Carrie Moritz, Gazette
On Monday, the Garretson City Council installed two new members to its roster. Before that, however, old business was finished up with the prior council, as they approved street re-finishing and looked at the budget.
The meeting began with some disappointing news as the council learned the gains that had been made on lowering natural gas prices had been erased, as rates jumped to $1.27 for the month. This was a $0.25 increase, and happened at the same time as the locked in rate for 30% of the city's normal usage ended. This meant that while usage went down, customers were still paying nearly the exact same total as they had for the month prior.
Clayton Energy was looking into doing a 10-year hedge instead of a 5-year hedge on 100% of Garretson's normal natural gas usage, which would hopefully reduce overall costs in future years. Clayton Energy's president believed this would be important as natural gas pricing didn't appear to have a future drop in cost. However, this was informational for the council as Clayton Energy had not yet made a decision.
Maintenance Supervisor Ryan Nussbaum reported to the council that he had received final bids for milling and overlay on Sunrise and Northfield Streets between Main and Frank Avenues.
The estimated cost for the re-finishing work came in at $58,951.50, only slightly above Nussbaum's estimated $25,000 per block. He and Maintenance Supervisor Jordan Doane had asked the council last month if they could pursue street improvements up to a cost of $100,000 for this year, and they gave the go ahead for gathering estimates.
Milling and overlay would remove the top inch and a half of asphalt and lay new, with the goal of lengthening the number of years until the full street needs to be replaced. Currently, Nussbaum reported, the streets are beginning to break up and degrade. If the council were to ignore the issue and only patch, it was likely they would have to replace those streets sooner. A full replacement comes at a higher overall cost than milling and overlay.
Nussbaum noted that in a few years, the council could chip seal the new layer, thereby extending the streets' lives even further.
He also reported that the estimate for patching several streets around town came in at $56,614.90. The total for both would come to $115,566.40.
Second penny sales tax income should be available for that work, said Nussbaum, and other options for payment are available, City Finance Officer Paetyn Dreckman said to the council.
Council members passed a motion to approve the expense, and gave Nussbaum the ok to have the work done.
Nussbaum then informed the council that a water and sewer study for a 25-year plan was recommended. Currently, the city has plenty of capacity, he said, but the Minnehaha Community Water system is building a new water treatment plant, and they're passing on the costs to customers and cities that are contracted with them.
"We are contracted for about 450,000 gallons per day, which is a lot, but that's where the study comes in," said Nussbaum. "If we wanted to contract for, say, a million gallons per day, they're going to charge us $20,000,000 just to sign the contract and then charge us for the water that we use."
He pointed out that on a hot summer day, the city uses approximately 80-90,000 gallons, but with growth in Garretson's future, he recommended the study in order to ensure the City knew when we would potentially hit capacity.
When Mayor Greg Beaner asked about cost, Dreckman and Economic Development Director Jessica Fueston stated there were grants available to cover much of the cost for the study.
Council member Bill Hoskins stated it would probably be a very good idea, as many of the sewer lines and water lines are past their life expectancy of 50-75 years. Some are original infrastructure.
Chad Hanisch of Infrastructure Design Group was in attendance at the meeting, and outlined for the council what water study options were available. One option was a water rate and infrastructure support study for $15,000-20,000. The second option would put together a model of the current system along with pipe ages, valves, flow rates, and a pressure analysis. The potential cost for the second option would be $30,000-40,000, but this would help prioritize possible issues around town and give estimates in planning for future development.
"Without a model, you're guessing at what you can provide," he said. He gave an example of a potential heavy water user in the industrial development, who would desire a concrete answer as to whether the city can provide for that request.
The council acknowledged that a water and sewer study was likely a good idea, but requested time to learn more about the options and gather information. They opted to table the request for the time being.
Nussbaum's final piece of information pertained to the lagoons on the edge of town. He pointed out that the original two are 89 years old, and have never been dredged. It was possible, likely even, that they were getting full of sludge. He said they would intend to test it first, before proceeding further.
An initial estimate for the work came in around $20,000 per lagoon. Total project costs would potentially be around $270,000. He was requesting to continue moving forward, and at least do the testing in order to develop a plan.
After learning there was funding in the water and sewer budget to cover testing, the council gave Nussbaum permission to continue researching and to gather more specific costs.
Mayor Beaner then asked Dreckman to present on a budget amendment request she had made.
"I need to propose to supplement our 2022 budget," she said. "As all of you know, there are several lines we have already overspent. There's a lot of invoices and fines that have come in that we weren't expecting. It would be best for us to go in and have a supplement so we can move forward for the year."
Mayor Beaner asked if the council wanted time to look through the information Dreckman had placed into the council DropBox file, and the council concurred, tabling the proposal until June's regular meeting.
The old council then voted to adjourn, with the new council gathering immediately after.
