10-24-16 ww committeeCity of Scandia
Wastewater Advisory Committee
October 24, 2016
A meeting of the Scandia Wastewater Advisory Committee was held on the above date. The meeting was called to order by Chris Ness at 6:30 p.m. In attendance were: Council member Chris
Ness and Committee Members Brad Bergo, Daniel Cartier, Holly Kaufhold, and Peter Nora. Also present was Administrator Neil Soltis.
Committee members Jim Schneider and Doug Salmela were absent.
Approval of Minutes - Motion by Kaufhold, seconded by Bergo, to approve the minutes from the June 23, 2016 meeting. Vote 5-0. Motion carried.
Sewer system operations and maintenance update – Soltis reported that the required sampling and testing is being conducted on a timely basis and properly documented and that all reports
have been submitted to the MPCA on a timely basis.
Pump maintenance – Soltis reported that General Repair performed inspections of and any needed maintenance on the 8 lift pumps at the Bliss addition, 2 at Anderson-Erickson, and 1 at
the Uptown system. Drawdown tests to calibrate the lift station pumped were performed earlier in the year; however, portions of the data needed for the calculation were not collected.
The data collection forms have been revised based on the MPCA calculations and the drawdown tests will be conducted again late this month
Septage disposal – Soltis reported that In the Bliss addition 68 septic tanks were inspected to determine the sludge and scum levels. As a result of the inspections additional repairs
have been made. At issue are the 14 tanks that were identified to be pumped; however, the septage must be land spread or disposed of at a MPCA facility that has been licensed to the
City and the City needs to have a licensed Level 4 operator. No one on the City staff has that designation and the City has not gone through the process to have a site licensed for
land spreading. A conversation have been initiated with the City of Marine regarding using their licensed facility under the direction of their operator. In the Anderson-Erickson
addition 25 septic tanks were inspected and 7 tanks are scheduled to be pump. The tank that serves the Uptown system is also scheduled to be pumped.
Inflow and infiltration - The Committee discussed the increased flows into the sewer systems that resulted from the heavy rains in September. The Bliss system is designed to treat up
to 19,800 gallon per day with normal flow ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 gallons. During rain event in September flows into lift station #3 increased to 31,461 gallons on 9/21 and 24,834
gallon on 9/30. The flow increases at Anderson-Erickson, where the design capacity is 6,700 gallons per day) increased from 2,000 – 3,500 gallons per day to over 6,900 gallons and
the Uptown system, with a design capacity of 7,535 gallon per day, flows increased from 800 – 1,200 gallons per day to over 2,000 gallons. The Committee discussed the need to determine
the sources of the infiltration. City engineer Ryan Goodman previously noted the potential sources could be: sump pumps could directly be discharging into the system, manholes that
are not water tight or with rim elevations above drainage flow, cracked or broken joints in the gravity pipe, broken service lines between the house and the tanks, and failure of any
backflow preventers.
Bliss nitrate follow-up with MPCA – Soltis reported that the required documents and been submitted to the MPCA and that the City will need to submit a performance report on the nitrate
levels to the MPCA by 9/2/2019. Soltis noted that Seth Peterson, of Bolton & Menk, projected that cost of adding treatment equipment to be in the range of $500,000 to $900,000.
Request for City participation in sanitary system improvements – The Committee reviewed the request from David Jessup of 198873 Layton Ave. N that the City share in a portion of the
cost to install a new sanitary sewer system that replaced the existing system when a new home was constructed on the property. The Committee did not recommend funding any portion of
the cost.
Discussion of 2017 budget: Soltis presented budget for the 201 system noting that Seth Peterson of Bolton & Menk had inspected the control panels that were scheduled for replacement
and felt that those could be deferred. The Committee discussed removing the allocable portion of health insurance costs from the personnel services portion of the budget and adding
funds for the replacement of the risers that were identified in the septic tank inspections. In reviewing the Upton sewer budget it was noted that the fund has a negative cash balance
at 12/31/2015 and is not projected to have a positive cash flow. The Committee discussed removing the health insurance costs from the Uptown sewer budget. The Committee discussed
the sewer rates, rate increase history, comparison against the Marine on the St. Croix system, the design capacity of the system versus current flows, and the basis for a rate increase.
The Committee recommended continued discussion on a rate increase at the next meeting. The Committee discussed the long term cash flow projection for the 201 system noting that
an expenditure of $200,000 for the Anderson-Erickson drainfield is planned for 2022, that at least $500,000 will be needed for nitrate treatment by 2025, and that the cumulative cash
requirement assuming 2022 construction would be $693,000. The Committee discussed increasing rates to create a replacement reserve, the issuance of debt to fund the projects, and the
need to increase cash flow by roughly $20,000 per year in order to service any debt. The Committee recommended that the sewer rate for the 201 system be increased by 5% for 2017 which
will generate roughly $3,000 in additional revenue.
Future Meeting Dates: The Committee will be at a date to be determined.
No further discussion occurred and the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Neil Soltis
Administrator