Water issues dominate most of the meeting

By Robert Williams

Editor

The Frazee City Council continued discussions and ultimately voted unanimously to remove the request for proposals to develop the Mickelson property, a 4.05-acre parcel owned by the City of Frazee that is available for potential development, possibly for multi-family or senior living projects.

The other option is to straight list the property for sale with the caveat of the city wanting some control of a reputable developer or owner buying the property, per Mayor Mike Sharp.

“As long as it’s not for discriminatory purposes, you guys are fine to sell it to whomever you want,” said City Attorney Thomas Winters.

Council Member Andrea Froeber reported that the Economic Development Authority’s housing subcommittee recommended removing the RFP as it has been in place for five years and has not produced any success.

The asking price for the property will be at least $65,000 to cover the specials attached to the property.

“Essentially, the council is not making any money on the property, just getting back the specials and sales fees,” said City Administrator Stephanie Poegel.

The vacant land is worth $37,300 according to Becker County.

Discussions on the price were up to as high as $100,000 including the specials and the $37,300.

“I’m looking to get out of it; we’re not in the land business,” said council member Mark Kemper. “If we can get $65,000 and they pay all closing costs I’m good with that.”

Mayor Sharp concurred on Kemper’s assessment.

The council agreed on a sales amount of $70,000 and will list the property for sale.

Base, user fees

Poegel reported the city currently has eight properties that have a curb stop and a line to a structure with no meter that are being charged base rates, user fees and storm sewer fees, while there are 17 properties that are not being charged.

Historically, properties with no meter did not get charged. The city staff has been working on rectifying the issue. 

A curb stop is a water service shutoff valve located in the water service pipe, typically near the curb or property line and between the water main and the building that is used to control the flow of water to a property and is accessible from aboveground.

“The biggest thing that we’re looking at are these houses that have been sitting empty for 15-20 years,” said Public Works Supervisor Larry Stephenson.

Stephenson and Sharp discussed using other ordinances, like condemnation, as a solution for some of the abandoned properties.

Most of the 17 non-charged properties are abandoned homes or some downtown business properties. 

The question was should all 25 properties be charged or not. All 25 properties have lines running to the structure.

“Wouldn’t somebody have an argument of those eight homes that are getting charged a base rate and storm sewer, wouldn’t they have a compelling argument that if we have 17 houses that aren’t being charged?” Froeber asked.

“It needs to be uniform one way or the other,” said Winters. 

“Of those 17, half of those are probably vacant and we should start the condemnation process and get them torn down so there is some new development,” Froeber said.

“Some of them are businesses downtown that have been off for years; there may be a meter inside, it’s just turned off at the curb stop,” Poegel said.

Typical totals for all three water and sewer charges are approximately $50 per month.

The council voted unanimously to not charge properties without a structure with a water line to the structure and charge those that do.

Public Works

Stephenson reported the city will start adding Ortho Phosphate to the drinking water at the treatment plant to help with the corrosion issues that have been happening.

“We don’t have a choice,” he said. “Basically, to curb these higher copper levels we have to do something.” 

The crew also completed a service line inventory regarding the replacement of galvanized lines, including one current customer that has a leak. Not being able to find any leaks surfacing in town, the city crew has been listening to areas of known galvanized work to try to locate more leakage.

“I feel we’re going through 80,000 gallons a day more than we should be, which gets to be quite substantial,” said Stephenson.

Mayor Mike Sharp asked for a usage percentage of 80,000 gallons. 

Stephenson reported that the city typically should be using between 80,000 and 120,000 gallons per day and have recorded days up to 180,000 gallons and more than 200,000 gallons.

“We can’t just go fixing everybody’s services, but losing 80,000 gallons per day at what cost versus possibly trying to assist somebody with something…I don’t know what the answer is,” Stephenson said.

He also noted the 80,000 gallons equates to 30-35 percent of overall usage.

Poegel reported there was supposed to be state funding available for this type of work, but assumed a completed study came back with a report of a lot more houses with the issue than anticipated.

Council member Jim Rader asked if retroactive funding was available for any improvements made and Poegel stated that she had heard from the state that it is not possible.

“Which is the hard part, especially, for this family because they have to do it now,” she said. 

Council member Drew Daggett asked on behalf of a resident if they can put a well in on city property.

Poegel replied that if they are within 100-feet of the water main there is not supposed to be a well on the property per city ordinance.

“If they can hook up to city water they’re not supposed to have a well on their property,” said Poegel.

The city also has a wellhead protection plan in place with the Department of Health, that clearly states within city limits existing wells should be abandoned and there should be no permitting of future wells because of possible contamination, according to City Engineer Chris Thorson.

Stephenson cited a smaller town, like Dent, that formerly had all wells in town until they started to go bad and the city was forced to create a storm sewer system to control the septic end of the problem.

“Flushable wipes” remain a big issue for the city’s sewer system. Both Stephenson and Froeber encouraged city residents to not flush fibrous wipes into the system.

Event Center

According to Manager Jolene Tappe’s report, the Event Center is booked every weekend, but one between July and November.

Staffing

Poegel announced a Deputy City Clerk has been hired from a pool of 50 candidates. The candidate to fill the position vacated by Nancy Kiehl on May 1 was selected out of a dozen qualified candidates, of which seven were interviewed. A start date was not yet determined.

Wannigan Park

The council awarded the low bid of $583,619.50 to Dennis Drewes, Inc., of Frazee, to complete the two-mile Active Transportation I trail through Wannigan Regional Park. 

The Drewes bid was below the engineer’s estimate of approximately $700,000 and well below the two bids submitted by Central Specialties Inc., of Alexandria and Hough Inc., of Detroit Lakes, both above $900,000. 

The two-mile paved loop trail through the park will be paid for by already acquired grant funds.