth projections, possible growth of industry, and additions like the veterans home.
Plans to upgrade and expand the facility will include a wastewater nitrogen reduction strategy which is new for the whole state, implemented in April 2024.
The upgraded facility is needed to protect health, improve sanitation and security, to improve an aging infrastructure (40 to 60 years old), and to accommodate reasonable growth.
Daniels showed a schematic of an upgraded facility in basically the same footprint. The plant would continue to function during the updating process. The levee will need to be expanded around the site which will require some property acquisition; it is expected to extend into DNR property.
Daniels conceded at this point there are a lot of unknowns. Funding will be critical and will take time, starting with Rural Development and including multiple other funding sources. This is a multi-year effort which could include state bonding and federal appropriations. The estimated cost of the upgrade and expansion of the facility is $46 million to $55 million.
Final design for the facility is expected sometime between 2026 and 2027. There will be a two-year construction period for this kind of project.
Other Business in Brief
- A resolution was unanimously adopted to protect the right of voters in the city to determine the disposition of their municipal utilities through referendum. The city will own and operate the city’s utilities unless two-thirds of voters vote in an election to approve an ordinance or resolution passed by the city council to lease or sell the utility or to discontinue its operation. This resolution was adopted due to the fact that a couple of other cities in Minnesota have sold their electric utility by a simple city council vote to a neighboring cooperative without holding a voter referendum. This resolution will ensure that will not happen in Preston. The PPU unanimously recommended passage of this resolution. Councilman Charles Sparks who is also a representative with PPU said it is important to have this resolution in place; it protects everybody.
- After a public hearing at Planning and Zoning, P&Z recommended a request to rezone the property at 304 Fillmore St. E, the proposed location of the museum and riverfront center. The property was zoned I-1 (General Industrial). The council unanimously voted to adopt a resolution for the rezoning to B-1 (Recreation/Business) for the museum/convention hall.
- A new form to be filled out by a citizen interested in serving on a committee or a commission was approved. It allows the citizen to express the motivation to serve on a committee and provides more information including meeting schedules for the various committees, boards, or commissions.
- City Administrator Ryan Throckmorton reported the city/utility server was last replaced in 2013. The normal life expectancy is five to seven years. A cost estimate from MiBroadband (Harmony Telephone) in the amount of $7,000 to $8,000 to replace the server including labor and set-up was discussed. The cost is to be shared equally with PPU. PPU had approved their half. A motion was approved by the city council to replace the server and to pay for the city’s half.
- EDA Director Allison Whalen spoke about the “Follow the Trout Route” project to be mostly paid for with a Taylor Foundation Grant which she had applied for. The grant requires a 25% match ($6,250) in kind or with a cash match. Whalen plans to apply for matching funds from the Preston Area Community Foundation. The grant was accepted by the city council and will be used to improve Main St. pocket parks along with a Welcome to Preston windscreen at the tennis court, improvements to Pooler Park and signage along the route throughout downtown. Whalen plans to partner with schools for art installations.
- Discussion about a fiscal agent for the PHS Museum project will be continued at a November meeting. Councilman Steve Hall suggested the decision be delayed until after an upcoming meeting of the Preston Historical Society.
The city council will meet next on November 4.
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