Easiest solution is for residents to dispose of in trash

By Robert Williams

Editor

Public Works Supervisor Larry Stephenson emphasized the effects of “flushable” wipes on the city’s wastewater flow. The wipes are a continuing problem that will eventually cause a major buildup at the wastewater treatment plant, because wipes do not break down like toilet paper.

“I don’t know how to combat this,” Stephenson said. 

Stephenson reported that eventually the use and flushing of these wipes will create an event that can only be solved by having the primary pond dredged. That job can be expensive to the tune of a couple thousand dollars.

Stephenson encouraged residents to immediately stop flushing the wipes.

His suggestion to cover a future dredging job was for the city to entertain adding a monthly fee of unknown amount to earmark funds for such a project.

“That’s if the wipe issue doesn’t slow down drastically,” he said. “I bet I pull a wheelbarrow full of them a week out of our bar screen. Now, you get a wheelbarrow a week over a month, two months, pretty soon you’re looking at dump trucks worth of this stuff and it’s all piling up at our primary pond.”

Frazee is not the only municipality that suffers this problem.

“It’s every city,” Mayor Mike Sharp said, to which Stephenson agreed.

Stephenson also noted there are some options to look at when the new lift station is installed early next year as part of the East Main project, but the problem will still remain.

Wastewater Districts across the country are running “Don’t Flush” advertising campaigns. 

“Looking at the new lift station project, that is the place to take these wipes out of the stream of the sewer before they’re heading out to the ponds,” said City Engineer Chris Thorson. 

Stephenson and Thorson both claimed the screens do not catch all the wipes.

“We have to look at what kind of products are out there to make sure that catching an adequate amount is meeting a cost benefit ratio of putting this equipment in, rather than dealing with it out at the pond five, 10 years down the road to do a dredging project and remove those materials from the pond itself,” Thorson said.

Dredging is not the “end of the world,” said Thorson, but it’s still another cost the city will have to entertain.

“The dredging will eliminate the problem today and then tomorrow it starts again,” said council member Mark Kemper.

Thorson said the size of Frazee’s ponds have a lot of volume to handle the problem, but there is no way to determine how long between the dredgings.

The ponds have yet to be dredged once in the past 40 years, according to Stephenson.

“We know this is an issue but where do we want to deal with it?” Thorson proposed. “My first thought is it’s easier to deal with them out at the ponds in the future with a planned project rather than deal with them on a weekly basis trying to collect them and dispose of them.”

Stephenson and Thorson will continue conversations on potentially coming to a conclusion, without saying outright the easiest solution would be if residents stopped flushing the wipes immediately.

In other public works news, the city’s plowing equipment is ready to battle the upcoming snow events. Stephenson hopes the ice rink will be ready for skating shortly, depending on the frost line in the ground.

The public works department finished sewer main flushing on the east side of town throughout the East Main project. Most of the town’s sewer mains are flowing correctly, with a few blocks to  be jetted next spring, according to Stephenson’s report. 

Comp & Class

David Drown Associates Principal Consultant Mark Goldberg presented a Compensation and Classification study for city employees. Research from 11 surrounding cities, excluding Detroit Lakes, was used for comparison. 

According to Goldberg, Frazee was at five percent on the minimums and 3.5 percent on the low end of the maximum scale. Adjustments were made to improve to 1.9 percent above the market on the minimums and 3.6 percent above the minimums on the max.

“It’s a decent shift, but it puts you in a much better spot,” Goldberg said. “Now it’s a lot more competitive.”

“It’s good news that we’re not really out of line,” Mayor Mike Sharp said.

The study helps set a salary structure and ranges based on the specific job, not the person, and based on the regional market.

Fire Department

21 – Active Firefighters;  1 – Firefighter on Leave of Absence

Calls For Service

October Fire Calls – 7;  Year to Date – 73 total calls 

October Mutual Aid Calls – 2 2 – Grass Fire 2 – Vergas Structure Fires 1 – Un-Authorized Fire (Burning Ban) 1 – Medical Assist 1 – Missing Persons 

ARMER Grant – Submitted, June 2024. (12 new radios, up $40,000) – Awarded.

New Radio Purchase – ARMER Grant Awarded for $40,000

New Firefighter Testing – January 2025

Rescue Squad

October Total Calls 20 (9 in the city, 11 outside); 17 responded to; four days had multiple calls.

Other calls: 1 Football game; 2 nights at Haunted Forest; 1 House burn (training); 1 Trunk or Treat event; 1 Halloween parade.

Rescue is working with the fire department to establish protocols for monitoring firefighters during activities involving physical exertion.

Rescue President Matthew Johnson also presented usage of the active 911 system and detailed the Frazee rescue area, after a request last meeting from council member Jim Rader.

Frazee Rescue is physically located at the far southern border of the coverage area that includes: a border of the Otter Tail/Becker county line; Burlington Township; Silver Leaf; Height of Land and a small portion of the western edge of Evergreen township.

In extended portions of the coverage area, namely northern Height of Land township, calls will sometimes be shared with neighboring rescues depending on the ability to get to the call quickest in some of the more rural areas.

Johnson cited a call in the Toad Lake area that took 20 minutes to get an ambulance from Park Rapids.

“You just never know exactly what resource will be available when that call comes out,” he said. 

The Rescue coverage map is not the same as the fire department’s, which runs off of mutual aid agreements. Rescue coverage is dictated by townships.

Liquor Store

Liquor Store Manager Amanda Young reported a sales comparison for the year from Jan. 1-Nov. 20 of 2023 versus 2024. The total sales of $625,600 show an improvement of $95,000, with much of that surplus coming from on sale.

Police Department

Chief of Police Tyler Trieglaff reported nine new ordinance violations. Parking issues are now included. There were two vehicle violations; one motor vehicle crash in town and a fender bender in the school lot.

No landlord violations were reported.

Trieglaff, Public Works Supervisor Larry Stephenson and Council Member Andrea Froeber discussed the legal process of complete ordinance enforcement, including abatement when it comes to seizing property via court order, including rubbish removal.

Administration

City Administrator Stephanie Poegel reported on an ongoing problem in Frazee that land legal descriptions do not match surveys on many parcels.

“It’s the majority of parcels in town it sounds like,” she said. “For our properties, we may end up  having official surveys done because there were never official recorded surveys on a lot of properties.”

City Attorney Thomas Winters is meeting with different county departments on the issue and will return to council with a recommendation on a next move.

Winters has also moved to the next step in reaching the closing of the sale of Eagle Lake Park to the Eagle Lake Park Association, Inc., a non-profit corporation made up of area homeowners. The sale of $190,000 has been in process since early 2023 when a 45-day purchase agreement extension was granted to complete all surveying to avoid any title issues going forward with one neighbor of the property. The sale has continued to meet delays since then, but it is scheduled to be completed before the end of 2024.

East Main

According to Thorson, crews are still waiting on mailboxes, traffic and street signs to be installed. Thorson said this is the last portion of work on the project and should have been completed weeks ago, however delays in getting materials on time are why it is not completed.

The project will be reassessed after winter with final paving to be completed by June.