City Council Soda Springs 7/25

The City Council met to discuss a number of issues, with two infrastructure items—wastewater infiltration and potential rate increases—taking the largest shares of time.

Forsgren Wastewater Report

Contracted engineers Forsgren spoke to the council about the Wastewater facility study.  Danny Huber led a discussion of the study.

“Our main focus was to find the main sources of infiltration,” he said.  “We’re trying to find that and eliminate it.”  The infiltration in question is the infiltration of other sources of water into the wastewater system.  Huber explained the process, which involved: 1) a public survey about sump pumps and basement flooding, as well as other flooding concerns that might be caused by leaks,  2) analysis of areas of high concern, 3) visual inspections of those areas, 4) CCTV inspection, and  5) sample testing.

“We just analyzed the areas of the city that are the most likely to have these issues,” Huber said, noting that information from residents had been very helpful.   There was a 20% response rate to the survey, which is quite high for a survey of this type.

“We used the info to start a visual inspection,” Huber continued.  “We looked at where the flow was high relative to houses upstream.  Multiple manholes with leaks in the joints and groundwater is squeezing into the system.”  

Huber noted the area on the north side of town near the high school as one place where there was a large flow relative to expectation

The next step was a video investigation, focusing on areas Dan Squires  and his team knew they had problems.  Near Octagon Springs and Hooper School is where most of the leaks are, because the ground water is so high.  

Next testing of the water itself was conducted.  Samples were collected, and analyzed,  The result was the finding that there indeed was a lot of infiltration into the wasterwater system of fresh water.  Where there is excessive fresh water in the system, it leads to diluted water that will not keep the necessary bacteria alive to maintain the treatment plant, and it also costs the same to treat, even though it’s clean.  In other words, the process becomes less efficient the more fresh water makes its way into the system.  

The problem include root intrusion and leakage.  There are also pipe segments that are undersized, by being under 8 inches 

Forsgren presented a series of options for fixing the system, ranging from $300K to millions.  Rate increases will be a part of any project going forward, but such a project will be necessary to maintain a city wastewater and sewer system.   

A back and forth comment and exchange process will now commence between the DEQ and the city, after which decisions about how to proceed will take place.  There are some parts of the overall project plan from Forsgren that can be undertaken relatively quickly, but others which would not be completed until potentially as late as 2045.

“It’s pretty much what I already knew,” Squires said.  “But it was good to have it confirmed.  We’ve really used that [the camera the city purchased for examining its water system].”

Utility increase

The council discussed a resolution for 2% increase in garbage.  

“When I got into this gig, the thing I heard about was infrastructure,” Councilmember Rod Worthington said.   “We have to be able to flush our toilets and get a good drink of water out of our faucets.  We have to do this stuff.  We talk about our transmission line a lot.  If we lose that, this city is done.  My frustration is why have we not been doing this sooner? We have an obligation to keep rates at a reasonable amount, but we need to be able to flush the toilets.”

Councilmember Ryan Carpenter observed that “At AIC (Association of Idaho Cities),every city was facing this.  We have to plan for the future.  When I ran, I though ‘why haven’t they done that,’ but I got here and saw the limitations.  Our money comes from the citizens, so we try to ease the sting when we can.”  

President Hart added, “It delays the pain a bit, but we’re going to get there.” 

“We do have some critical needs for services that we are obligated to provide,” Councilmember Gritton said.

Attorney Tom Smith suggested that “you have a lot of flexibility” with the way to approach rate changes.

The final increases will be part of the budget discussions, but increases will likely be necessary with all utilities in order to keep city services solvent.

Boise HS Cross country

One of the coaches of the Boise High School team that plans to compete in this year’s Cardinal Classic spoke via remote with the council, requesting permission to camp at Kelly Park on Friday, Sept 4.  They would be hosted by Jeff Horsely.  City Services Director Justin Hansen  says that he thinks it should work fine.  There are some occasions where camping is allowed at the park, through direct special request, as in this case.  Across the tracks west of the park is where the camp would be located, not on the south quad or fields.  Hooper springs is a less good option for several reasons.

Some alternatives were discussed in case of weather or other events, including the elementary school.  The council granted the permission, and asked the coach to let them know if anything changed.

“I’m not a last minute person,”
he said.

Ordinance 714 Fatbeam franchise

An Ordinance to grant a non-exclusive franchise to provide a network between the three schools and the district office to the company Fatbeam was discussed.  City Engineer Alan Skinner will request drawings of everything before they move forward.  

A motion to waive the rules for three readings and read it once was approved.  Councilmember Gritton requested that the mayor’s/clerk’s office should maintain the oversight for the franchise, rather than the engineer’s office.  The discussion that followed made the case that it would provide more flexibility for the mayor to assign a “designee” to handle matters related to the franchise.  The ordinance was approved.

2025-7 Restricting Funds DEQ Lead Removal Grant

Engineer Skinner explained Resolution 2025-7, which is for the Lead removal grant requirements.  The $500K grant would back a 30 year loan at 1%, associated with the 2nd S Highway 30 project.  The resolution restricts the funds to the  specific use specified by the grant, and authorizes payment of a required amount to secure the loan.  

Projects

Hooper Springs

Not 100% done.  Concrete poured, steps repaired.  Next to install handrails, work on grout between rocks.  Cody Briggs did it. Repairs to the bridge on the south end.

MRE

The city is taking under advisement a 2% increase, which has been factored into the budget.  

Safe Routes to School

A $331K bid for crosswalks and other items at crosswalks to school came in at about $32K above the grant.  A number of involved players (Principal Worthington, Alan Skinner, the project Engineers, etc) met at the county firestation and walked the routes.  

Councilmember Worthington noted, “I appreciated when I saw one of the patrolmen on 3rd E by the fenced area.  They kind of speed up pretty good there.  The presence is appreciated.”

A+ Contractors provided a  bid.  The project will be funded 90% by a grant, the rest out of street funds.  Councilmember Carpenter abstained.  The bid was accepted.  

Geyser

It was explained by President Hart that a contractor had come in, and he was going to provide a quote by Friday.  Through another contractor, they did some initial design on a control system, but the approach has changed, which may affect the guys who are doing the design on the final system.  

It was believed that the Geyser will not be operational by 4th.  There won’t even be a valve.  “If somebody wants to go up there and get real wet, it’s operational now,” Dan Squires said.  

Enders

A committee working to promote the Enders state park plan with state authorities includes Paul Gritton, who explained that the committee also includes Superintendent Scott Muir, Molly Besaris, Senator Mark Harris, Trent Clark, and others.  They are still pursuing the project, but have not had any major news to provide yet.  The question of whether the Enders would be open over the 4th holiday for tours was raised, and those in attendance largely agreed that they would like it to be.  Issues related to security were raised, but if it can be staffed and secured, plans are to have the hotel open for the holiday. 

Recently, a group of people, including the Horsleys, spent time cleaning and preparing the building for a tour by state officials.

Department Heads

CJ

Had officer go through training for drug ID and some other Post credits.  

Steele and Birka passed their state cert.  Applied for and got Post. Have K9 post cert

Phelps applied for intermediate Post cert.  So many hours, school, etc.

Justin Hansen 

Hansen reported that Kelly Park is nice and green.  “If we were still trying to operate on our old system, it would not look like that.”  “I don’t want to jinx anything, but it keeping us much more green and letting us use our shares.  It’s nice for the 4th to have it not be crispy and brown.”

At the No. 4 Power Plant, there’s a little area where people often park.  The city crew made a designated parking area. 

The group that put on the Kirk Hansen tourney was great, Hansen said.  They cleaned up and did
it right. 

Dan Squires

Update on clarifiers.  They will depart Gothenburg on a boat and will arrive Aug 26.  “It’s about two weeks later than I wanted.”  

We had two issues with the water pump.  Both drives were off during the night.  “I can tell a lot about the plant from the water pressure.  It read negative 3 inches.  We never dropped below 20 psi, which would send you into a boil order.  This happened last winter, and it wasn’t a big deal, but in the summer it’s empty in 4 to 5 hours.  I don’t want SCADA, all I want is a dialer.  The problem is that it’s internet based.”  Squires will get texts about levels, and notifications about different issues.   He needs an internet to cell modem, which will be 90$/mo. 

“To me, 90$ is worth it.”  He can set it for 5 phones.  

The city’s Waterfill station has had 244K gallons taken out.  “We’ll exceed half a million this summer.”