Sewer Service Upgrade

The sewer system that serves the city was started in 1976.  With the establishment of the system a number of components were constructed.  The system includes a wastewater plant which is primarily a series of ponds, a pumping facility including pipeworks, and an irrigation system that discharges treated wastewater.  To get the wastewater to the treatment plant the city employs a number of lift stations.  

Lift stations essentially pump wastewater from a lower area to a higher area in the system.  A lift station involves a wet well that accumulates wastewater and generally two pumps that alternate pumping.  The pumped water goes to the higher sewer allowing gravity to move the flow in the system.  The pumps operate with the help of a control panel that houses electric equipment.  This equipment keeps track of pumping time, alternates the pumps and addresses concerns with downtime through an alarm system.  The alarm system is hooked up to a phone line with an automated dialer that calls public works staff in the event of a problem.  

As you can imagine these electronic systems become outdated and wear out.  They do receive periodic updates and repairs.  Sooner or later however the system needs to be replaced.  In addition the housing for this equipment also starts to fail making the components vulnerable to weather.   You can only apply so much caulk to try and keep the cabinets watertight.  Lift station number one controls the flow of all the wastewater in the city sending it through a forcemain to the wastewater treatment plant.  As such it gets more use than any other lift station in the system.  This lift station control panel was budgeted to be replaced this year.  

The city received quotes from two vendors for the replacement.  The high quote was received at $34,346.  The lower quote was from Quality Control & Integration at $22,890.  The city council approved the award of the replacement to Quality Control and Integration at their August meeting.  We had budgeted $40,000 for this effort.  

We anticipated that the replacement would be accomplished in late September or early October but as luck would have it, it was accomplished last week.  The process took about a day swapping out the old equipment to the new equipment.  The process involved cutting power to the lift station and removing the old control panel.  With the use of the city generator, power was given to the old control panel while it operated one of the pumps.  The other pump was hooked up to the new control panel.  Once that was operational the old panel was discontinued and the new panel was placed into service with the second pump being connected and brought on line.  Electrical service was returned and the new panel was made operational.  The system was tested and all systems were a go. 

The next project for this system is to install a by-pass structure at this lift station to provide for emergency service in the event we have a failure.  Currently there is no means to pump externally to the forcemain that feeds the wastewater plant.  We hope to accomplish this yet this fall. 

Classification and Compensation

In the State of Minnesota governmental jurisdictions are required to meet the Pay Equity law.  Pay equity was established to provide equity in compensation between male and female workers.  In essence this means that like work is to be paid similarly.  That may sound simple on the surface but how do you compare one job to another?  To accomplish this each job is reviewed considering a number of factors. 

These factors include:

          Education and experience to do the job

          The nature of decision making required

          The nature of problem solving

          The nature of relationships needed

          Mental and physical efforts

          Elements of the work environment

These factors are then rated using a point system and points from each category are added up.  These amounts are then posted to a wage scale to determine appropriate compensation for each position. 

 

The city council decided that a Classification and Compensation study should be accomplished.  This study will be done by David Drown and Associates.  With the assistance of NJPA the cost for this study is minimal.  Each position will be reviewed to classify it.  The classification process has been started and before we’re done a market analysis will be conducted to determine competitive compensations for each position within the region.  When this is completed the consultant will make a recommendation to the city council.  The recommendation will include where wage rates should be based on the classifications made and market analysis conducted.  The recommendation will then be considered by the city council.  The goal of the city council is to pay employees fairly and be competitive to attract quality employees.   It is hoped the process will be completed near the end of October.

Phone System

The phone system used within the city had a failure about a year and half ago.  The failure resulted in the system going down completely and almost all of the memory of stored information was lost.  The current system is no longer made, parts are sketchy, and technical expertise was hard to find.  We were lucky in the sense that we found a firm with individuals willing to help us put it back together.  They found a replacement circuit board that got the system running however a few of the functions we had with the original system were lost, we were however able to carry on. 

Given we were on borrowed time we budgeted for a replacement phone system for 2017.  That was the easy part; phones are no longer just something you plug into the wall.  Systems now do far more than just route calls.  In addition many phone systems are internet based meaning the phone service runs over the internet.  This brings other features to the fore front that would not be available in the past.  Sorting through all of this was both educational and confusing.  Too many choices and too many new things to consider. 

In any event the city worked with a consultant to find the solution that best meet our needs. The city will be purchasing the equipment and hiring the installation.  The system will require some wiring to make connections.  With that change a new switch is required and a number of hardware upgrades to the communication system are needed.  The current system connects both phones and internet between the Public Safety Building and City Hall with a fiber cable.  The new system will utilize this fiber but connectors at each end will need to be upgraded.  And yes, we will be seeing new phones on desks throughout both buildings. 

We had budgeted $14,000 based on previous quotes but we were able to get the cost down to about $9,500.  Progress has started but the turn over may take a month or two to accomplish.  In the meantime we’ll be busy with making changes to the communication network in the City Hall.  The Public Safety Building is current regarding wiring and houses the computer server so little work is needed there but it all comes down to it is a work in progress until it is completed. 

Bigfoot

The Park equipment in City Park is approaching 20 years old and we have seen our second failure with a slide in the past 3 years.  The majority of the equipment is heavy polyurethane plastic.  It is very durable but when it fails there is no repair.  A replacement is needed.  The slide that recently failed is a triple slide known as a big-foot slide. 

Replacement parts are available and with any park equipment it is rather expensive.  Almost half the cost of this replacement part is shipping from the factory.  With shipping the replacement bigfoot slide came to about $5,200.   The city council agreed to this purchase using reserve funds.  The current parks capital budget in intended for new features and using those funds diminishes our ability to establish them.  Using reserves allows the replacement to be funded from another source however the council would like to see funds budgeted for replacement equipment.  A line item will be applied to the 2018 budget to help fund these types of needs. 

The replacement slide has been ordered and will be installed upon its arrival.  It is unclear when this might be received but based on the last replacement it will likely be here in 3 to 4 weeks. 

The National Flood Protection Program

The National Flood Protection Program is something that is available to property owners however a number of steps are needed before flood insurance is available.  Jurisdictions need to take some steps to comply with the rules to make this happen.  The process of mapping was accomplished by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) which has recently been reviewed and updated.  With this update the city can now take the next steps in moving the process along.  The first step was taken as an indication of intent accomplished by the city council with the adoption of a resolution acknowledging the requirements and recognizing the goals of the program.  The goals generally involve the restriction of building or expansion of buildings to prevent flood damage. 

The mapping shows the areas that could be prone to flooding.  It also recognizes an elevation in which all structures in these flood prone areas must achieve.  No structures can be built or expanded if the elevation is or will be below the required elevation.  We have a few areas with structures along Pelican and Ossawinnamakee Lakes that could fall within this area.

 

The next step in the process is to adopt an ordinance that makes these requirements part of the city code.  A sample ordinance has been provided but we have some leeway in modifying this to fit our needs.  The draft ordinance needs review and approval by the DNR prior to enactment.  They need to make sure what is to be accomplished meets the requirements of the program.  We have conditional approval from them to move forward.  This ordinance will be added to the zoning code.  A public hearing will be held at the August Planning Commission meeting.  Upon their recommendation it will be forwarded to the City Council for their action. 

Following the enactment of the ordinance the city would be bound to the restrictions that are imposed for building in flood prone areas.  It will also allow property owners to acquire flood insurance from the federal program, whether or not the property is in the floodway.