City Council Minutes 09-24-2012 SpecialMINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING— MONTICELLO CITY COUNCIL
Monday, September 24, 2012 — 5:30 p.m.
Mississippi Room, Monticello Community Center
Council Present: Clint Herbst, Lloyd Hilgart, Tom Perrault, Glen Posusta
Council Absent: Brian Stumpf
Staff Present: Bruce Westby, Bob Paschke, Jeff O'Neill, Wayne Oberg, Angela
Schumann
Others: WSB: Bret Weiss, Tom Roushar; Cargill: Don Roberts, Terry Profitt,
Kurt Zweifel, Carrie Heitz, Peter Nystrom; Veolia staff: Chuck Keyes,
Margaret Becker, Larry Koch, and others
1. Call to Order
2.
3.
Mayor Herbst called the Special Meeting to order at 5:33 p.m.
Purpose of Meetin¢
The purpose of this workshop is to review the executive summary of the Feasibility
Report for Wastewater Treatment Facility Biosolids Dewatering, Energy Efficiency,
Headworks and Site Improvements, City Project No. 12CO01 prior to finalizing the report
for presentation during the Public Hearing so that the City Council would clearly
understand the purpose and timing of the proposed improvements.
Workshop — Review Feasibility Study
Bruce Westby reviewed the outline from staff's meeting with Cargill Kitchen Solutions.
He noted that the objectives of the W WTF project are to address pending biosolids
management issues, improve operating efficiencies and reduce operating costs, address
existing operational deficiencies, improve the safety of the overall system, and extend the
useful life of equipment.
Westby indicated that the sludge dewatering improvements are of the highest priority as
they address pending biosolids management issues. Energy efficiency improvements are
necessary to better control the operation of the SBR units now and to assist with future
phosphorus removal and would pay for themselves over time. The headworks relocation,
influent wet -well, and miscellaneous site improvements are important, but less critical,
and are included in the City's 5 -year CIP. There could be cost savings associated with
completing these improvements at the same time as the others.
Westby outlined the proposed improvements and current estimated costs.
Sludge dewatering, which includes a screw press process, is estimated to cost
$1,800,000. This improved technology would increase the biosolids solids content
to allow for landfilling or disposal in a regional Class A dryer.
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• Energy Efficiency improvements are estimated to cost $700,000. These
improvements take advantage of rebates from Xcel Energy and generate energy
savings.
• Relocating the headworks to front end of the W WTF is estimated to cost
$2,000,000. The current location is causing pump plugging and wear.
• Increasing the wet -well size is estimated to cost $1,600,000. This would increase
detention time and safeguard against sewage backups.
• Miscellaneous site improvements such as reconstructing deteriorated roads and
removing the GBT and pasteurization unit are estimated to cost $85,000.
Bret Weiss summarized that seven years ago the City had considered, but decided not to
move forward with, a plan to convert from a land applied process to a dewatered/heat
dried process which would produce class A sludge. He suggested that the timing may
now be right to move forward with modifying the land applied process for a number of
reasons. There is a now purchase agreement in place to sell the land, the land and storage
are close to capacity, the spreading equipment must soon be replaced, and nitrogen levels
in the fields will be at limit in the near future. Bob Paschke pointed out that the City
would not be subject to reduced phosphorous levels as soon as expected. Tom Perrault
said that he thought phosphorous was a bigger concern than nitrogen. Staff indicated that
increased phospherous can be monitored but noted that increased nitrogen would be a
dealbreaker.
Don Roberts asked if the City would apply sludge to the land next year. Jeff O'Neill said
that it would depend upon how much land the MYSA requires for soccer fields. Twelve
fields could be ready for use by next fall.
Weiss indicated that operations and maintenance costs would not change from the current
cost of $60,000 if the biosolids dewatering and energy efficiency improvements were to
be constructed.
Clint Herbst stated that the City had decided not to transport biosolids to Big Lake's or
Buffalo's drying facility as the costs would be 4 -6 times higher than landfilling the
biosolids.
Weiss outlined that financing options for the improvements may come from a variety of
sources including SAC funds, sewer rates, land sale, general taxes, special assessments to
Cargill Kitchen Solutions, and from the sale of equipment.
• He indicated that SAC funding had dropped significantly as a result of a lack of
development since the economy had worsened.
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The bond for the total project would be an estimated $6 million which would cost
around $500,000 per year for 15 years.
• The City plans to use the $325,000 inland sale revenue for the project. General
taxes in the amount of $500,000 per year will continue to be contributed to the
existing plant through 2018. A portion of these funds could be back - loaded.
The existing agreement with Cargill is to contribute $464,000 toward the
construction of a new storage tank. Cargill currently accounts for approximately
26% of the total biosolids produced at the plant, which on a $1.8M project would
amount to $468,000. Don Roberts pointed out that Cargill is interested in
reviewing its 2001 agreement with the City as much has changed since that time.
• Existing equipment that will no longer be used would likely generate $100K to go
toward the improvement project.
• City staff will work to calculate revised rates based on actual costs and plans to
adopt the revised rates as part of the 2013 fee schedule.
Weiss noted that Cargill is considering pretreatment requirements for BOD and TSS but
may be more interested in working with the City to keep flows and loadings reasonable.
Glen Posusta asked about how Kjellberg's mobile home park is handled. Staff noted that
the City monitors the Kjellberg sewage through a flow meter.
The proposed screw press/landfill option is a step toward utilizing a Class A process,
either at a regional Class A facility or in the future at the Monticello plant. This step
allows the City to maintain similar overhead expense to process and dispose of the
material, while increasing the ability to process increasing amounts of biosolids. The
system will be adaptable to future processes should the City desire to expand to a Class A
product. Lloyd Hilgart asked how long before Class A would be required. Clint Herbst
said that it is more a question of when it would make sense to move in that direction.
Staff will provide a recommendation regarding a financing scenario for these
improvements at an upcoming City Council meeting.
4. Adiournment
TOM PERRAULT MOVED TO ADJOURN THE SPECIAL MEETING AT 6:22 P.M.
GLEN POSUSTA SECONDED THE MOTION. MOTION CARRIED 4 -0.
Recorder: Kerry T. Burri Jqb
Approved: October 8, 2012
Attest:
Ci mmistrator
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