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Alderwoman Marty Neitzel asked that waste treatment manager David
Kitzmiller lead the discussions. Economic recovery funds for
Fifth Street sewer project
Kitzmiller began with recent developments stemming from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency. The funds administered by the EPA
revolving loan fund have been doubled and will be distributed to
municipalities for projects in a two-part format.
In order to apply, the city of Lincoln must have a project
application submitted by the end of March.
Funds will be allocated by the EPA no later than the end of
September, and awarded projects must be started before the end of
the calendar year.
If the city applies for and wins an award, 25 percent of the
total would be in the form of a grant, with the other 75 percent
being an interest-free 20-year loan.
Kitmiller says that the project the city is most ready to begin
is the Fifth Street sewer project, which will cost about $170,000.
There are two phases to the application process. Hansen
Engineering has said that they will do the initial phase, a
pre-application, free of charge, but they may request loan
administration fees for the final application to cover extra
engineering and drafting services that would be needed.
During discussion, it was noted that the extra fees Hansen will
charge can be added to the total request.
The EPA will prioritize projects, and there is no guarantee that
the city will get funding. Awards will first be given to projects
that have requests already pending. After that, projects will be
prioritized according to readiness to commence.
Issues with Singleton lift station
Kitzmiller gave the council handouts with diagrams of the
Singleton lift station and explained how the station works. He said
that one valve has failed in the double-valve station. The repair
would involve replacing both valves at an estimated cost of $15,000
plus any incidentals, such as pipes that might have to be replaced.
Kitzmiller said the Singleton station is going to need to be
replaced eventually, and when it is, valves that are replaced now
will be money lost because they are the wrong size to use anywhere
else.
He offered the committee three options for remedy, with the third
one being a major project that would ultimately save the city a good
deal of money. After much discussion, the committee decided to have
Kitzmiller and city engineer Mark Mathon pursue the third option.
That project would involve redirecting waste from two lift
stations on Woodlawn, one referred to as the Kmart and the other the
Zion.
The Kmart would be taken out completely, and gravity flow lines
would direct waste to a line that runs between the old Wal-Mart
building and Kroger south to a new force main that would be located
along the east side of Malerich Drive.
The Zion station would remain in place and would pump waste along
Malerich Drive to the new force main.
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From the force main, waste would travel south to Fifth Street and
join the sewer system there.
An existing line that now runs along the west side of Lincoln
Parkway from Woodlawn to Fifth Street would be taken out of use and
filled with concrete.
In the final step, the Kmart lift station would be moved to the
Singleton location.
Kitzmiller says that the total cost of the project is around
$360,000 but will actually save the expense of a new lift station
for Singleton. In addition, this would be where the new hospital and
Castle Manor would connect to the city sewerage system. The city may
be able to recover some of its costs from the construction of those
two facilities.
Kitzmiller said that he and Mathon have done all the measurements
and shot the elevations to assure that the gravity flow would work,
but he suggested that the city hire Donohue and Associates to
perform the calculations again and verify they are correct, at a
cost of $2,500. The committee voted to go ahead with that
recommendation.
New electric supplier prospect
The city of Lincoln is looking for a new electric supplier for
city services. Kitzmiller offered the council a large packet of
information regarding the electric usage and rates on the market
currently.
He pointed out that a document from a supplier called
Mid-American Energy shows a savings of roughly 15 percent on a
24-month agreement. The figure he presented to the council was only
for the wastewater treatment plant, which must move from Ameren no
later than June 1, 2010.
If the city would move all its electric usage to Mid-American and
increase the term length of the agreement, the savings could be
greater.
Kitzmiller said that he has asked Mike Ellis, salesman for
Mid-American, to come to the March 24 meeting to address any
questions the council might have.
This concluded the discussions on the sewage treatment plant,
sewers and drainage at the sanitation committee meeting.
[By NILA SMITH] |
