City, All Seasons Water District discuss costs at special meeting
Representatives from All Seasons Water Users District (ASWUD) met with Rugby City Council members Dec. 15 to discuss concerns over costs for improvements to the city’s water system.
The water district has purchased their water from the City of Rugby for many years. Representatives meet annually to true-up, or balance the amount paid for water purchased. At the Dec. 15 special meeting, council members told the ASWUD representatives the district owed $69,893.30 to the city for water service.
ASWUD President Rachel Wald attended the meeting along with Dan Schaefer, manager for the district and Jon Nelson, a board member for the district.
Nelson and Wald questioned the true-up amount, which Rugby City Auditor Jennifer Stewart said was higher this year due to emergency repairs done to water lines coming from city wells.
Nelson noted the city had purchased clarifiers for the water plant as well, which would appear on ASWUD’s bill in the future. “This is getting to be a real concern,” Nelson said. “Obviously, that well line is a redundant line. We had some questions as to the break itself, whether that was naturally occurring or could have been prevented with proper maintenance. I really question with the City of Rugby, some of the engineering costs that the council approves.”
Nelson also said some maintenance tasks and repairs could be done by employees from Rugby public works and ASWUD alone without input from Rugby’s city engineer Jim Olson, who provides services through AE2S of Grand Forks. Taking away the engineer’s involvement would save money, Nelson indicated.
“There should be more cooperation to be as efficient as we possibly can so we can get the job done,” Nelson added.
Nelson gave an example of a problem workers encountered replacing a fire hydrant in Rugby Dec. 13. City workers identified and repaired malfunctions in valves that resulted in several residences being left without water for several hours.
Olson responded, “There’s certain expertise, Jon, where you use engineers rather than tell public works to go out and listen to the valves and see if they can figure it out. There’s much more to it than that.”
Olson advised city public works employees to troubleshoot water valves throughout town to make sure they were in good working order.
“I understand there’s a need for expertise. But I think we have a very adept public works department,” Nelson said.
“I agree,” Olson answered.
Nelson also expressed concerns about conversations council members have had about replacing pipes made with asbestos cement. Nelson, who also represents District 14 in the North Dakota State Legislature, said state and federal government offer financial assistance to replace lead pipes, however, there are no such programs for pipes containing asbestos.
“Who knows what’s going to happen with subsequent infrastructure bills, but with the one that was just passed, the rules are just coming down and they’re being developed and the lead lines are identified in the language,” Nelson said. “Asbestos lines are not at this point, but there may be a way to wiggle into that funding mechanism. There are additional funding possibilities.”
Council member Gary Kraft said, “We’ve had to make repairs. They happen to be expensive because of where they’re at.” Kraft told Nelson and the other ASWUD representatives the city had no current plans to replace the water lines.
“The only imminent project is the clarifiers, and that’s been on the table for several years,” Rugby Mayor Susan Steinke told the representatives.
City Auditor Jennifer Stewart, who also attended the meeting, pointed out, “Any grant funding the city receives, you’re not charged for what that pays for. We deduct that before we pass on the expense. You’re benefiting from that, too.”
“Absolutely. We’re hoping we can get a little bit more of that on the projects that are huge,” Wald said.
Nelson pointed out some current city water projects have only received 60 percent funding from grants and other programs. Nelson said the water district, which serves rural customers, needed more than 60 percent financial assistance for large projects before they could afford them.
Olson told the group asbestos would possibly cause a problem due to cracks and defects in seals caused by factors such as ground movement over time. “It’s definitely a killer. People die from it every day. But I’m not trying to sell you new pipe. That’s off the table with me.”
Council member Dave Bednarz said he was thankful for Olson’s help.
“Jim did not charge us to tell us about shutting off these valves around town,” Bednarz said. “That was a proactive thing. You could say our guys would probably know about that and they probably would if it came up. It came up and Jim recommended we check on these.”
“We’ve accomplished more in the last two years than we have in the last 10 and I’ve been on here 16 years and we didn’t do (anything). I’m really proud of Jim Olson being our engineer,” Bednarz added. “Yes, we’ve got to curb a few things he comes up with but our guys are like us. They’re human. They do not have that much experience with preventive maintenance. Troy’s learning the water plant as best as he can. Dale’s getting on board and we’ve hired an excellent guy, but we need the advice of an engineer.”
Council members also told the water district representatives they planned to purchase a GPS system to help workers monitor water lines.
Both the council and the water district representatives agreed to improve efforts to communicate with each other on projects. However, council members pointed out that emergencies might still have to be addressed immediately.
In other business, city employees Troy Munyer and Dale Klein told the group they had discovered the city water plant needed a chlorine detector on its second level. The council decided to investigate the cost of installing a monitor.
Olson told the council a contract with infrastructure firm Wagner Construction for work on sewer lines in the area near 2 ½ Avenue was ready for signing. Olson added the city was still negotiating with M.J. McGuire Company about work on their property, which would be affected by the project.
The council also briefly discussed possible future sewer infrastructure projects and updating maps of the city.