Wastewater issues discussed

There was a lot of discussion about wastewater at Monday's Brainerd City Council meeting, but little action.

After about 45 minutes of discussion, the council, in a 5-2 vote, defeated a motion stating the city of Baxter's request for additional capacity at Brainerd's wastewater treatment facility doesn't need to be addressed at this time but could be looked at in the future if the need arises.

Voting against the motion were council members Kelly Bevans, Kevin Goedker, Anne Nelson Fisher, Mark O'Day and Bob Olson. Voting in favor were council members Lucy Nesheim and Bonnie Cumberland.

The issue was on the council's agenda because staffers were asked for sewer flow projections. In a memo to the council, city engineer Jeff Hulsether said it would be difficult to estimate future flow projections for the city.

Because it was unclear what Brainerd's future wastewater capacity needs would be, Hulsether said it was city staff's opinion to not prematurely grant the city of Baxter additional capacity at the city's wastewater treatment facility.

Cumberland, a former Brainerd Public Utilities Commission member, said the motion supported staffers and reinforced the idea that once Brainerd gives away capacity at its wastewater facility it won't get it back.

"It let's Baxter know they already know their limit," Cumberland said. "I think this is a powerful statement and I'm going to vote for it."

A majority of council members disagreed.

"I'm going to vote against it because it chaps my behind when we waste our time voting to say we're going to do nothing," Bevans said.

Council member Mark O'Day said the motion didn't go anywhere and he would like to think that if Baxter wants extra capacity Brainerd would negotiate. He said he would have a motion following the city's next joint meeting with Baxter after Jan. 1.

Nesheim supported the motion because she felt it would push Baxter to correcting their problem with solids and other material in their wastewater, which would lower the amount of wastewater pumped into the plant. She said Brainerd would be doing the same thing in correcting its inflow and infiltration issues.

A second motion made by Fisher to have staffers put together general figures regarding population and flow projections passed by a 6-1 vote, with Nesheim against. A second motion by Fisher, to request Brainerd Public Utilities increase educational efforts in the area of conservation and reducing mass loading was defeated by a 4-3 vote, with Nesheim, Goedker, Cumberland and O'Day against.

In other action, the council:

Approved a request from Main Street Coordinator Emily Roragen for a horse-drawn trolley that will give people rides through downtown Brainerd from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. on Dec. 8. The trolley rides are part of a downtown holiday celebration that runs from Nov. 30 - Dec. 15 in downtown Brainerd.

Approved assessments for the Bluff Avenue and Dal-Mar Drive/Serene Pines improvement projects. One resident on the Bluff Avenue project, Jan Burton, opposed the assessments because she felt they were too high. Burton also had issues with the outcome of the project itself, saying she objected to the work done, lack of information from contractors and the inconvenience to homeowners. The council directed staffers to meet with residents along the project about their concerns.

Approved assessments for the downtown snow removal assessment district. Jon Livingston, commander of the American Legion, said his club objected to the assessment because, he said, it went from $55 last year to $275 this year, there was a mismeasurement of the Legion building, residents aren't assessed for snow removal and their own janitor does a better job at sidewalk snow removal. The bid for downtown snow removal was awarded to Tom's Backhoe Service.

Adjourned to a budget workshop at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 13 at Brainerd City Hall.

Agreed to close city hall at noon on Christmas Eve.

Approved the first reading on a conditional use permit request to rezone the former Assembly of God Church on South Sixth Street from residential to general business. The church has donated the building to Minnesota Teen Challenge, which would need the CUP to locate to the property.

Learned that David Pueringer's request for an additional liquor license to open a bar at the former site of Tropical Nites was withdrawn.

Approved a $107,873 grant through June 30, 2010, for an additional police officer.

Accepted the retirement of Firefighter Dennis Bollig.

MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.