Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAboutMcCall, Idaho: Public Works - SewageShows which land in district . .1 Map clarifies Rio Vista sewers McCall now has a map showing which pafts of Rio Vista are within the Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District, City Attorney Robert Remaklus wrote in a letter to Boise attorney Alien Derr, who represents Perc Shelton, developer of the .subdivision. council meet with the sewer board to see if an arrangement can- not be worked out that will alleviate the situa- tion. "As you know, there is the suit against the city wherein the sewer district maintains the city is using excessive sewer lagoon capacity," Remaklus, McCall has not who is on vacation un- issued a building per- til Monday, wrote. mi't in Rio Vista since Mayor Jim Lyons last summer, Building read the letter at the Insppector Paul Trahan council's April 5 said Monday. The city meeting. stopped letting people outside the city limits In other business, hook up to the city's councilmembers : sewer because of the -- Authorized Lyons sewer district's to sign an agreement lawsuit against the ci- with Frank Volk, mak- ty, former Mayor Bill ing Volk architectural Evans said in October. consultant for the fire In his letter to. Derr, station addition. Remaklus wrote he State code requires would recommend that an architectural stamp the mayor and city on all public buildings that use public money. Trahan told coun- cilmembers he asked for bids from the two architects in McCall. One architect said he would do his own draw- ings and charge the ci- RemaklUS, a or went on vacation, told her he does not believe the people claiming back taxes from the ci- ty are entitled to a re- fund. "He will research for Property owners ask city for tax refund ty between $1,200 and $1,500, Trahan said. Volk, Trahan said, will charge not more than $500 to supervise addition drawings prepared by Trahan before putting his stamp on the plans. - -Took no action on a notice of claim from 10 couples owning lots in the 19th Hole Estate Subdivision. City Clerk Margaret Fogg said proper action and report back," Fogg said. "He said not to panic." In the notice, the claimants state the ci- ty in 1976 annexed land that included their pro- perty. The annexation ordinance, they con tend, was not filed wit h the county assesso r and county recorder o r the Idaho Tax Com mission within the re a result, the Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District is conti- nuing to tax them. The property owners also contend McCall h h r ed them city - -Voted to make Alta Pierson, city and im- pact area planning and zoning secretary, a permanent city employee with a raise from $4.32 to $5 an as c a g hour. taxes since 1977. They want the money they have paid in city taxes since 1977 and are also asking for a sum equal to the tax liability they have in- curred to the sewer district from 1977 as well as any money they will be liable for in the future. The group is petitioning the sewer board to be released from the district. -- Tabled action on recommended changes in the permits and ap- plications chapter of the impact area or- dinance until the city attorney reviews the proposal. Fogg said Pierson completed her six - month probation period last month and her work has been highly satisfactory. "She is regarded as a valued employee by all who work with her," Fogg said. "Employees of Alta's calibre are few and far between." -- Authorized Fogg to attend the Association of Idaho Cities workshop Wednesdayf> April 28, that will con- centrate on the impact; recent legislative a ,a tion had on cite revenues. i Through huckleberries and quicksand, sewer nears completion By Tom Grote The Star -News Construction on the s,:wer system around Payette Lake has been going on for almost four years, but at no time has the work been so visible than this summer. Of course, anyone who lives within the Payette Lakes 'A ater and Sewer District does not heed to be told that fact. All surr mer long, backhoes and dump tricks have been rumbling down the narrow side streets, and sections of sewer pipe and pieces of manholes have littered the area. But the dust should be sets ling soon, according to sewer district officials, who say the latest :)ro- jects should be completed by mid - November. The completion of this `sum- mer's work will mark the finish of the entire 30 -mile sewer system around the lake, which has cost $13.9 million and has been the goal of sewer district officials ever since voters formed the district in 1971. Sewer lines have been going in around the lake since the end of 1980, but most of the work has been along the shoreline of Payette Lake in laying main Ii nes or interceptors. The year's projects have teen on "upland" lines, or lines a �vay from the shore that feed sewage into the interceptors to be carried to the treatment plant on the south side of McCall. The upland lines have reached into every subdivision aro ind and near the lake, causing traffic disruptions and temporary messes. Also, the upland work is more noticeable because it is being done in the summer, whereas the shoreline work usually was done in the spring and fall when ake water levels were low, said sewer district coordinator Rick Mallory. But sewer district residents have been taking the incoive- niencf�s in stride, Mallory said. "People get excited when they .don't know what's coming," he said. "A lot of people vho started off with complaints have called back to say it (the w irk) was not as bad as they had ex- pected." Building a sewer system around a lake has been a unique and challenging task, not only for the sewer district's engine( ring company, J.U.B. Engineers Inc. of Boise, but also for the two companies that have received the contracts to build the lines. They are HK Contractors Inc. of Boise and Shunn Construction Inc. of "Subsurface conditions along the shore ranged from sand to rock to sensitive silt to clay, much of which was difficult to stabilize," said George Wagner, the project's engineer for J.U.B. Water from trenches dug along the lake shore had to be piped away from the area so as not to pollute the lake with silt, Wagner said. Workers also have to slog through three to four feet of snow in sub -zero temperatures during wintertime work. Sometimes they would become mired to their waists in quicksand and would have to be pulled from the trenches by their co- workers, Wagner said. Nearly as difficult a task was satisfying the about 350 property owners through whose land the sewer district received permission to lay the lines, Wagner said. According to their contracts, workers could not declare a sec- tion of work finished until the property owners signed a state- ment saying he or she was satisfied everything was put back the way it was before the pipelines were put in. "One man's debris is another man's treasure," he said. "If we took out an old log, the property owner said it was his favorite log to sit on." On another parcel, workers had to dig a trench for a power line by hand because the property owner did not want a huckleberry patch disturbed, he said. Other complaints have ranged from scratches on a favorite rock, rocks being put back in the wrong place, rocks disappearing completely and new rocks ap- pearing that the owners said weren't there before, Wagner said. "They would say that there was a rock there, but it wasn't that rock." he said. Figuring out tastes in trees also was a challenge, with property owners wondering why a tree was cut or left standing, according to the situation. The result was a sewer nne route that is not a straight line, Wagner said. "The route is not the shortest, but one that did the least damage," he said. Among other accommodations to aesthetics was in the placement of manholes, which in many spots along the lake shore have been obscured by rock jetties. Also dotting the shoreline are 28 pumping stations that house equipment in 30- foot -deep tubes, of which only the top few feet are visible. Equipment in each pumping station regulates the temperature and humidity of the tube. Should anything go wrong with any of the pumps, an automatic alarm will flash at the sewage treatment plant, Wagner said. If the problem happens when the plant is not manned and the alarm is not answered, an automatic telephone system will begin calling home telephone numbers of maintenance workers and a computerized voice will tell the location of the problem, he said. Sewer pumps Bids opened despite protest The Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District board on Friday continued with plans to buy emergency pumping equipment despite a protest of the purchase. Board members examined bids for the six gasoline pumps and for two diesel generators, but put off any actior. until the district's engineers cou: d more closely ex- amine the bid;. Bids for tl.e equipment were sought to hive equipment on hand to move sewage along the district's sewe system in case of a power outage or in case of failure of one of the :,8 pumping stations located aroun 9 the lake. The purchase has been called unnecessary by Ted Dodge, owner of McCall Rental and Sales, who has said the equip- ment would b.- rarely needed and could be rented instead of bought for much less cost. Dodge repeated his concerns before board members on Friday, but board mcnibers rejected his claims. "This operation has been con- sidered and studied," board chairman Peter Wilson said. George Wagner of J.U.B. Engineers of Boise, which design- ed the sewer system, said a fail - safe system of responding to breakdowns was necessary to avoid a spill )f raw sewage into Payette Lake. Having to rely on finding ren- tal equipment on short notice "puts anothf r uncertainty into the enuation ; hat I don't think is acceptable," 'Wagner said. "This (the purchase) provides back -up for a reasonable expenditure." Low bids for the pumps and generators totaled $69,500. Dodge said that there were alternative ways of obtaining backup equipment. He said he could guarantee 24 -hour access to rental equipment in his business and that the equipment could be kept on reserve for the sewer district. In addition to the cost of pur- chase, Dodge said district tax- payers also will have to foot the bill for storage and maintenance of the pumps and generators. But Wagner said that the costs of purchase versus the retainer fees that would have to be paid to Dodge likely would total about the same. Board member Miles Willcutt said he also had questioned the purchase of the equipment, but said he finally agreed with the plan because of the complexities and size of the 30 -mile -Payette Lake system. Sewer district coordinator Rick Mallory told Dodge that his arguments sounded hollow in light of the fact that Dodge has refused to pay hook -up fees to connect his home to the sewer district system. Dodge said the hook -up issue was unrelated to his complaint about the bid purchase. In other action at the board's meeting on Friday, board members hired the McCall law firm of Killen and Pittenger to serve as the district's legal counsel. The Killen firm replaces former board attorney Charles Nicholas, who resigned after serving as counsel for four years. Nicholas and his wife are now living in France, where they are pursuing business opportunities, Wilson said. Killen and Pittenger will charge the sewer district $60 per hour for their services. The rate is the same that was charged by Nicholas, Wilson said. The Star-News 5/22/85 McCall says hookups OK By Randall Brooks The Star -News McCall's loss of a $1 million state grant that would have cured, more of the city's lagging sewer` problems triggered a wave of speculation this week about the city's ability to issue sewer hookup permits. But any fears on the issue were put to rest Monday night when McCall City Adm,nistrator Jim Smith told the McCall City Council that an am ale number of sewer permits could be made available beginning Tuesday morning. Smith said 52 permits were cur- rently available, a number which he said more than meets current demand. Builders, includi ig developers who plan to erect a Sprouse -Reitz variety store along Idaho 55 this summer, had been :old early this spring that no additional hookups to the sever could be permitted until results of the Eastside Intercepter sewer pro- ject were calculated. Those builders worried that permits would not be available this year, which leJ to specula- tion by some that a building moratorium was in place in Mc- Call. But at Monday's meeting, Smith said he had the assurance of interceptor de iigner Ralph Kangas that the city would be able to begin granting sewer hookups as of Tuesday morning. The problem haJ come to a head Monday afternoon at a special meeting between city per- sonnel and several community members. Council member Larry Craig and others aired fears that special conditions of a grant obtained last fall to fund th1: Eastside In- terceptor could stall building con- struction this season. Smith explained one of several special conditions agreed to by the city concerned attachment of new homes to the city's sewer system. State offici ils had deter- mined that any sewage flow from newly attached homes should be offset by an equal reduction in groundwater Ieakage into the city sewer. Leakage of groundwater into McCall's aging sewer collection system was identified during a study in 1975 as the primary source of McCall's sewer pro- blems. Smith said he had written a let- ter last fall to John Schwartz, the state water quality engineer in charge of McCall's interceptor project, to find out what assurances the city would have to make that it had complied with erms of the grant. Since no actual requests for sewer permits had been received since last fall, Smith said he had been waiting to verify the actual amount of leakage reduction before making a determination on how many hookups were available. On Monday, Craig and McCall Area Chamber of Commerce President Kay Larson said they were under the impression a building moratorium -was in ex- istance in McCall. Following those comments, Kangas did some preliminary figuring Monday afternoon bas- ed on information from improv- ing the collection system with the interceptor line. He also reviewed a city pro- gram initiated last fall to reduce sewer leakage by indentifying and eliminating water sources such as roof drains and sump pumps, which allow groundwater and rainwater to enter the sewer. Kangas said those figures showed at least 100 new hookups would be allowed under the con- ditions of the grant agreement. However, the city also must abide by the terms of an agree- ment with the Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District that set up a formula based on gallons of sewage each government could add each year to the shared sewage lagoon facilities. Last year, McCall was allowed 16,500 gallons, or 29 hookups ua�Cu wi a ngure of ).0 gallons per day per household. The figure jumps to 17,050 this year, or 31 residential hookups. Only eight sewer permits were issued last year, leaving total of 52 permits available this con- struction season, Smith said Tuesday. At Monday's meeting, Craig said the city should begin a pro- gram of using its own money to slowly improve the system rather than rely on federal or state grant monies, which may not be available next year to cities under federal budget plans proposed by President Reagan. By using $100,000 a year that the city collects each year from ci- ty residents for fixing sewer lines, Craig said at least the city would be making some progress towards solving its own sewer problems. Kangas pointed out that the Eastside Interceptor had started three years ago as a locally - funded project, but had quickly grown larger than the city could handle. If the city had recieved the Community Development Block Grant it had requested, approx- imately 20,000 feet of lines would have been replaced. It would take 10 years to accomplish the same job under Craig's proposal. The Star-News 4/10/85 Sewer equipment purchase By Tom Grote The Star -News A McCall roan says that plans by the Payette Lakes Water and Sewer DlstriCl to spend $100,000 on emergency equipment is un- necessary. Ted Dodge, owner of McCall Rental and Sales, said that the equipment being sought by the sewer district likely will be used rarely and tha: similar equipment could be rented quickly for little cost. A sewer district spokesman said the equi-::)ment was necessary to be preparf!d for the worst pro- blems that could develop in the district's server system around Payette Lake. Dodge's complaint centers around a ca1 for bids from the sewer district for six gasoline pumps and two diesel electrical generators. The equipment would be used to keep the sewer district's pump stations runr.ing in the event of a power outage or in case one of the 28 pumping stations fails, ac- cording to the bid documents. Bids for the equipment are due to be opened on April 19. The district has estimated the pumps and generat ars will cost about $100,000, district coordinator Rick Mallory said. The equipment will be purchas- ed with 90 percent state and federal grant money and 10 per- cent sewer district funds, Mallory said. Dodge said in an interview that the sewer district should save tax- payers dollars by renting the equipment whenever it is needed instead of buying the equipment and spending additional money for storage and maintenance. Dodge said three of the pumps sought by the sewer district could be rented for $45 per day from his business and two of the pumps could be rented for $60 per day. What equipment is not available in McCall could be quickly rented and brought up questioned from Boise, he said. Also, power outages occur so rarely that the purchased equip- ment would sit in storage most of the time, he said. Typically, electrical power outages caused by storms do not last more than 1 %z hours, said Dale Krumm, manager of Idaho Power Co.'s McCall office. Longer outages are possible, Krumm said. A severe storm in 1981 knocked out power in some areas of McCall for between 12 and 15 hours, he said. Mallory said he understood Dodge's complaint, but disagreed with ,it. "I hope he's right," Mallory said of Dodge's claim that outages rarely occur. The equipment is being pur- chased because of federal En- vironmental Protection Agency requirements that the sewer district has plans to deal with emergencies, Mallory said. Mallory said that a spill of raw sewage into Payette Lake could occur within a couple of hours if a pump station failed and could not move sewage through sewer lines. "When we do need them, we have to know we have the equip- ment available," Mallory said. "If the failure happens at 2 a.m., it is difficult to get rental pumps. "By the time you realize you have a problem, you don't have the luxury of time, he said. Dodge responded by saying ar- rangements could be made so that the sewer district could have access to his pumps any time of day. Dodge said he was not seeking to make money for his business by his complaint, but rather that he was speaking as a resident of the sewer district and as a con- cerned taxpayer. "I saw it could be done dif- ferently and less costly," he said. "Waste is waste." The Star-News 5/20/87 Sewer district sues to get back $38,627 The Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District has filed a lawsuit against an Ontario, Ore., con- tractor claiming that the contrac- tor was paid twice for the same work, but that the contractor refuses to give back the overpay- ment. - The lawsuit, filed in Fourth District Court in Cascade, says that the sewer district paid Shunn Construction $38,627.98 in four payments around Feb. 11, 1986. That payment was for work laying sewer lines as part of the district's sewer project around Payette Lake. The suit goes on to say, that Shunn was paid the $38,628.98 The payment was made twice again in a single check around during a time when Whiteman Sept. 17, 1986. was assuming his post from Shunn officials were told of the former coordinator Rick overpayment and acknowledged Mallory. receiving the funds, the suit said. However, Shunn officials refused to refund the money, saying they had no funds to cover the over- payment. The suit seeks repayment of the funds, with interest, plus court costs and attorneys fees. Sewer district coordinator Ted Whiteman said Monday that the double payment was an error on the part of the district. "We were trying to keep cur- rent on a bunch of contracts fly- ing through at the time," Whiteman said. "We discovered that we had given Shunn some money that didn't belong to them." Telephones at the Shunn Con- struction offices in Ontario as well as at the home of Shunn President Gell Shunn have been disconnected. The Star-News 3/25/93 Plan would take sewage out of N. F. Payette River ' BY TOM GROTE 7 be Star -News A public hearing will be held tonight before the McCall City Council on a plan to take the city's treated sewage out of the North Fork of the Payette River and let it seep into the ground instead. The hearing on the city's pro - posed sewer facility plan is set to Begin at 8 p.m. tonight during the council's regular meeting in the lower level of McCall City Hall. The plan, written by J -U -B Engineers of Boise, suggests vari- ous ways to deal with the high levels of phosphorus that exist in the city's treated sewage. Treated sewage from McCall flows downstream into Cascade Reservoir, which has serious water duality problems directly related to phosphorus. The substance en- courages the growth of algae, which in turn chokes off oxygen -in the reservoir to fish. The McCall sewer plant is esti- inated to contribute about 11 percent of all phosphorus in the reservoir, ;something that the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare ikely will not tolerate much longer, the J -U -B report said. J -U -B's study recommends treat - ng the sewage with the same meth - ods now used at the plant and then pumping the treated wastewater to a series of storage basins on land that is able to quickly soak up the water. The soil would serve as a natural filter to screen out phosphorus and other chemicals, leaving the result- ing water clean enough to meet state groundwater standards, the plan says. About 60 acres of land would be needed to handle the treated sewage, and the engineers say that soil types located about three miles southwest of McCall would be suitable for rapid absorption. The cost of the plan is estimated at $2.5 million, which includes buying the land, building the ponds and running a 12 -inch pipeline from the sewer plant to the disposal site. The plan was found to be the most workable and least expensive of other alternatives, according to the J -U -B study. Using the treated sewage to grow -rops on farmland during the sum- mer was studied, but the short grow- ing season in the McCall area would limit the effectiveness of that method, the study said. The city would have to acquire about 750 acres of land to make the farming option work, including a 51 -acre storage lagoon to store the wastewater during the winter. Cost of that plan was estimated at nearly $5 million. A combination of the farming system and the land- absorp- tion system also was studied, with the estimated cost set at $4.4 mil- lion. The study also looked at using advanced treatment methods to re- move the phosphorus before it was dumped into the North Fork. The cost to build such treatment was moderate, about $3.6 million, but the annual operating cost approached $1.5 million, due mostly to the price of chemicals. The good news in the report is that the existing treatment plant, lo- cated at the end of Boydstun Street in southwest McCall, does not have to be expanded to meet the expected growth over the next 20 years, the J -U -B study said. The plant is now handling peak sewage flows of 1.79 million gal- lons per day, and projections call for those flows to increase to 2.37 mil- lion gallons per day in 20 years. The numbers assume growth of two percent per year. The sewer plan does not address how the city would pay for the sewage improvements, but the cur- rent $12.50 per month bill paid by city residents likely will increase, McCall City Administrator Bud Schmidt said. The city council could ask voters to pass a revenue bond that would be paid back totally with user fees, Schmidt said. Or, the city could seek low- interest loans from the state's Water Pollution Control Fund. An outright grant from state or federal agencies also is possible, but less likely, Schmidt said. The Star-News June 11, 1993 Maki plan gains appeal BY SHARI HAMBLETON The Star-News "I think we did enough The public outcry over McCall's proposed Maki Alternative has qui- eted, but concerns expressed during a public hearing last week show some area residents are still not convinced of the plan's merits. A public information session and public hearing was held May 24 at the McCall Golf Course Clubhouse to address public concerns overMcCall's plan to apply treated sewage on farm and pasture land west of Lake Fork. McCall revised that plan -- called the Maki Alternative — following a public meeting in February. Public testimony at that meeting, and written comments received later, showed strong opposition to the project. The major proposed change to the plan is the location of a 300- million gallon storage lagoon which would hold the effluent during the winter when the water would not be needed for irriga- tion, according to kick Mallor} of J -U -B Engineering of Boise, the city's engi- neering consultant. Plans now call for the lagoon to be located adjacent to the city's current lagoon system at the south end of Boydstun Street on a 25 to 30 acre site officials tentatively plan to purchase from Clearwater Concrete and Gravel of McCall. Testimony during last week's meeting resulted in a show of support for the Maki Alternative by both Mike Smith of the Department of Health and Welfare's Division of Environ- mental Quality and Cascade Reservoir Association President Wayne VanCour. The CRA recently threatened to file a lawsuit against the City of McCall if an agreement could not be homework this time. " – Rick Mallory, J -U -B Engineers reached for removal of the city's treated effluent from the North Fork of the Payette River. "There are no concerns brought up which are insurmountable," Mallory told those gathered for last week's public meeting. Public concerns over the Maki Al- ternative were addressed by a panel which included representatives from J -U -B Engineering, the Department of Health and Welfare Division of Environmental Quality, City of McCall and Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District. Issues addressed in depth included: • Possibility of surrounding well water contamination. • Agreements with Will and Jake Maki and Harry Bettis; the owners of farm land where treated effluent will be used for irrigation. • Sprinkler system operation and maintenance. • Status of the land application permit required from DEQ. • Location of the 300 million gal- lon storage lagoon. "Many of the issues brought up (by the public) were more fully clari- fied," Mallory said. "With each step of the process we get more clarifica- tion. It helps the public when they see more detail." Mallory said issues brought up by the public are not taken lightly. "We address them as best we can from a technical stand point," he said. "Then the City of McCall needs to make a decision if they feel the issues have been adequately addressed," Mallory said. McCall then will "pass it on to DEQ for their concurrence," he said. "I think we did enough homework this time that we pretty much antici- pated the issues that would be dis- cussed," Mallory said. Those attend- ing last week's meeting were told ground wells would be put in place to monitor water quality. "We have enough data from other land application systems ... even though we will put in monitoring wells, we're comfortable we won't find anything in them," Mallory said. And although letters of intent have been signed by both Maki and Bettis, more formal agreements will need to be negotiated if the Maki Alternative goes forward, Mallory said. The letters of intent indicate the farmers would be willing to accept the City of McCall's treated effluent for a 20 -year period if the water does not "adversely impact" their opera- tions, Mallory said. The permit for' a land application operation is in the draft stages now, he said. A permit has been issued by the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engi- neers allowing construction of a pipe- line to carry effluent across the North Fork of the Payette River. The cross- ing will likely be built during the fall, Mallory said. Loretta Florence, whose family operates a seed potato farm in the Lake Fork area, has repeatedly told officials she is concerned with plant pathogens which could potentially devastate their business. "We've researched it enough, so we don't think it's going to be an insurmountable problem," Mallory said. "But its hard to give a 100 - percent guarantee with projects like these." ty s The Advocate 8/18/93 McCall looks to ship wastewater "over the hill" MCCALL — The McCall City Council is looking for a site in Adams County on which to ap- ply treated wastewater from the city's sewage treat- ment facility. The proposal to ship the wastewater `over the hill" was discussed at Thursday's meeting of the Council as council members decided on an amend- ment to an engineering agreement with J -U -B En- gineers to evaluate sites in the Little Salmon River drainage for a high rate land application site. What bothered Council Member Gary Van Komen was paying J -U -B for doing some of the basic groundwork on the proposal. "Why can't we make inquiries and then send the engineers out there," he said. That would save the city some money, he said. "I don't feel comfortable having the engineers go out to do something any of us could do," he said. But City Administrator Bud Schmidt said that the engineers have maps with the appropriate soil types, and they would be able to rule out some ar- eas immediately on that basis. "The main issue will be the cost of the pipeline and politics," he said. Schmidt said that unlike the North Fork Payette River drainage, there are no limits on phos- phorous in the Little Salmon drainage. And he said it won't be necessary to pipe treated effluent very far to be into the Little Salmon drainage, only as far as the Little Ski Hill area will be sufficient, he said. But Council Member Cindi LeBrett objected to putting sewage effluent into any water source. Van Koinen said he thought the study was a good idea, but that city staff should do some of the preliminary work. The city is seeking someone with 225 to 250 acres they'd be willing to sell for a high -rate appli- cation system, or if land suitable for high -rate isn't found, then the firm will look at slow -rate applica- tion opportunities, which would require 600 to 800 acres. The slow -rate application system would also require a storage reservoir of some sort. Schmidt said there are some multiple uses of the treated water. He said reservoir storage could be used by firefighters to provide a periodic land application through fire fighting efforts. He said Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus wants some- thing done about the situation in Cascade Reser- voir. That, so much so that Idaho DEQ is provid- ing increased funding for looking at the Little Salmon alternative. In a letter to McCall Mayor Larry Smith dated July 20, 1993, Andrus applauded the City of Mc- Call's efforts to remove city effluent from the North Fork River and from the total Payette River Basin. The city's effort "... shows a strong commit- ment to helping solve the problems in Lake Cas- cade," Andrus wrote. "If all other nutrient sources in the North Fork Payette River Basin take responsible actions as you are, we will be able to address the water quality problems in the lake." Schmidt said Andrus is being lobbied hard by the Cascade Reservoir Association to resolve the problems with the lake. "At the same time we can't bankrupt everyone in the city with $150 a month water and sewer bills," Schmidt said. J -U -B will evaluate the Little Salmon River drainage and if a suitable site is available, the firm will prepare preliminary designs and cost esti- mates. If the cost estimates for a high rate applica- tion system in that drainage compare favorably with a similar system in the North Fork drainage, then J -U -B will complete a facility plan. The amendment to the agreement calls for the firm to be paid $11,986 for analysis of a septage treatment facility, and $22,407 for analysis of a high rate land application system in the Little Salmon drainage. Should it be necessary to evaluate a slow -rate application system in the Littlz Salmon, the cost would increase by $16,626. And should no suitable site be found for either type of site, a pilot plant study for a high -rate system in the North Fork drainage will be done fora cost of $56,473. In the end the council voted for the agreement by a vote of 3 -1 with LeBrett casting the lone "no" vote. Schmidt assured the Council that city staff would do everything they can to hold down the costs of the studies. Sewer ponds progress at Payette River subdivisions Photo by Shari Hambleton Geor¢e Bezates works on sewer ponds that will serve Payette River No. 2 and No. 3 south o c a BY SHARI HAMBLETON The Star-News A new sewage treatment plant dc- signed with a capacity to serve li5 new homes in Payette River Subdiv i- signs No. 2 and No. 3 south of McCall is nearing completion. The system - designed by Toothman -Orton Engineering in Boise — passes under the Payette River encased in cement to a lift stet- tion on the river's east bank. The line then continues down an existing rai - road grade to an extensive lagoon filtration system. Current homeowners in nearby Payette River Subdivision No. I hav a voiced concerns in the past regardin; further development in the area. Three main areas of concern by the residents focus on: • The capability of the area's water table tohandletheinfluxof new homes and the effect the anticipated growth will have on their domestic water supply, • The effectiveness of the new sew - age system to protect water quality ii i both their wells and the Payette River. • The fact that a portion of the nev, r development falls within a designated flood plain, requiring fill dirt to be brought to elevate building pads. Jim Ball, managing director of th(: Payette River Subdivision project fo :- L.B. Industries in Boise, said the sew. age treatment system is one of the most technologically advanced sys- tems available. Ball said it has been designed to be expanded in the future to accommo- date development at Blackhawk Ranch and Blackhawk Lake — two other L.B. Industries projects. Ball added that road paving in the area has begun and will be completed by the end of the year. As development of Payette River Subdivisions No. 2 and No. 3 have progressed, Ball said a myriad of gov- ernmental agencies have been in- volved. "When you're dealing with an en- vironmentally sensitive area like this, it's much better to get all agencies involved during the land planning process," Ball said. Agencies such as the state Divi- sion of Environmental Quality, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Val- ley County Planning and Zoning and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been extensively involved to insure issues over the flood plain, water supply, sewage treatment and wetlands preservation are being ad- dressed, Ball said. He said he has also met with homeowners in Payette River Subdi- vision No. 1 — a development not directly associated with his company — to discuss their concerns. Those homeowners said they were originally told by real estate agents that land in Subdivisions No. 2 and No. 3 would remain open and unde- veloped. "I'm not sure what they could have done, short of not building at all, that would have addressed our concerns," said Susan Dempsey, a homeowner in No. 1. In addition to the numerous envi- ronmental issues involved, Linda Glass said her home in No. l — which has been built up to half capacity — has been on the market for about a year and a half. "Realtors are happy about the new subdivisions going in but they can't sell what's here," Glass said. "And until we get (the issues) resolved out here, if it were me, I wouldn't buy any vacant land." Ball said two factors contributed to the swift sale of lots in No. 2: • The strict covenants, conditions and restrictions in place for the devel- opment, and the fact that much of the property was purchased by invest- ment companies and individuals solely for resale, with no intention of building. Ball said 63 of the 92 lots offered for sale beginning in August 1992 were sold within two months. Now many of those lots display real estate sale signs. But Dempsey said homeowners in No. l are still concerned, and commu- nication with both L.B. Industries and governmental agencies has been lim- ited and difficult. "I guess we're relying on our tax dollars to do much of our research, watch out for us and protect the public good," she said. `Personally, I just hope that the agencies are here to protect the envi- ronment and the public, and that they're doing their job," Dempsey said Long Valley Advocate 12/22/93 McCall treatment facility not to blame for reservoir problems Ray Stout Staff Writer MCCALL — Comments from Cascade that McCall sewage is largely responsi- ble for the water pollution of Cascade Reservoir are unfounded, said members of the Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District at a meeting here Friday. In spite of occasional failures at the facility, no raw sewage is ever discharged from the McCall treatment plant into the North Fork Payette River, said board member Hank Hall. The river is the main source that feeds the reservoir farther downstream. Moreover, according to Chairman Ted Whiteman, the sewage that does go into the river is adequately dealt with before- hand. "What's going into the river is treat- ed effluent that's been treated according to Department of Environmental Quality standards," Whiteman said. Attorney Bill Killen, the district's legal counsel, said much of Cascade's mis- conception probably stems from the knowl- edge that the treatment plant releases nitrates into the river, which is permis- sible. "Nitrates are going into the river, there- fore (they think) `raw sewage is going into the river, "' he said. Whiteman said the plant is not designed to treat nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, although it can accommodate a small amount. Rather it is designed to treat bacteriological and organic matter. Board members also discussed the problem created by the contribution of septage to the city's treatment facility, and the City of McCall's increasing of fees that are charged to dump septage. Board Chairman Harvey Bergstrom said he likes the idea of land application of treated effluent, which on farmland can benefit the growing of crops. But he questions restrictions on applying it in winter, when its frozen condition wouldn't seem to do anv harm, he said. One possible site for direct land -appli- cation, directed by the DEQ to be stud- ied, is an unspecified region somewhere beyond the western boundary of the water- shed. However, delivery would have to cross national forest land, which Payette National Forest Supervisor David Alexander told him would draw strong opposition, resulting in cost and access problems. Bergstrom said he had also talked to Bill Petzak of Idaho Dept. of Lands, who told him there is no land available for direct application west of the river but plenty on the east side. However, Bergstrom said he didn't like to have to purchase land for septage disposal when the material has a definite benefit to crop farmers. "That water has nutrients in it," he said. "A lot of people want it, and they should be able to have it." Whiteman pointed out that (here are two differ- ent methods of land application: the slow rate and the high rate. The more expensive slow rate involves sprinkler irrigation of farm land and storage facili- ties for use in winter. The high rate, preferred by most people, depends on a specific type of soil which can<xeceive the septage and allow it percolate through. Bergstrom also expressed concern that engineers may not be looking at all public grounds that have potential for land applieationd The board then moved to direct Whiteman to study the public grounds for land - application poten- tial. The Star-News 7/25/94 Failure spills sewage BY TOM GROTE 7 he Star -News A failure in a back -up generator at a McCall sewer pumping station last Thursday resulted in 300 gallons of raw sewage being spilled into the North Fork of the Payette River. The spill occurred at the city's sewage pumping station on Mather Road near the McCall Fish Hatchery. The station pumps sewage through a pipe across the North Fork toward the sewage- treatment plant. The incident began when a power failure in the area knocked out the pumping station, Public Works Di- rector Bill Keating said. Normally, the back -up generator is supposed to start up during a power failure in order to ensure the pumps continue to operate. Last Thursday, however, the gen- erator failed to turn on and sewage backed up into the station. A radio alarm notified public works crews to scene, but crew members were unable to get the generator started for 40 minutes, Keating said. In the meantime, sewage filled a manhole near the river and spilled over for about two minutes before the generator was started. Keating said the spill contained no solids and was not considered seri- ous. The McCall office of Central District Health Department and the state Division of Environmental Qual- ity were notified of the.incident, he said. The failure of the generator was blamed on its age. The unit is a 40- year -old generator purchased as sur- plus from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Keating said. The city's maintenance program calls for checking all pumping sta- tions as well as back -up generators three times a week. The generators are started and run twice per month, Keating said. In a memo to McCall City Man- ager Gary Shimun, Keating requested $35,000 be added to next year's bud- get to replace the generator at the Mather Road station. The spill could have been worse had the failure occurred at night, when city workers have gone home, or dur- ing the winter, when access is more difficult, Keating wrote to Shimun. The Star-News august 4, 1994 Developer agrees to extend sewer line BY TOM GROTE The Star -News A developer has agreed to pay for installing a new sewer line in order to allow 10 condominium units to be built, the McCall City Council was told last week. Andre Fernand of Laguna Beach, Calif., and McCall, has agreed to pay up to $30,000 to build a new sewer line to serve his property, which is located at Fir Street and Mill Road near Sports Marina, according to Fernand's builder, Patrick Phillips of McCall. On July 14, council members approved Fernand's plans to build five duplex condominium units on the site, but told Phillips the build- ings could not be connected to the city's sewer system until an out- dated pipe serving the site is re- placed. The city has no plans to replace the sewer line, so the developer offered a plan in which $21,000 in water and sewer hook -up fees for all 10 units would be paid in ad- vance if the city council agreed to allow the new line to be installed this year. Also, Fernand will pay an addi- tional $5,000 to ensure there is enough money to have the line in- stalled, and he will share any over- runs in the project until his total contribution has reached $30,000, Phillips told council members last Thursday night. The new sewer line will hook into a new line and pumping station being built by Shore Lodge owner Douglas Manchester through the former McCall sawmill site, which has been made into home sites. In other action last Thursday: • Gravel Request: Council members turned down an informal request by McCall smokejumpers to donate gravel from the city's gravel pit across Mission Street from the McCall Smokejumper Base. Smokejumpers wanted to use the gravel to rebuild the driveway of Holly Thrash, widow of Jim Thrash, a Meadows Valley smokejumper who was killed ear- lier this month in a Colorado wild- fire. The request was turned down because it is illegal for the city to make donations of money or mate- rials to private individuals, espe- cially if they live outside the city limits, council members said. Long Valley Advocate August 3, 1994 McCall sewage spill prompts Central District Health warning on [primary water contact sports in North Fork Reeling from enough bad publicity already, those who live around, play on and in Cascade Reservoir took another body shot last week with a warning from Central District Health that recreationists avoid primary contact sports such as swimming and water skiing in the North Fork of the Payette River from McCall down to West Mountain North Campground. The health advisory followed last Thursday evening's spill of about 2,000 gallons of raw sewage from the McCall sewage system into and about 2,000 gallons of untrmit- ed sewage was spilled into the North Fork of the Payette Riv °r below the lake's outlet at Lardo Bridge. Ironically, at the time Keating was working to fix the problem with the generator, he was to have been making a presentation to the McCall City Council requesting that they budget a replacement for the 40 -year old generator into the 1994 -95 fiscal year budget. Last week's spill took place at about 8 p.m., Keating said. Central District Health Department and the Division of Environmental Quality together issued the health advisory to the public. Testing was to have been done over the weekend and until the results are back, health and envi- ronmental officials said contact Cascade Reservoir. That spill followed by about a week a July 21 spill of about 300 gal- lons. Both spills came about from the same thing, according to Bill Keating, McCall's Public Works Director, a faulty generator that pow- ers one of the sewage lift stations in the event of a power outage. After the earlier spill, Keating said the sys- tem was checked out, and they believed they had the problem with the old generator resolved. with the water in the affected area should be avoided. Low water flows will hamper the river's ability to flush the con- tamination, according to Joy Palmer, of DEQ's Southwest Idaho Regional Office. Palmer said DEQ staff will con- duct an inspection of the McCall sewage facilities to determine the cause of the accidental spill. In a letter to the Council fol- lowing the first spill, Keating said the last time there was a sewage spill from that location was about six years ago. He said the 100 kilowatt gen- erator is a surplus U.S. Corps of Engineers model built in 1955. It drives two 40- horsepower pumps at the lift station that pump alter- nately when under normal loads, and that both kick on when the loads require it. It was tested, he said, and when Thursday night's outage hit, city personnel responding to the problem checked all five of the gener- ators involved in the area of the outage, and found them all running. But, he said that after making the first round of all the generators to ensure they were oper- ating, city crew members returned to find the generator at lift station 7 no longer operating. It wasn't running for 15 -20 minutes, he said, j -d itch plan latest alternative for McCall sewage effluent CASCADE -- The latest plan being looked at for getti ng McCall sewage effluent out of the North Fork of the Payette River is going to require the cooperation of farmers and ranchers who live south of McCall and who get their irrigation water from the J -di :ch. George Wagner, of J -U -B Engineering, which is desig ling the system for the City of McCall, told those a tending the first meeting of the Cascade Reservoir Coordinating Committee here, that the J -ditch proposal is the one they're studying now. The proposal involves lining the J- ditch, one that flo ,vs south of McCall for about three miles, with a pipe that will be used to carry treated efflu- ent to those irrigated lands for application. He said the J -ditch delivers irrigation water to about 3,000 acres of land. The proposal they're now ex )loring would involve delivering the treat- ed effluent under pressure to those irrigators. That would save them money in that they wouldn't have to pum ) it. One of the drawbacks of the alterna- tive is t iat it will cost an estimated $1.2 million to build tle pipeline. But there are a number of pluses, • Irrigation water now drawn from Little Payette Lake wouldn't be needed. • The city would build the necessary filters, pump stations and the pipeline. • There would be a significant lengthening of the irrigation season with the proposal. • Pumping costs would be reduced. • There would be reduced operations and main- tenances costs for the irrigators as they wouldn't have to maintain ditches. • Nutrients would be delivered with the water. • Overhead sprinkling, which would be possi- ble with the system, is more efficient than using the existing ditches. • There would be no land_ acquisition required for the alternative. "I like the alternative," Wagner said. "It's an elegant way to dispose of the wastewater from McCall." But he also said it would require a 20 -year com- mitment from irrigators, and it would have to be accepted by the property owners. ; McCall sewer: spills draw DE Q warning BY TOM GROTE The Star-News Swimmers and others were urge to avoid direct contact with the Nor1 Fork of the Payette River betwee McCall and Cascade Reservoir at lea until Friday following a spill of rai sewage into the river last week. About 2,000 gallons of untreate sewage spilled into the North For. last Thursday after a back -up electri cal generator failed at a pumpin station operated by the city of McCal The spill was the second in a wee at the same station and city official have been ordered by the state Divi sion of Environmental Quality t replace the generator. Results of testing from water samples taken Saturday from the rive found levels of harmful bacteria to b within health standards but far above normal levels, said Tom Turco, envi- ronmental health director for the Central District Health Department in Boise. More water samples were taken Tuesday and the results should be known Friday, Turco said. The main threat from the spill was to human health if someone were to drink or otherwise come into contact with water contaminated by the spill, Turco said. Those going fishing or canoeing should not cancel their plans, but they should wash their hands after coming out of the river and all fish caught should be well - cooked, he said. The spill will have minimal effects on fish habitat unless it causes oxygen levels in the North Fork to drop, he said. The incident began about 7:30 p.m. last Thursday, when a power failure knocked out electrical service to sev- eral sewerpumping stations, including the Mather Road station. A back -up generator in the same station failed to turn on during a simi- lar power failure in July 22. In that incident, about 300 gallons of sewage backed up in the station and spilled out of a manhole before city workers could start the generator. The Mather Road station was the first one checked after last Thursday's "It's a mystery. We don't really understand the problem. 11P — McCall City Manager Gary Shimun g 1• outage and the back -up generator was k working fine at that time, McCall s City Manager Gary Shimun said Tues- - day. o After the city workers left to check the other stations, the generator some- how how failed and shut down, allowing r the sewage to back up, Shimun said. e An automatic alarm altered crews to the failure and they returned to the station, but were unable to restart the generator immediately, Shimun said. Sewage flowed into the river for between 20 minutes and 40 minutes before,the pump station was put back into action, he said. The 40- year -old generatorhad been inspected and tested after the July 22 incident was pronounced in good working order, Shimun said. "It's a mystery," he said. "We don't really understand the problem." Shimun met Monday with repre- sentatives from the DEQ, during which Shimun agreed to put replace- ment of the generator into the city's, 1994-95 budget year that starts Oct. 1. The project should be completed this winter, he said. Meanwhile, the DEQ officials said a temporary back -up generatorneeded to be put into the Mather Road station until the permanent replacement was installed. A search for a short-term replacement was continuing this week. The DEQ considered the spill tote serious, said Dewey Worth, a water quality analyst with the DEQ's office in Cascade. "We don't want it to hap- pen again," Worth said. The city could have been subject to fines for polluting the river, but the DEQ would rather see the city devote the money toward fixing the problem, Worth said. Health advisory still in effect for North Fork Payette River Central District Health Department officials hope this week's water samples and testing will clear a stretch of the North Fork Payette River from McCall to Tamarack Falls for contact recreation. Since a sewage spill at McCall on the evening of July 28 that dumped an estimated 2,000 gallons of untreated sewage into the North Fork, a health depart- ment advisory was issued warning citizens against primary contact recreation activities like swimming and water skiing in that stretch of river. Tom Turco, with Central District Health, said Monday that his agency would be taking more sam- ples along the stretch of river later this week. But based on the samples taken and the tests done last week, he said the advisory is still in force. "It's laying in there a lot longer than we expect- ed it would," he said of the contamination that result- ed from the spill. Turco said the low water flows are likely contributors to the slow progress the river is making in cleaning itself of the spill. Though fecal coliform bacteria counts were not terrifically high in some areas of the river, he said that knowing the source of the bacteria gives them good reason to maintain the advisory. He said the recent counts ranged from as low as 2 organisms per 100 milliliters of water at the Tamarack Bridge to a high of 360 per 100 ml water at the Sheep Bridge. While the standard for any single sample is 500 organisms per 100 ml water, consistent levels of lower amounts can also bring about the advisory, he said. Levels of 10 to 20 organisms per 100 milliliters is about normal for the river, he said. But he emphasized that since they know the source of the contamination, city sewage, it makes the health warning all the more advisory. Health & Welfare technicians will also draw sam- ples from above the No. 7 lift station, which mal- functioned after a power outage on consecutive weeks, to determine what the natural levels in the river as it exits Payette Lake might be. That lift station includes a nearly 40- year -old aux- iliary generator that failed to kick on when the power failed. The spill of the week prior to the July 28 inci- dent resulted in about 300 gallons of raw sewage in the river. Gary Shimun, McCall City Manager, said city officials have met with DEQ officials and DEQ has required them to construct an earthen berm around the lift station. But he said that prospect has raised some objec- tions from a neighboring property owner. The city has also agreed to put a second backup generator for the lift station, and will, over the next few months, pursue the acquisition of a new gener- ator to install at that lift station. Shimun said DEQ officials have said they're sat- isfied with the steps the city has taken to ensure that a repeat doesn't take place. North Fork of Payette River is OK: for recreational use, health officials say Statesman staff The North Fork cf the Payette River is again safe for recrea- tionalists to use. A July 28 sewage spill prompt- ed health officials to issue a health advisory. They lifted the advisory Friday, after they re- ceived test results from water samples. Tom Turco, environmental health director at the Central District Health Department, said the levels of fecal bacteria in the river are down "signifi- cantly" from last veek. "The surface water is back to normal," he said. "There is no reason at this time to keep peo- ple out of the river." safe again A health advisory against swimming came after the water became contaminated when raw sewage spilled out of a lift sta- tion for anywhere from 15 min- utes to an hour. Swallowing the contaminated water could have resulted in in- testinal illness. The sewage spill was caused by a power outage. The emer- gency generator worked for a while, then failed. People still flushed their toilets, but the stalled pump didn't keep the sewage moving through the sys- tem, and it overflowed into the river. The affected area included the North Fork of the Payette be- tween McCall and Tamarack Bridge on the Cascade Reser- voir. Payette Lake was not con- taminated. The advisory never prohibited fishing, although people were advised to cook thoroughly what they caught. There were no clean -up costs because the river naturally flushes itself. The only costs were the river testing and man- power to collect the samples. Turco said those expenses are in the health district's operating budget. Due to forest fires in the Pay- ette National Forest, officials have closed off a 500,000 -acre area of it. The closure area is north of the reopened river segment. Area affected by spill' North Fo ( McCall rk b Payette River Cascade Reservoir Cascade A Boise N McCall to explore effluent option that could solve nutrient problem for Mud Creek watershed MCCALL — Yet another option is being stud- ied for resolving McCall's sewage effluent prob- s still be costly, he said. That pre- C Council members agreed to that, lem, which has been pegged as a major contrib- l borhood of $8.5 million, according c cient funds still available from money p t to J -U -B s numbers. a already granted the city by DEQ to would see the city pipe its effluent to settling B increase the number of beneficia- o options the city has looked at. In T<om where it would be pumped to irrigators in r ries, he said. That makes it much a addition to the J -ditch alternative, : the drainage, has to potential for dealing not only m sources of money to pay for the pro- r rate land application. with the effluent point source of nutrients com- s ject could be attracted, he said. T The high -rate land application in from the sewage treatement facility, but also j t proposal seemed the most feasible, to deal with the non -point sources within the J members that the project takes a b but was rejected by DEQ as there entire 18,000 -acre Mud Creek drainage. m major step from just one of dealing w was not a high enough degree of The proposal would be an alternative to the m with the point source problem pro- c certainty that there would be a zero J -ditch that was discussed by George Wagner of v vided by the waste water treatment c contribution of nutrients to the reser- J-U-B Engineers at a meeting last month of the f facility to one of watershed man- v voir by the proposal. Cascade Reservoir Coordinating Committee. J- a agement. T The slow -rate land application U -B is the Boise engineering firm selected by T That wider scope will provide a alternative was generally believed the city to do the upgrade to the sewer treatment m more opportunities for outside fund- t to be too expensive, mostly because facility. i ing, however, he said. About $1 mil- o of the high cost of the roughly 1,000 That plan would have the city l lion is now available through a state a acres the city would have to pur- lay a pipe down the J- ditch, an irri- a appropriation t chase. south out of McCall. Treated efflu- i indication that the Soil Conservation a alternatives would have to involve ent would be mixed with water and S Service might be willing to grant a t the cooperation of almost all, if not then sprinkled on irrigated croplands s similar amount. a all, of the landowners whose prop - But concerns about whether the E Environmental Protection Agency b by the gray water. for food crops and seed potatoes a as would other agencies and orga- m much cropland, and is most flood - grown in that area made the pro- n nizations i irrigated grazing land, that would In addition, J -U -B's preliminary i if the innovative project could be l landowners to buy into, J -U -B offi- estimates of the cost of that pro- s shown to be a demonstration pro- But in almost all cases with the how much of the cost could be born i in t J -ditch property owners Vickers dis- by outside funding sources, also e ent pollution, there might be some c to see the idea developed more before that the proposal would prove fea- M Money might also become avail- t they made a decision on whether or sible. a able should it be possible to form a n Wagner told members of the s sort of "wetlands bank," whereby A part of both alternatives would at their meeting last week, s some of t t the construction re additional s ground to further study that proposal s sate for wetlands that have been s water would be stored during the drainage. h he said. winter when no irrigation takes place. McCall to ask farmers to use treated sewage BY TOM GROTE The Star -News A plan that would take McCall's phosphorus -laden sewage out of Cas- cade Reservoir and placed onto farmers' fields was given the go -ahead for more study last week by the McCall City Council. Council members authorized J -U- B Engineers of Boise to study two different plans for diverting McCall's treated wastewater out of the North Fork of the Payette River and into an improved system of irrigation ditches west of Lake Fork. The plans carry an estimated price tag of between $8.4 million and $10.8 million. But engineers were hopeful the project could be heavily funded by grants because of high public con- cern over cutting pollution in the reservoir. The city's treated sewage now meets all federal standards for pollut- ants, but phosphorus leftover from the treatment process has been identi- fied as a significant polluter of the reservoir. Current estimates say 11 percent of the phosphorus that goes into the reservoir comes from the McCall plant. The reservoir is struggling to sur- vive as phosphorus pollution feeds algae blooms, which in turn chokes oxygen out of the reservoir. The two alternatives to be studied would send treated wastewater down pipes to farmland and ranchland served by either the J -Ditch or by Mud Creek, George Wagner of J-U-B told council members at their regular meeting last Thursday. The wastewater would irrigate the ".and during growing months and then be stored in a 40 -acre reservoir during the winter. The option would not only cut pol- lution in the North Fork, but irrigators would save water, power and mainte- nance costs by using the treated sewage, which is acceptable quality for irrigation, Wagner said. Also, run -off after irrigation would, be conserved and new wetlands would be created under the plan, he said. The plan would be less expensive than other ideas studied over the past few years to take the treated sewage out of the North Fork, Wagner said. One idea would have used the water to directly irrigate crops on land to be acquired by the city, but the high cost of the estimated 800 to 1,000 acres needed ruled out that plan, he said. Another plan would have piped the wastewater out of the Payette River basin altogether and into the Little Salmon River basin in Meadows Val- ley, but concerns over effects on salmon runs nixed that plan, Wagner said. The J -Ditch and Mud Creek plans cannot work unless land owners that would use the water agree to the idea, Wagner said. For that reason, he em- phasized the next step was planning only, and no option would be selected before land owners were consulted and all of their concerns addressed, he said. "We're only talking about some ideas, and nobody is doing anything but studying alternatives," Wagner said. The 1994 Idaho Legislature ap- proved $1 million for the city of McCall to remove phosphorus from the North Fork, and Wagner said an- other $1 million has been applied for by the local U.S. Soil Conservation Service office for ditch improvements. Those funds could be used for the J- Ditch or Mud Creek options, he said. Also, the state Division of Envi- ronmental Quality has a program that could provide 50 percent matching funds for the project, he said. If the city had to bear some of the cost, the price tag would be passed along in monthly fees to city sewer customers. For example, financing $4.4 million of the project would add an estimated $11.28 to a customer's monthly bill, according to J -U -B esti- mates. Local financing of $7.4 million would add about $19 to monthly bills. The largest costs associated with the plans would be for the miles of pipeline that would need to be laid. The J -Ditch plan calls for pipes as large at 42 inches in diameter plus thousands of feet of smaller pipe. Building a winter storage reser- voir to hold 255 million gallons of treated sewage would cost $3.6 mil- lion alone. .se " l: "q4-- L6AI ValleLf Ad116c2i7".( _C)rj5Iyq The various alternatives will be discussed in more depth at com- ing meetings of the Joint Powers Board that oversees the district, and also at either the Oct. 13th or Oct. 27 meeting of the McCall City There may be help available. McCall Whiteman said district and city officials, along with representa- tives of J -U -B Engineering, of sewer Boise, the city's engineers on the project, are searching high and low for every possible outside source of money to help pay for solution the project. Included in that is the poten- tial for the Bureau of Reclamation to fund up to half of the cost of the project, Whiteman said. The Idaho Department of Health and be c o s t l y Welfare's Division of Environmental Quality has already MCCALL — Fixing McCall's pledged more than $1 million sewage effluent disposal system toward the project. But that something will be done isn't going to be cheap. Preliminary cost estimates dis - and soon is a given, according to cussed at a meeting last week of McCall City Manager Gary Shimun. the Cascade Reservoir /Payette He said Tuesday that the cost of the various alternatives i0ugh; Lake Watershed Projects Technical but the city will pursue a project of some sort because "It's the right Advisory Committee meeting here thing to do." put the cost of the cheapest alter - The Maki alternative is the most feasible one from a "let's get some - native at nearly $8.9 million, and thing going" perspective, he said. From the aspect of getting the widest the most expensive at nearly $14.8 possible involvement of other agencies, however, the Mud Creek alter - million. native would be the one to pursue. he said. Such a broad project would The alternative that is getting greatly increase the potential to obtain "demonstration grants." the most interest is one being called that alternative could ultimately deal with the water quality prob- the Maki alternative and which lems of the entire Mud Creek drainage, besides solving McCall's would see treated effluent being sewage effluent problem, officials have said in past meetings on the applied to agriculture land locat- matter. ed south of Lake Fork in the Maki While the price tag will be high, Shimun said city and district res- Lane area. idents might go for a bond of a couple of million if necessary. That, "It's very hefty, you've got that even in what everyone agrees is a rather dismal environment in McCall right," Ted Whiteman, director of in which to try to pass a bond of any sort. the Payette Lakes Water & Sewer "In the climate that there is right now, I don't look very favorably District said this week. to a bond issue," Whiteman said. "I think it will all hinge on fund- But, "People also realize we have a responsibility," Shimun said. ing availability," he said. Shimun said that he Wants people to also be aware that if for a "As we said up front, the dis- drainage -wide project to be feasible it will require lots of cooperation trict and city don't have the from landowners, and that could be the biggest hurdle to get over. money," Whiteman said. The sys- That still will be an issue with the Maki proposal, but with not as tem is and would be cooperative- much land involved, the problem won't be as acute. ly operated by the district and the "We're working in good faith," Shimun said. The city recognizes City of McCall. it is part of the problem and is working toward solutions, solutions "We want to be a good neigh- that could even go beyond the city, he said. There are other areas in bor and get the discharge out of the district and near the district now using septic systems that could the (North Fork of the Payette) potentially be brought in and sewered, he said. The city is looking at river, but we're going to need some of that, he said. help," he said. The Maki option, which Whiteman said is probably the most viable, Effluent from the McCall would basically involve delivering treated effluent to about 1,100 acres Sewage Treatment Plant has been of ground where it would be sprinkled. identified as the largest single point But that would be a peak amount of land needed in a wet year. source contributor of phospho- Dryer years would require less land, according to Kirby Vickers, of rous nutrients to Cascade Reservoir. J -U -B Engineers. Estimates are that 10 to 11 per- And the ultimate cost of the Maki project "might be less, Vickers cent of the annual nutrient load said, as there is $1.5 million built into that $9.7 million figure for entering the reservoir comes from improvements to the city's present treatment facility that may or may the McCall facility. not be necessary. ` The various alternatives will be discussed in more depth at com- ing meetings of the Joint Powers Board that oversees the district, and also at either the Oct. 13th or Oct. 27 meeting of the McCall City PSWSD selects treatment ftacility plan MCCALL — The Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District Board selected a wastewater treatment facility alternative to recommend to McCall City Council during a board meeting last Friday. The treatment facility alternative selected, known as the Maki Alternative, will require an upgraded treatment facility, the effluent from which will be applied to farmland at agro- nomic rates, according to George Wagner, vice president of JUB Engineers of Boise. JUB presented three alternatives to board members during Friday's meeting, alternatives that were recommended to the PLWSD Board by the Joint Powers Board of City of McCall and PLWSD officials, which share oversight of the sewer sys- tem. The two other alternatives included a "general slow rate land application," and a "general high rate land application." After outlining all three alternatives, members voted to recommend the Maki Alternative to McCall City Council. According to PLWSD manag- er Ted Whiteman, the Maki Alternative was chosen mainly for three reasons. "Ease of implementation was the main reason, timing was the second, and finally cost," he said. According to Whiteman, if all goes well, the plan could be in effect as early as the spring of 1995, with the total first cost, or construction cost, of the plan being $9,949,282, which is between $300,000 and $1 million lower than the other alternatives pro- posed. Whiteman also said the Board chose to recommend the Maki Alternative even though there were some reservations about land own- ership. Two members expressed interest in owning the land, rather than leaving ownership to a pri- vate individual. Under the Maki Alternative, the 1,100 -acre site just south of town is owned or leased and active- ly farmed by the Maki family, with an additional 160 acres owned by Harry Bettis. According to Whiteman, both parties appear willing to participate although no contracts have been signed. "It's still preliminary, no con- tract has been signed yet with Maki," Whiteman said. The Maki Alternative plan, which is estimated to cost about $1.2 million annually to operate, would involve pre- treating sewage effluent at an upgraded treatment facility, followed by slow rate application to the Maki's farm- land through sprinkler irrigation during the four and a half month growing season. According to JUB, application would be at "agro- nomic rates allowing for uptake of nutrients by crops and grass- lands." Besides the ability to imple- ment the plan quickly, timing, and cost, the Maki project had other positive aspects the Board liked. For instance, the Maki's have expressed interest in a 20 -year agreement for the plan, something the Board says it needs. Also, the size of the land parcel and storage facility would allow more flexi- bility throughout "most of the design life." JUB told the Board that the Maki Alternative could be a reli- able, long -term answer for efflu- ent disposal if designed properly, and that the final project will remove 100 percent of Mc.Call's effluent, something the Board said it wanted. With just the "bare bones" of the project implement- ed, Whiteman said 50 percent of McCall's effluent would be removed. According to a cost evaluation by JUB, if the Maki Alternative was implemented, McCall resi- dents' monthly PLWSD costs would go down as much as ten dollars. Wagner said the monthly cost to McCall users could be as low as $11, and nine dollars a month for PLWSD. A grant from DEQ of $1 mil- lion has been approved, and if grants from the Bureau of Reclamation and the Soil Conservation Service come through, monthly costs would become even lower. Under some fairly recent fed- eral legislation, the Bureau of Reclamation could participate in up to half of the cost of the pro- ject, but that would require a line item appropriation that would have to be approved by Congress. One of the main downfalls of the project is that the system would require a land application permit, allowing for certain governmen- tal and time constraints to be in effect. Wagner said the permit process could be "long and ardu- ous," but that the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality had assured him the permit would be a "high priority." Whiteman said the issue could go before the McCall City Council as soon as the Council's regular meeting scheduled for this com- ing Thursday. "It's the beginning of fast -paced development," Whiteman said. "We will be actively seeking solu- tions in the next few months towards final selection of an alter- native." Va tlei/ Advocate McCall Council opts for $9'.9 million Maki alternative Kim Pearson Staff Writer McCall City Council gave the go ahead for a wastewater treatment facil- ity alternative that was recommended to the Council by the Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District. The alternative, known as the Maki Alternative, wqs selected last week by PLWSD board members and brought before the Council at last Thursday's meeting, where members unanimously decided to approve the alternative. JUB Engineers of Boise presented all three alternatives initially being con- sidered by PLWSD, from which the Maki Alternative was chosen, to coun- cil members. George Wagner of JUB said he con- sidered the Maki Alternative to be a "very good alternative." Out of all three alternatives considered, the Maki is the easiest to implement, with the fastest results, according to Kirby Vickers of JUB. "Of all the alternatives we looked at, it's the one that we can get the quick- est response to get phosphates out of the water," Vickers said. The Maki wastewater treatment plant would be located on a 1,100 -acre site just south of town that is owned and leased by the Maki family, and of which a 160 acres parcel of the proposed site is owned by Harry Bettis, whom JUB said would be a willing participant in the plan. The Maki Plan would involve pre - treating sewage effluent at an upgrad- ed treatment facility, followed by slow rate application to the Maki's farmland through sprinkler irrigation during the Nov -)3, /,?Vl four and a half month growing season. According to JUB, application would be at "agronomic rates allow- ing for uptake of nutrients by crops and grasslands." Although no con - tract has been signed between the parties involved, Wagner said the Maki family seemed interested in the agreement. However, not everyone at the meeting was as enthusiastic about the Maki alternative. Residents living near the Maki farm voiced con- cerns to the Council and JUB pertaining to odor, and other aspects of living near a wastewater treatment facility. Vickers said that there would be no guarantee the facility would be odorless. Some residents said they were upset because they were not even notified that the alternative was being proposed. Council assured everyone that the matter would go before a public hearing before any steps were taken. Wagner said JUB needed City Council's approval of the alterna- tive before approaching Maki with a contract or agreement. Depending on Maki's repsonse, the alternative could be in use as early as next summer. If the Maki Alternative falls through, the Council agreed to initiate a second alternative chosen by PLWSD board members, known as the `general slow rate land application" alternative. Vai&, at,_�­t,,�& McCall Council sends Maki plan on to DEQ for approval MCCALL — The McCall City Council Thursday night voted to send on to Idaho's Division of Environmental Quality for approval the city's plan to dispose of its treated sewage effluent by land appli- cation on agricultural ground south of Lake Fork. The so- called Maki Alternative would have the city's treated effluent piped from the city's treat- ment plant to land owned by Will and Jake Maki and Harry Bettis, where it would be sprinkled on agriculture ground. But that plan may not be the project that is ulti- mately built as Councilors acknowledged the work done by the Valley Soil & Water Conservation District to bring about the J -Ditch alternative. That idea was discarded last year by the city and its wastewater treatment plant engineering firm, J- U-B Engineers of Boise, as having too many road- blocks. J -U -B and city officials felt that getting the half -dozen land owners who draw irrigation water from that ditch to all agree to the plan was insur- mountable. However, Berry Albert, a VS &WCD soil con- servationist, has been working to get those landown- ers together. And last week it was announced that he had mostly been successful, with only Simplot Farms not entirely on board yet. Simplot manage- ment needed to further study the idea to see if the irrigation with treated and diluted sewage effluent fit into their crop rotation schedule. "My personal sense is that alternative is worth continuing to track to see if it is viable," Council member Bill Killen said. But because of the other factors involved — includ- ing the threat of a lawsuit from the Cascade Reservoir Association over its continued discharge of treated effluent into the North Fork of the Payette River — "I wouldn't want to delay the Maki proposal," Killen said. "At the present time, the Maki Alternative is ripe for review by (Idaho's Division of Environmental Quality)," he said. "We've been going at this for two years." George Wagner, of J -U -B Engineers, told the Council that the facility plan for the Maki Alternative addresses land application over a wide area. Should DEQ issue a Finding of No Significant Impact on the Maki proposal, that finding may not be incon- sistent with the J -Ditch alternative. "It's a credible alternative," Killen said. "Though it's still an infant where we have a robust teen -ager in the Maki Alternative." If that alternative were to work out and the efflu- ent could be removed from the river using the J- Ditch, and at a lower cost to boot, "We'll die and go to heaven," he said. The Star-News 3/2/95 Page #1 of 3 Pages McCall City Council delays Maki sewer plan BY SHARI HAMBLETON Ma s The Star-News The McCall City Council last week put on hold for at least a year a plan to irrigate crops near Lake Fork with But officials and engineers must treated sewage. INSIDE first work through and address public The delay in the project was as- concerns presented both during the sured when the council voted last N. Idaho finds sewa eon farms works. public meeting earlier this month and Thursday to put off the initial phase of g those submitted in writing, before the project which would have -laid a —Page 3 progressing any further. pipeline across the North Fork of the An "Environmental Information Payette River. Sewer plan faces state scrutiny. Document" is being compiled and The pipe would have carried treatei 1� y' will be available to the public soon effluent from the McCall sewagetreal- —Back Page e which will answer those concerns, ment facility to farm and pastureland Wagner said. That document should near Lake Fork. But the neighbors of likely be completed within the next the farmland have expressed opposi- lower bid for the construction in the declining water quality in the reser- month. tion to the proposal. fall of the effluent line and a water voir. Other items discussed during Bids for the river crossing were line. But engineers had hoped to speed By delaying the project beyond the-rhursday's council meeting included: considered at the council's regular up the process, piping effluent to the spring low water level of the river, • Franchise Fee: The council re- meeting Thursday. But the two bids Lake Fork site by this summer. "we've basically delayed the project .-onsidered a recently approved received — one for $78,000 and a That would have prevented another year," McCall City Manager�mergency ordinance establishing a second for $133,400 — were both McCall's phosphorus -laden treated Gary Shimun said. three percent franchise fee on Idaho rejected because the council believed sewage from flowing into the North "That's going to upset the folkspower Co. negative public reaction to the plan Fork of the Payette and downstream down in Cascade who want to see Council member Bill Killen ques- indicated closer scrutiny was neces- to Cascade Reservoir. Officials say McCall's (effluent) out of the river, 'tioned the legality of the ordinance in sary• McCall's sewage contributes td the he said. tight of a requirement preventing such A public meeting held Feb. 16 to gather public comments on the plan, called the Maki Alternative, turned nasty as Lake Fork land owners re- peatedly told the council they wanted to know more about the proposed land application plan and a large stor- age pond. To delay construction of the river crossing any longer would delay the project at least until next fall when the water level in the river drops again, the council was told by George Wagner, of J -U -B Engineering of Boise, which designed the plan. To attempt construction during the summer would mean escalated costs, Wagner said. The city had previously received a an ordinance from being passed on the day of its introduction. • Downtown Plan: The council approved the Downtown Master Plan Outline submitted by the Downtown Planning Subcommittee. The outline will now proceed to the design stage although Killen stressed the fact it was being accepted by the council as a series of recom- mendations. "I want to make it clear we haven't endorsed the end result," he said. A copy of the outline is available for public review. • Sick Leave: Changes to the city's personnel policy were discussed in- cluding a section addressing performance appraisals, employee health insurance and the possibility of initiating a "sick leave bank," to which employees could donate accumulated sick leave for rise by other employees. The Star-News 3/2/95 Page #2 of 3 Pages Use of treated sewage on farms found safe in N. Idaho project BY SHARI HAMBLETON The Star -News Using treated sewa ge to grow crops is not a new idea and has been found to be safe in at least )ne other Idaho community, according to an engineer who has worked with the method. Neighbors west of Lake Fork are not happy with the McCall City Coun- cil over a plan to irrigate farmland near their homes with treated sewage. The project, called the Maki Alter- native, would take treated sewage now being dumped into the North Fork of the Payette River and use it to grow crops. Neighbors are concerned about how the plan would work and whether there are any environmental risks. But much can be gleaned from the experi- ence of others who have blazed the scientific trail of land application. Land application of sewage has been around awhile, said Jim Kimball, an engineer presently working on a similar project in the Hayden Lake area in northern Idaho. Kimball has been working on a pilot land application project for the Hayden Sewer District. That project is situated directly over the Rathdrum aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for three major populated areas; Spokane, Wash., Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. While the three -year pilot project involved an 18 -acre test plot and cost $60,000 to complete, the full -scale project will encompass 470 acres re- cently purchased by the Hayden Lake Sewer District, Kimball said. The re- sults of the three -yoar study were worth the wait. The pilot project confirmed that applying municipal effluent actually will have less effect on water quality of the aquifer than conventional agri- cultural irrigation methods, Kimball said. Hayden's test plot, which con- tained blue grass sold for commercial seed, hay and wheat, was irrigated continuously during the growing sea- The pilot project confirmed that applying municipal effluent actually will have less effect on water quality of the aquifer than conventional agricultural irrigation methods. son with treated wastewater. During the non - growing season, the sewage is treated at the main treat- ment plant with an alum process which binds the phosphate, and the resulting sludge removed and the water re- turned to the Spokane River. "People in those areas were pretty concerned about activity over the aqui- fer," Kimball said. "They didn't want the water quality degraded." But the study, which involved both a land application plot and a conven- tional agricultural irrigation plot, con- firmed that crops were able to use nutrients from the effluent more effi- ciently and more completely because of the slow rate at which they were applied, he said. Conventional agricultural methods use large amounts of inorganic fertil- izers applied once or twice a year, Kimball said. Much of that runs off into the subsurface water because crops can't use it all. But land application is not a cure - all, Kimball said. Careful analysis of soil types, topography and subsurface water flow patterns and consideration of site crops, are important to the success of the project, he said. "Using grazing cattle can be a prob- lem," he said, "because sometimes they'll trample down the site," com- pacting the soil which would interfere with the absorption of the effluent water. Crops grown on the land applica- tion site are important, Kimball said. "You want to get maximum utili- zation of the effluent nutrients," he said. "While the acreage could be used to graze cattle, it would be better to remove the crops grown on the land, planting new crops which would absorb a greater amount of the nutri- ents supplied by the effluent." All areas are not alike, each requir- ing an in -depth look at soil types, length of the growing season and other factors which would affect how much of the water, and the nutrients in that water, an application site could handle, Kimball said. That's one of the chief concerns of the family of Loretta Florence, who spoke to the McCall City Council in a hearing on the Maki Plan last month. The Florences operate the Rain- bow Ranch, where seed potatoes are a major crop. Florence told the council the Lake Fork area was well suited for seed potatoes because of its isolation from other agricultural areas, and potato diseases which might other- wise contaminate their crops. Now they want assurances appli- cation of McCall's effluent will not destroy their livelihood. The Florences also are concerned too much water might be applied dur- ing Long Valley's short growing sea- son, causing runoff conditions for surrounding neighbors to the site. "Our main concern is that they are planning to apply too much water ... for the amount of acreage and the type of soil we have," she said. Kimball agrees that's a valid con- cern, and said the rate at which certain crops take up and use the water should be carefully studied. "A critical factor for (the McCall project) would be the ability of the soil to absorb phosphorus," which is "the whole reason you go to land application," he said. "You have to do your homework and it costs money to do the detailed studies and it takes public input to look at the process and become com- fortable with it," Kimball said. News - 3;�5195,- g47,p J� 3 7 f 3 pars Sewer plan still needs OK from state BY SHARI HAMBLETON The Star-News Before McCall's treated sewage can be used to irrigate Lake Fork farmland, the plan first must pass the desk of Dick Rogers. Issuing land application permits is Rogers' job with the Idaho Depart- ment of Health and Welfare's Divi- sion of Environmental Quality. DEQ has been closely associated with the study of the Maki Alterna- tive, McCall's plan to use treated sew- age to grow crops near Lake Fork instead of dumping it into the North Fork of the Payette River. The DEQ's work includes footing he bill forthe majority of the $300,000 ;ost of the study, but the permit "isn't i done deal," Rogers said. The permit would take into ac- ,ount, and actually dictate, the way affluent is applied and at what rate, togerssaid. Although engineers and scientists ire convinced of the overall safety ind effectiveness of land application echnology, it is the finerpoints which seed closer scrutiny. Grazing cattle on the land right after its been watered is one of Roger's concerns. "That may be a problem up in (the Lake Fork) area," he said. Rogers said about 125 land appli- cation permits have been issued with projects in operation around the state. Donnelly has been operating a land application program, but on a much smaller scale, since about 1979, Rogers said. The city of Boise also applies treated effluent to acreage near Gowen Field. But each area has unique charac- teristics which need to be considered. Rogers said Lake Fork residents who are concerned how the Maki Plan would affect their seed potato crop need careful consideration. "I understand that concern," Rogers said. "I know how important it is to maintain the purity of their seed. I've just never seen it before as a concern in a land application (project)." "I can't believe it's an unknown," he said. "There are a lot of seed potato operations downstream from land application projects now." He said concern over drift spray Rogers said. "It would behoove the reaching crops might be addressed by city of McCall to slow down right incorporating a vegetative buffer 35 now and spend some time dealing feet to 50 feet deep. with the public ... or it's going to be While the public has been told the an `us and them' situation." Maki Alternative is only in the first "If it's another six months then it's stages of approval, "engineers have a another six months," he said. "It'll been talking about it for some time," :)e money well spent." Roger said. . • Other proposals need to also be "The land application has been on --onsidered, like going to the west of the table for quite awhile," he said. the Maki site, he said. He said interest DEQ received a permit application in a larger regional waste treatment from McCall Feb. 10. site should also be studied. But the public was not informed of Rogers said effluent could be ap- the specific proposal until recently, plied to the McCall Golf Course, a causing an uproar at a recently held practice common in other areas across public meeting. the region. "I'm a big believer in educating The University of Idaho currently the public," Rogers said. "When you has a land application permit to apply don't keep them informed ... we get seated effluent on portions of the the response we had at the meeting." Vloscow campus, he said. Depending While McCall's plan to use land )n the level of effluent treatment, application technology makes sense, and application is safe and "quite the "public perception" is what has icceptable," he said. thrown the project into a tail spin, he Rogers said a proposed 300 mil - said. ion gallon pond used to store effluent "The education process is needed s another consideration. It is also a and I think people need to feel like najor point of contention for those their opinions are being respected," vho live adjacent to the site. News 4p'-If b 1 gv5"� Star -News Photo by Shan Hambleton This gravel pit near the McCall sewage- treatment plant is the latest candidate for a storage reservoir. McCall considers gray. pel it for .45tora g a of treated sewage BY SHARI WLMBLETON The Star-News The sewer a igineers for the City of McCall are considering an alterna- tive location for reservoir ponds asso- ciated with the Maki Alternative. The Maki Alternative calls for re- moving McCall s treated effluent from the North Fork of the Payette River, transporting it io the Lake Fork area and applying it to farm land. City officials are negotiating the purchase of 24 to 30 acres of land owned by Clearwater Concrete and Gravel adjacent to the city's sewage treatment lagoons at the end of Boydstun Street. The comfany, owned by J.P. Seubert of Cot:onwood, is now used to excavate gravel, McCall City Man- ager Gary Shimun said. Lake Fork residents, in a public meeting in February, told city offi- cials they were upset over not being informed of the: Maki Alternative ear- lier. They were especially angry over the proposed location west of Lake Fork of a huge reservoir which would hold treated effluent over the winter m3nths. .As city officials and engineers ex- amine the latest idea, they want the public well informed. Rick Mallory of J -U -B Engineer- ing, the Boise firm representing the city, will be visiting residents near the proposed pond site at the sewer la- goons Saturday and Sunday. "Plans are to meet with nearby property owners this weekend," Mallory said. "For people who aren't home, I'll leave information." Mallory said area residents are welcome to call and set up an appoint- ment at his office in Boise. Those interested should call 343 -3923 or 376 -7330. Shimun said initial plans to locate the holding reservoir in the Lake Fork area adjacent to where the treated effluent would be applied met with such opposition, city officials decided to look elsewhere. "The key issue (to the opposition) that we discovered in the meeting was opposition to the storage reservoir in the Lake Fork area," Shimun said. "So we started looking at alterna- tive potential sites," he said. "It was J- U-B who came up with Seubert's property." That property is zoned for indus- trial uses and already has gravel pits there, Shimun said. Seubert did not return telephone calls to his Cotton- wood office. Shimun said, although " Seubert is interested" in selling the property, negotiations cannot proceed before an environmental impact document regarding the Maki Alternative is com- pleted and submitted to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's Division of Environmental Quality. The completed document would also be available at the McCall City Hall for public review, he said. Also integral to the Maki Altema- tive plan is $5 million in potential grant funds from the B ureau of Recla- mation for the construction of the reservoir system, Shimun said. That involves timing. Those funds would not be avail- able until 1997. The city currently has a permit to proceed with the first phase of the Maki Alternative — crossing the North Fork of the Payette River with the pipe which would cant' the treated effluent to the Lake Fork area. "We have a permit that allows a 12 -inch pipe," Shimun said. "But if the storage (reservoir) is on this end, the line has to be a 20 -inch pipe." The issue of where the reservoir will be located has to be established before the city can proceed with the river crossing, he said. "There's also a dramatic differ- ence in cost from a 12 to a 20 -inch pipe," Shimun said. lie, Std- NeWS it-If 13 /99� ei ghbors told of sewer pond idea BY SHARI HAMBLETON The star -News Engineers working for the City of to property owners was to let them know what was going on early in the ing too awfully big ... to think you could connect the proposed Riverfront McCall want to make sure area resi- process, listen to their concerns and Park (located across Mission Street dents are informed before getting incorporating them, if possible, into from the McCall Smokejumper base) rious about a new plan for a holdinng g the overall plan. If the reservoir is constructed adja- with bike and hiking trails." "It may mean a little more effort up reservoir for treated sewage. The reservoir — part of McCall s cent to the city's current lagoons, it front, but there are benefits derived in Maki Alternative for disposing e will be located on about 25 to 30 acres the long term," Morrow said. "Let's be city's treated effluent he coulld d be of land McCall officials are consider- plan for 20 years of high quality of constructed adjacent purchasing rom Clearwater Con- a life." t lagoons at the . rent sewage treatment lagoons at the cre and Gravel, owned by J.P. Suggestions like Morrow's, end of Boy, n Street. Seubert of Cottonwood. That prop- Mallory says will be given serious plans Initially,ted erty is now used to excavate gravel. consideration as plans for the con - in the Lake Fork located in the Lake Fork The holding reservoir would be struction ofthe reservoirbecome more area, adjacent to farmland where ef- areto ja about the same size as the city's cur - firm. fluent will likely be applied to crops rent treatment facility, Mallory said. Although the holding reservoir is and pasture. McCall City Manager Gary part of the second phase of the overall But Lake Fork residents, during a Shimun said negotiations for Seubert's project, city officials mustfirstdeter- public meeting in February, opposed property have not officially begun, mine where it will be located before the plan, asking city officials to keep but Seubert has said he would be moving forward with the first stage their effluent closer to home. interested in discussing the sale. — constructing pipe from the treat - Many also said they were angry Rob Morrow lives close to Seubert's excavation pits, and said ment plant across the North Fork of the Payette River to the land applica- overnot being told earlier of the plans to construct a holding reservoir in the construction of holding lagoons could "win tion site in Lake Fork. Lake Fork area. be a -win situation for every-; If the reservoir were located in City official, andJ -U -B Engineers one," if it's done right. Morrow and two other nearby Lake Fork, a smaller diameter pipe could be used because effluent would of Boise don't want to make that mistake again. homeowners met with Mallory Satur- be pumped gradually throughout the J -U -B hired former McCall resi- day to discuss the proposed holding year. dent Rick ry tothead a public, reservoir project. "We'd like to see it done in a If the reservoir is located in McCall, the pipe would need to be larger to information program residents about proposed design and manner where everyone could get a pump effluent to farmland just during construction plans for the project. Positive benefit out of it rather than the irrigation season, Mallory said. Mallory is a former coordinator of have it be just another industrial use," While a larger pipe would cost the Payette Lakes Water and Sewer Morrow said. significantly more, the overall project District, which operates the sewer, Aesthetics are high on Morrow's cost would be about the same because plant jointly w ith the City of McCall. list of concerns. "We'd like to see it a second chlorination plant would not Mallory said he personally visited bermed and landscaped with maybe be necessary if the reservoir is located with 17 property owners last week- some bike and hiking trails.. . so it's a positive experience rather than a in McCall, he said. The effluent will be treated twice end and left information for about 40 others who were not home. scab," he said. "There's before application to farmland, and in He said his whole intent in talking a lot of opportunity out "It's the process could be accomplished at there," Morrow said. not think- ; the city's chlorination facility already in use at the present plant, he said. One voice BY SHARI HAMBLETON The Star-News McCall City Council member Bill Killen said McCall needs to answer challenges to the city's sewage treat- ment facility plans with one voice. That voice should come from City Manager Gary Shimun not by ban- tering correspondence from City At- torney Ted Burton, Killen told other council members, Burton and Shimun during the council's regular meeting last Thursday. "You're takin; some jabs at them here (Cascade Re servoir Association attorneys)," Kilk n told Burton in re- gard to a recent letter he sent to the Boise law firm of Carter, Brock & Hinman. The Cascade Reservoir Associa- tion last month filed a 60 -day inten- tion to sue McCall for violation of the federal Clean Water Act if an agreement could i iot be reached over the city's sewage - disposal plans. But city officials say they intend to pursue the path they hope will resolve the controversial dumping of treated city effluent into the North Fork of the Payette River by imple- menting the Maki Alternative. Through the Maki Alternative, treated effluent would be transported to farmland in the Lake Fork area and applied to crops and pasture land there. urged on Burton's letter to CRA attorneys did not sit well with other council members, including Ralph Colton. "The tone of the letter ... it gets us deeper and deeper. It's like getting in a contest with a skunk," Colton said. "We just need to stay the course," Killen said. "We don't have any rea- son to hide or apologize for what we're doing or not doing. It's the community that we're responsible to." McCall sewage treatment plant supervisor John Lewinski compiled a letter to the council addressing spe- cific claims by the CRA. In that letter, Lewinski said many of the alleged violations CRA attor- neys point to as violations of the federal Clean Water Act did not go unreported, as the CRA claims and many did not occur at all. Lewinski's letter addressed CRA CRA threat claims which included McCall's fail- ure to monitor flow levels, pH viola- tions and fecal coliform violations. "The vast number of violations listed in CRA's complaint occurred when the flow meter was returned to the factory for repairs or during a construction period when McCall had a variance in its discharge permit to make necessary repairs," Lewinski concluded in his letter. Only one violation — for violat- ing fecal coliform levels once in 1990 — "generated the only letter of rep- rimand or warning for our plant dis- charge ... sent loy a state or federal regulatory official," Lewinski said. "I was quite pleased to see Mr. Lewinski's letter," Killen said. "It should go out to everyone who is involved here. It's important infor- mation. It needs no editorial com- ment. It speaks for itself." Hearing set. on revised Maki p BY SHARI HAMBLETON The Star -News The Maki Alternative sewer plan for the City of McCall will once again be under the microscope of public scrutiny Wednesday during an infor- mational meeting and public hearing. The meeting will be held at the McCall Golf Course Clubhouse. An informational meeting is set to run from 5:30 p.m. to 7:20 p.m. Public testimony will be heard beginning at 7:30 p.m. The revised plan is available for review at McCall City Hall, the McCall Public Library and the Pay- ette Lakes Water and Sewer District office in McCall. The Maki Alternative is the plan McCall officials have set their sights on to resolve the city's sewage -dis- posal dilemma. The city's treated effluent currently flows into the North Fork of the Pay- ette River, which flows downstream into Cascade Reservoir. The Maki Alternative calls for the effluent to be transported to the Lake Fork area and applied to crops and pasture land there. A public meeting held in February resulted in a public outcry over the project. Many property owners said they were not told about the project even though they would be affected. Because of that public opposition, McCall City Council members and the city's consultants, J -U -B Engi- neers of Boise, stepped back to address public concerns. J -U -B compiled a Facility Plan Report which includes a response to those comments. That document is available for public review at the McCall City Hall and Payette Lakes Water and Sewer District office ii, McCall. The winter storage lagoon planned for the Lake Fork area was a concern for many who raised their voices in protest during the public hearing in February. As a result, alternatives sites for the reservoir have been explored. McCall officials are now considering purchasing 25 to 30 acres of land in McCall owned by Clearwater Con- crete and Gravel. The property is located adjacent to the city's current sewage treatment lagoons. One Voice Urged on aki Vii' But plans to transport the effluent to the Lake Fork area for application across farmland is still the main focus of the project, said Rick Mallory of J- U -B. "The major change is the potential for the storage lagoon to be moved," Mallory said. "Other than that there are no real changes in the project. We are looking at a sprinkler system that would reduce wind drift of spray with .. low pressure nozzles directed toward the ground rather than up in the air." After concern was expressed by growers of seed potatoes that their: crops might be contaminated -,by the nearby land- applied effluent, Mallory said plant pathogen specialists from the University of Idaho were con- tacted for advice. Reference and research material was also reviewed, Mallory said. "From an engineering standpoint, we feel like we've looked far enough ... and we're confident this is not going to be a problem," he said. "But it's something no one can guarantee." About $300,000, mostly in state funds, already has been spent to study the Maki Alternative, which calls for McCall effluent to be applied to farm- land owned by Will and Jake Maki and Harry Bettis. The landowners have signed let- ters of intent indicating they would be interested in continuing negotiations over the proposal. If the project is approved, they would use the treated waste water to irrigate alfalfa and other pasture land grazed by cattle. According to the plan, $2.1 mil- lion would be spent this year to build a five -mile long pipeline from the city's sewage treatment plant, located at the south end of Boydstun Street, to about 870 acres of farmland. During winter months, when it would not be needed for irrigation, the treated waste water would be stored in a lined holding pond designed to mdy 18, /495 contain 300 million gallons of efflu- ent. The pond would not be built this year and no funding has been found to finance it but a location must be deter- mined so the correct size pipe ca m be installed. McCall City Manager (iary Shimun said the public hearing pro- cess will continue until public 4 -on- cerns have been addressed. "DEQ (the Idaho Departmer it of Health and Welfare's Division i of Environmental Quality) has tol( J us we will continue to do this pro cess until we have satisfied the public h Bar- ing process or at least until wt I've satisfied them (DEQ) that we've sat- isfied the public hearing process," Shimun said. "Either we have honestly addre: ssed public concerns or they (the put )lic) will use the process to raise additit )nal concerns and run the process forewer," Shimun said. A panel will be available to ans :wer questions during the public infoi ma- tion session, Mallory said. That p anel will include representatives f rom DEQ, J -U -B Engineers, the Cit y of McCall, Central District Health De- partment, and Valley Soil and Water Conservation District. "We'll go over a brief discussion of what the project is and how we plan to implement it," Mallory said. After the initial orientation, spe- cific topics such as water quality is- sues, aesthetics, farming concerns and property values will be addresse, d he said. Formal testimony will be heard beginning at 7:30 p.m.. S1.a r McCall likes Maki P lan for sewers Proposal sent to state officials BY SHARI HAMBLETON TteStar-News The McCall City Council last week formally sent the proposed Maki Al- te mative sewage disposal plan to state o'ficials for approval, although coun- ci 1 members said they are willing to uke a closer look at another proposal. The decision was made at the council's regular meeting last Thurs- day in light of a second proposal by tl e Valley Soil and Water Conserva- ti :)n District to replace the Lake Irrigation District's trouble -prone open ditch system with a pipeline and fl god irrigation methods with sprin- kl ers. The soil district's proposal also cells for extension of the pipeline to include more acreage outside the present Lake Irrigation District bound - ai y. That extension would allow more la ndowners to apply for inclusion into the district and make more acreage available for application of McCall's effluent. Barry Albert, conservationist for the VSWCD, said treated McCall ef- fluent could then be mixed — four pkrts water to one part effluent — with irrigation water the district gets from Little Payette Lake. The pipe - line would save about 25 percent of th e water lost through filtration which cc uld then be piped to other farmers needing irrigation water. While the proposal was one of the al .ematives originally considered for dealing with McCall's effluent, it was sidelined in favor of the Maki Alter - nz.tive. In the Maki Alternative, McCall of fluent would be transported via pipe- line to the Lake Fork area where it would be applied to farm and pasture laid there owned by two large land owners. The Maki Alternative was likely chosen over the J -Ditch Alternative — the name given the Lake Irrigation District alternative — because more land owners were involved with the J- Ditch Alternative, Albert said. But now, five of the six land own- ers "have agreed in principal to request funding for a pipeline that would re- place the J -Ditch and also accept effluent from McCall," Albert said. The undecided land owner — J.R. Simplot — owns the largest portion of acreage involved in the J -Ditch proposal. Although Simplot represen- tatives have not declined to participate, they told Albert they are concerned over the effect effluent could have on the company's seed potato crop. Albert said the J -Ditch proposal could either be an alternative to the Maki Alternative or a separate project. The 2,500 acres in the J -Ditch plan is west of the land slated for the Maki Alternative but east of the North Fork of the Payette River. While council member Bill Killen said the J -Ditch proposal "certainly is a credible alternative," he also said the Maki Alternative "was ripe for review by DEQ (Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's Division of En- vironmental Quality)." 1, for one, am not prepared to back away from that proposal (the Maki Alternative)," Killen told other council members. George Wagner, of J -U -B Engi- neers of Boise — the company which designed the Maki Alternative sys- tem — said a review by DEQ officials and subsequent approval of the land application system, could possibly be "valid if a different site is chosen." The council approved the Maki Alternative for submission for review by DEQ. Ne_ W G JL, ;I e 151 l 9 f 5 McCall gets m' axed signals over sewer treatment plans BY SHARI HAMBLETON The Star -News McCall City Council members feel they are receiving two different mes- sages from state health officials re- garding the city's plans to dispose of its treated sewage. A July 5 letter from Joy Palmer, regional administrator of Department of Health and Welfare's Division of Environmental Quality said she was concerned "about delays in McCall's implementation of Phase I ... of the Maki alternative for upgrade of the city's wastewater treatment facilities," City officials plan to use the Maki alternative to remove the city's treated effluent from the North Fork of the Payette River. The phosphorus -rich effluent flows downstream to Cas- cade Reservoir where it compounds water quality problems there. At completion, city effluent would be transported through a pipeline to the Lake Fork area where it would be applied to farm and pasture land as irrigation water. Palmer's letter asked McCall City Manager Gary Shimun why funding and construction had not begun on the initial phase of the project. Phase I of the Maki Alternative calls for the "re- habilitation of existing sand filters, construction of a new sand filter, and installation of fine screens and flow meter." McCall City council members last Thursday decided to fund construc- tion of Phase I as an "ordinary and necessary expense," which does not require an approval by voters. Because the sand filters — and the addition of another sand filter — is considered necessary for continued operation of McCall's present waste water treatment plant, the expense is allowed under the law. The "ordinary and necessary ex- pense" designation stems from the state constitution... and allows mu- nicipality to incur debt beyond its current year budget: without budget approval if the expense is deemed "ordinary and necessary," McCall City Attorney Ted Burton said. According to the Facility Plan Report compiled by J -U -B Engineers of Boise, the second phase of the project includes construction of an effluent pump station, construction of the pipeline to the Lake Fork farm- land, and construction of the irriga- tion system. Shimun told McCall City council members he spent several hours last "We're getting nit-picked to death on one end and they're telling us we're not going fast enough on the other. " – Gary Shimun, McCall City Manager week with other DEQ officials who "nit- picked" the Maki Alternative fa- cility plan report, environmental docu- mentation and responses to public concerns. "They had 16 pages of observa- tions on the environmental docu- ment," Shimun told the council dur- ing their regular meeting last Thurs- day. Those observations ranged from grammatical errors to asking what steps McCall plans to take to assure nearby eagles are not disturbed by the project, he said. "We're getting nit - picked to death on one end and they're telling us we're not going fast enough on the other," Shimun said. "We're at the point now of having another public meeting." But council member Bill Xillen said DEQ officials "would have to force it" if they wanted a third public hearing. "We've already done that twice." Palmer asked Shimun to provide a schedule of activities for initiation of Phase I of the Maki Alternative. Palmer also asked for a time line for Phase II of the plan which should include "appropriate milestones for obtaining funding from the Bureau of Reclamation, a bond election, and completion of Phase II construction." DEQ funding previously set aside for the Maki alternative — $1.5 mil- lion in supplemental grant funds —. will be jeopardized if McCall does not complete Phase I before next summer's irrigation season, Palmer said. .. In the absence of a schedule and McCall's serious efforts to com- ply with the schedule, competing de- mands for supplemental grants could jeopardize availability of these funds," she said. "I understand that the City has had some unexpected delays in the waste- water planning process, but it is im- perative that you move forward as expeditiously as possible," Palmer said. i! 0IzI Va I to L/ A 'd vocafe Nov � 5;Iq McCall's sewage system upgrade funding in jeopardy Mike Stewart _ Time running out on $1 million state grant Staff Writer Some wheels may be turning faster as the city of McCall attempts to solve the sewage effluent prob- lem its being sued over. Other wheels, primarily these having to do with funding, are in need of some grease, however. McCall City Manager Gary Shimun told the McCall City Council Thursday night that not only was the city being threatened with the loss of a $1 million match- ing grant from the state of Idaho through its Division of Environmental Quality, but that he didn't believe there was much of a chance for the city to get a $5 million grant from the federal Bureau of Reclamation to build the winter storage lagoon phase of the project. It'll soon be two years since the city was awarded a $1 million challenge grant by the Idaho Legislature, and Rep. Kitty Gurnsey, R- Boise, and a gradu- ate of McCall - Donnelly High School, said this weekend that there was, in fact, a chance that the legislature may withdraw that money and re- direct it somewhe-e else. federal grant of $5 million in doubt With company owner, George Bezates, second from left, looking on, crewmen worked Monday to begin building a diversion dam in the North Fork of the Payette River. The dam will allow Bezates to cross the river with what could be a pipeline to nowhere depending on how the McCall sewage treatment plan shakes out. S tl I-e 5 /-M.? h Dec 1, 1gg5 Judge clears McCall sewer- upgrade plan The Associated Press McCALL — A district judge agrees that McCall's plan to borrow $3.14 million to improve its sewage treatment facilities as an "ordinary and necessary" expense, not a capital outlay. That means the city can go ahead with plans to borrow the money from a state fund, rather than asking voters to approve a bond issue. Fourth District Judge George Carey approved the plan after a court hearing. McCall is under pressure from members of the Cascade Reser- voir Association to remove treated sewer effluent from the North Fork of the Payette River. The downstream reservoir is suf- fering from water pollution, in part from discharges from the McCall sewer plant. Sid 6- Ne w McCall doesn't .like lawsuit settlement over city sewage BY JEANNE SEOL The Star -News A proposed settlement to end a lawsuit brought by the Cascade Res- ervoir Association against the City of McCall includes terms that City Man- ager Gary Shimun describes as "com- pletely unacceptable." The Cascade Reservoir Associa- tion sued both McCall and the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency last July on charges the EPA was negligent in not forcing the city to remove its treated sewage from tpe North Fork of the Payette River. Since then, the Cascade Reservoir Association has announced a settle- ment with the EPA after that agency published a permit requiring McCall to stop the effluent discharge into the river. But a proposed settlement with the city, drafted by the law firm of Carter, Brock & Hinman, of Boise, is not sitting well with city officials. That settlement would require McCall to promise never to appeal any recommendations made by the state Division of Environmental Qual- ity to EPA on details in a discharge permit. A draft discharge permit that was issued in February by the EPA re- quires McCall to remove 100 percent of its phosphorus from treated sew- age from the North Fork by the end of 1998. A final permit is scheduled to be issued in June. "From a technological standpoint, there is no way that can be done," Shimun said of the 100 percent phos- phorus removal. Shimun said that because remov- ing 100 percent of the phosphorus from the river is technologically im- possible, the city may decide to ap- peal that clause in the permit, which would violate the proposed lawsuit settlement with the Cascade Reser- voir Association. "We should not only have the right, but we need to exercise our right to challenge the •(100 percent removal clause)," Shimun said. Shimun questioned why the city is being asked to remove all its phos- phorus from the river, when DEQ is asking other contributors, including ranchers and the U.S. Forest Service, to reduce their nutrient load by 30 percent. "Asking the city for a 100 percent removal is a completely artificial num- ber that somebody pulled out of the air," Shimun said. "That recommen- dation by DEQ was not based on science, it was based on politics." Shimun said it is. the option of the Cascade Reservoir Association to continue the lawsuit against the city, but said McCall is doing everything it can to get its effluent out of the river. City officials have been working with local landowners on a slow -rate land application plan that would sprinkle its effluent onto crops and pastures. Officials also recently in- structed an engineering firm to com- plete a study on a high -rate absorption land application plan. "It is still our intention and always has been to get the effluent out of the river," Shimun said. . The Cascade Reservoir Associa- tion plans to "stay" its lawsuit against the city until the final discharge per- mit is issued in June, association presi- dent Wayne Van Cour said. "The city will have to comply with a ruling from the permit," Van Cour said. "If it doesn't, we'll have to make a decision on where to go from there." M,t 1 c_ (l 7/ / y y 6 Std L , 'a W Treasurer wants McCall to give back $1 million BY JEANNE SEOL The Star -News 'A $1 million grant given to the City of McCall last June to help build a land application system for treated sewage is in danger of being revoked by Idaho State Treasurer Lydia Edwards. . In a letter dated Feb.. 27 to City Manager Gary Shimun, Edwards asks Shimun to return the $1 million grant to the state�Division of Environmen- tal Quality. "The city should return the money to the state until such time as it ap- pears the city is able to pursue the project on schedule," Edwards said in the letter. McCall has been working to imple- ment a project that would substitute discharging its treated sewage into the North Fork of the Payette River with sprinkling the effluent onto crops and pasture land. McCall Mayor Bill Killen said at last Thursday's regular McCall City Council meeting that he had heard rumors about the $1 million grant being in jeopardy. But Killen said a request from the state treasurer for the money was un- usual. He also doubted the city would ever see the $1 million grant again if the city returned it to DEQ. City Attorney Ted Burton advised the council to ignore Edwards' re-, quest because she lacked the author- ity to revoke any grant money. "Edwards was not the grant ad- ministrator and has no authority over the money," Burton said. I v ldhc k State ruling raises McCall sewer costs BY JEANNE SEOL The Star -News The cost of McCall's sewage treat- ment plant expansion increased by almost $1 million last week after a more expensive sand filtration sys- tem was ordered by the state Division of Environmental Quality. The city is already operating under a tight budget of $5.6 million for the first phase of a sewage treatment im- provement project. The plan is designed to remove the city's effluent from the North Fork of the Payette River. City Manager Gary Shimun told McCall City Council members last Thursday there was no way the city could abswb another $1 million in extra sand filtration costs for the fu- ture sewage treatment plant. "DEQ seems to have taken a cava- lier attitude that they can just tack another $848,000 to an already tight - budgeted project," Mayor Bill Killen said. "They're like `Nightmare on Elm Street' - they just keep coming back." Council members instructed Shimun to fight the sand filtration order made by DEQ and to conduct an "administrative review" of the project. Shimun said the order by DEQ would not be so disheartening if the agency had not already approved less expensive sand filters that the city had incorporated in its $5.6 million bud- get. "Basically, they approved sand fil- ters that we could afford, and then decided they weren't good enough Now we have to install "better" filters that no other facility in the United States requires," Shimun said. Ground was broken for the plant expansion last fall and construction on the facility is expected to start soon. City officials hope to have the expanded plant up and running by the end of this year to coincide with an effluent land application system. Sewer district to test this s Officials say distirct's takeover of sewage collection system a boon to all MCCALL — Payette Lake Water and Sewer District personnel will continue working this summer to try to determine the sources of what is believed to be a significant amount of clean water that enters the sewage treatment system during the peak run -off months of April and May. Ted Whiteman, manager of the district, said Monday that based on best estimates of base flow for the City of McCall, the amount of sewage running into the city's treatment system during those months should be 650,000 to 800,000 gallons per day. Instead, he said peak flows during those run -off months often reach and exceed 1.6 million gallons per day. That means there's an awful lot of clean water entering the sys- tem, dilluting sewage,,and taking up capacity at the treatment plan besides making it run less efficiently, Whiteman said. Typical of the problems that district per- sonnel are uncovering — since the district assumed responsibility for the collection sys- tem in the city last Oct. 1 — is what was found in a city sewer line near Idaho Highway 55 and Boydstun Lane last week. The line runs directly under a fence con - structed on Doug Manchester's property on the north side of the highway near the under- pass he built. Whiteman said his staff was perplexed by what they viewed as a large amount of fresh water in the sewage flowing in that line. They did some dye testing and discovered that at least two of those fence posts were driven directly into the sewer line lying underneath them. Water was flowing into the sewer line around the fence posts, he said. After.repairs were made, the flow of runoff water into the sewer line, with some esti- mates to be as high as 300 gallons per minute, was stemmed dramat- ically. Whiteman said he expects that sewer district personnel will be involved in a lot of similar detective work as they try to determine just what kind of shape the system they've inherited is in. But he doesn't fault the city for the existing problems as city offi- cials did as well as they could with limited resources and much broad- er responsibilities. The district, which was formed in the early 1980s to construct and maintain a sewer system to serve areas outside the Long vaf(ey Advocate– Mdrel, R- ummer for illegal hook -ups McCall city limits around Payette Lake, has one charge, and that's to maintain the, sewer collection system. "They were not able to devote the resources to making sure it was done right," he said. One of those other projects will be conducting smoke tests in some areas of town where some residences are believed to have illegally connected to the sewer system with French drains to drain storm water and groundwater from low -lying lots. That testing will begin this summer and involves pumping smoke backwards through sewer lines. Whiteman said it becomes readily apparent where there are problems with a section of sewer line, either through breakage or illegal hookups. Areas of town that will be test- ed will be given two weeks notification prior to the testing, he said. And, McCall City Manager Gary Shimun said those with illegal hookups to the system will be required to fix them. Shimun said this week that he really couldn't be happier with how things are working out between the city and the sewer district. And his enthusiasm match- es that of Whiteman's "It's fun for me as a manager too, because every once in a while we make the deal that's good for the community, and this is one of them," he said. He agreed that there is a lot of water being treated by the sewage treatment plant that shouldn't be, adding to pumping costs and decreas- ing the capacity of the system. Shimun also said that he realizes that the district has a lot of work to do when it comes to rooting out problems with the collection sys- tem. Last week's situation with the fence posts, he said, is a good example of what the contract between the city and the district was set up to accomplish. "Unequivocally, we're very pleased with the relationship right now," he said of the agreement. "They're doing what we asked them to do, they're out there doing the general maintenance that we asked them to do," he said. In instances such as that uncovered last week, he said the property owner will be billed for the repairs. "We have an easement for that sewer line, and he put a fence over it. In that case he caused the problem." Just as it will be with illegal hookups, even if they were made years and years ago, he said. When one buys a house, they buy a group of rights, but they also buy some problems, he said. "We have an ordinance against that, it's illegal," he said. Under the contract, it will be the city's role to enforce the ordi- nance. The city has found an enthusiastic partner in the sewer district, if Whiteman's attitude is any indication. "We're enjoying the challenge, and we're looking forward to more of them," he said. Among the other things the district has done is install and consol- idate alarms for all of the lift stations in the district and in the city. They are all tied to a central display board and an automatic dialer calls out personnel depending on the situation, he said. The district is also going to be conducting more inspections of sewer lines with television cameras. But, Whiteman cautions that all the technology available doesn't do any good unless it's used and used properly. Inspections of lines doesn't mean anything unless you're prepared to repair the problems those inspections turn up. The district has also initiated an every- three -year cleaning of lines, something it's been doing with the district's lines already. That's accomplished by cleaning one -third of the lines each year. . on V4/ le y Advocate (cjg,- -.) ,Q T ,� PLW &SD manager Ted Whiteman with alarm map. )- dhq Yla/��y /ac /voca -//z9 / -17 Warrington Construction apparent low bidder on J -Ditch project Braving some of our recent heavy snows, this group of con- tractors attended a bidding conference on the J -Ditch pro- ject last week. MCCALL— Warrington Construction was the apparent low bidder on a significant portion of what is known as the J -Ditch project, which will remove the City of McCall's treated sewage effluent from the North Fork of the Payette River. Bids were opened on the project Monday and Warrington's bid of $1,161,530 was significantly lower than the second low bid of Masco Construction, which bid a bit more than $1.3 mil- lion for the project. And, McCall City Manager Gary Shimun said that the Warrington bid was also about $338,000 below the engineer's estimates for the project. Bezates Construction of Ontario was the third low bidder at just over $1.4 million. Shimun said the city received a total of 10 bids on the pro- ject, which will see construction of an effluent pump station, a mixing station that will dilute treated effluent with clean water, and the pipeline to carry the treated effluent /water mix, and a separate pipeline carrying just clean irrigation water, out to the J- Lateral Ditch. He said many of the bids were clustered around the $1.4 mil- lion mark, but they went as high as almost $2.1 million. Shimun said the bids are now being reviewed by the project engineers, J -U -B Engineering of Boise, to make sure they're responsive. Then at some point the City Council must formally award the bid to the low bidder. But Shimun said there is another minor snag in getting all of the signatures needed on all of the agreements pertaining to the project, a snag having to do with liability and indemnity. But, he said he hoped those details will be cleared up in the next couple of weeks and that the Council will be able to move ahead and award the bid in plenty of time so that construction can begin on the project when weather permits. "Everything is in place," he said. "From the city's standpoint, the Council has already approved (the agreement). We're just waiting on the finals from the property owners." McCall doubles fees for wat BY JEANNE SEOL ' The Star -News The price of hooking up to the City of McCall's water system will nearly double on March 1 as the city struggles to pay for its improved, $11.2 million water treatment system. McCall City Council members last Thursday approved a hike in the city's water system "buy -in" fee, the one- time fee new homeowners, condo- minium and business owners pay for a dwelling or building to be con- nected to the city's water system. The flat fee was set at $3,750 per connection, plus an estimated $650 paid to the city for labor and installa- tion costs. The fee was increased from a previous charge of $2,250 per con- nection. Condominium developments must pay a separate $3,750 fee for each unit, while multifamily housing projects will be charged by the num- hoo - s j Ccti n on tKe ater treat- ment plant and new wa er lines con- tinues, while 75 percent of water meters have been installed, Henderson said. Those meters have changed the way the city charges for its monthly water use for businesses. Commercial monthly fees are now set at a flat rate of $24 per month, plus 60 cents per gallon over 3,000 gallons. Residen- tial rates are set at a flat fee of $22 per month for unlimited water. As "buy -in" fees are increased, monthly water rates will also increase "substantially" in order to pay for the new system, though no hike in the city's monthly rate has yet been fig- ured, Henderson said. "The news is not good, but it shouldn't be too much of a surprise," Henderson said. If McCall did not charge hookup fees or receive revenue from interest .,., rocarva f,,,,w .•; r., ..,motor m.,.,N+l.. time for sewer ponds The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation In February, Olson stopped has given the city of McCall more work on the design ofthe first pond breathing room to build ponds tc to conduct a "value engineering" store the city's treated sewage dur. review of the project by RH2. The ing the winter. consulting firm recommended the Previously, bureau officials had city could cut the costs of the ponds told the city that a construction by looking at a second site and also contract had to be granted by Sept, by fixing leaks in the city's sewer 30 if the city was to receive a $2.5 system. million grant for the first phase of Concern over the time a new the project. That attitude changed during a strategy would take was a concern meeting in Boise on April 10 at. of some city council members, offf- tended by officials from McCall, cials of the Payette Lakes Water the bureau and the state Division and Sewer District and JUB Engi- of Environmental Quality. neers of Boise, the project's design At the meeting, McCall City firm. All were worried the city Manager Brian Olson and Rick would miss the previous deadline Harbert of RH2 Engineers of' of Sept. 30 if a new course was taken. Redmond, Wash., made a presen- Olson said he was pleased with tat ion of the work the city had done the results of the meeting. "I think on the ponds and outlined a time it reflected the professional ap table for their completion, according to those attending the proach of the city and RH2 in meeting. Because of the presentation, there is no longer a firm require- ment to have a contract awarded by Sept. 30, said John Keys, Pacific Northwest regional administrator for the bureau. Keys said the new requirement is that the first of two planned ponds must be completed by Sept. 30, 1999. The original deadline of Sept. 30 was based on the end of the feder, -1 fiscal year, but Keys said he is au- thorized to carry over the $2.5 million to next year if it can t e justified. "I have to have some kind of agreement with the city or I don't carry over the money," Keys said. "I saw a commitment from them of what was needed from that project." Keys said the city also was n line to get an additional $2.7 in -I- lion grant from the B of R in 1999 :o complete the pond project. Also attending the April 10 mvet- ing was DEQ Administrator We lly Cory and DEQ Southwest I& ho Regional Administrator Steve West. West said on Monday the more flexible deadline was in keeping with the overall goal of the pond project. "We had to look at the re- alities that get us to our bottom line, which is getting (the efflue at) out of the (North Fork)," he sail. (See "Ponds, "Back Pate) ■ Owner signs deal on sewer pond site — Story, Back Page ,_5T/,Ire Neuls 4 -,-Z3 - JY Owner signs deal on city sewer pond site I ne Stu -News presenting a certain set of goals," he said. Also during the April 10 meet- ing, the bureau said the city could spend $134,000 of the $2.5 million grant to replace sewer lines and manhole covers that have ground- water leaks, according to those at the meeting. The leaks have been found in the Syringa Subdivision off Colo- rado Street. Cutting the flow of water through the sewer plant can cut the size and cost of the ponds, engineers have said. Once the ponds are completed, the city will be able to stop its dis- charge of phosphorus -laden treated sewage into the North Fork of the Payette River. The ponds will hold the sewage during the winter and then send it via the J -Ditch Pipe- line to irrigate farms south of McCall during the summer. Current plans call for two ponds to be built that would hold up to 360 million gallons. The McCall plant has been identi- fied as contributing 10 percent of the total phosphorus into Cascade Res- ervoir. The phosphorus encourages the growth of algae, which in turn chokes the reservoir of oxygen. A tentative land deal has been struck with the owner of the land the City of McCall wants to use to store treated sewage in the winter. The McCall City Council tonight will consider a proposed sale con- tract signed on April 14 by J.P. Seubert of Cottonwood, who owns the 40 acres near the city's sewer treatment plant at the end of Boydstun Street. The land is currently used for operations by Clearwater Concrete and Gravel and Valley Paving and Asphalt, both owned by Seubert. Tonight's meeting will start at 7 p.m. at McCall City Hall. Seubert is proposing to sell the land for $891,750. The price includes the costs for Seubert to relocate the two businesses to another site. Funds for the purchase would come from grants and loans previ- ously provided to the city by the state Division of Environmental Quality to build the J -Ditch Pipeline. The city is slated to get a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to build the first phase of the ponds, which would store treated sewage until it could be sent through the J -Ditch pipe- line to irrigate farms near Lake Fork. Lack of city ownership of the site was one reason McCall City Manager Brian Olson stopped de- sign work on the pond in February and ordered a study of the project. On April 9, council members authorized McCall City Manager Brian Olson to seek the purchase of a second parcel following a "value engineering" study. That study said a second site could be developed cheaper than the Seubert site. On Monday, however, Olson said it was "doubtful" that an agreement would be reached on the second site, owned by the Bezates family. PAGE A -10 - THE STAR -NEWS - THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2007 Costs of optional sewer expansions huge because most of system would be new BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The costs associated with the city's plan to meet future de- mands on wastewater treatment are staggering. The costs for the city's two wastewater treatment plant alternatives range from $70.2 million to $75.8 million depend- ing on which alternative the city chooses. "The new system is expensive in part because it is not just an upgrade but an actual replace - mentof theexistingsystem," said Betsy Roberts, an engineer with the city's contract engineering firm CH2M Hill. The new treatment schemes that have been selected provide a higher level of treatment than the city now uses. The effluent now produced by the city is suitable to be used to irrigate ranch land south of McCall. The proposed treatments could, under one scenario, be used to irrigate the golf course and other public facilities, Rob- erts said. While the costs are high, Rob- erts notes they are preliminary figures for comparing the two alternatives. Current estimates are $70.2 million for the river discharge al- ternative and $75.8 million for the rapid infiltration alternative. Other, more expensive, alter- natives were rejected earlier in the planning process, Roberts said. "The final costs will vary from those presented during the planning phase as the project definition continues to evolve," she said. `At this level of defini- tion the costs presented include contingency for unanticipated factors and conditions that are undetermined." The cost of purchasing land has largely been removed as a factor from the river discharge alternative. But the city would need to buy 41 acres of land in the second alternative, which would allow Aeration basins largest chunk of river - discharge option Basins to mix air into sewage to speed digestion of waste are the largest part of the estimated $70.2 million cost of the river discharge option being considered by the city of McCall. Of the total, $40.5 million would be spent on building four basins that would inject air into sewage to feed bacteria that in turn would eat solids, according to the city's engineers. Major items that make up the bulk of the construction costs are: • Two fine screens and two vortex grit removal devices: $7.4 million. • Aerobic digestion: $7 mil- lion. • A 4,000- square -foot admin- istration building and support facilities: $4.2 million. • Dewatering belt filter press: $3.7 million. • Expanded capacity for so- dium hypochlorite, a disinfecting agent: $2.5 millioh. • Pump station: $2.4 million. • Phosphorus reduction proj- ects elsewhere: $2.25 million. • Modification of the existing aerating lagoons: $250,000. The project would be built in three phases over 20 years. The first phase would be con- structed from 2013 to 2017 and would cost $48 million. The second phase, 2018 -2023, would cost an additional $12.8 million. The final phase, 2024 -2033, would cost an additional $9.1 million. Annual operating costs for the plant in the first phase are estimated at $546,000. In the second phase, it is estimated to have an annual operating cost of $587,300. In the final phase, the plant's annual operating cost is estimated at $717,800. wastewater to seep into the ground in basins. The costs are highest during the first phase of the project due to the development of major in- frastructure in either alternative, Roberts said. "After that, the phasing becomes less expensive as in- dividual units, which increase capacity incrementally, are installed," she said. "In very general terms, the costs will be spread to allow future growth to pay for the majority of theexpan- sion of the plant." McCall sends both sewage treatment options to state basins where it is allowedto seep into the ground. The surface water dis- charge option would cause highly treated wastewater to be pumped into the North Fork of the Payette River. The city previously pumped its wastewater into the river until it was ordered to stop discharging into the river in the mid- 1990s. The order lessened the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen in the watershed that eventually led to algae blooms and subsequent fish kills in Lake Cascade. Council Member Bonnie Bertram had been an advo- cafe of the rapid infiltration option until Thursday's meeting. Atthatmeeting, Bertram said she had changed her mind about the surface wa- ter discharge option. She asked the city's con- tract engineer, CH2M Hill, to do thorough -testing of the watershed to identify where and how much phos- phorus was entering the watershed. Cost estimates for the two options have been estimated at $48 million to $70.2 million for surface water discharge. Estimates for the rapid infiltration option have consistently been $5 million e more than the surface water discharge option. o The council has two years to decide on which s option is best for McCall's future. 3Y MICHAEL WELLS 'he Star -News The McCall City Council ast week decided to send he city's two future waste- water treatment options to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for review. The council stillhas time to decide which option will be best for the future of McCall, so it decided unani- mously to send both option to the state for review. The city has been plan- ning for the future needs of the growing c ity by planning to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant to meet expected growth that is thought to exceed the cur- rent plant's capacity. The city narrowed down more than 700 wastewater treatment plant options to two over the past year. The council decided that a surface water discharge or a rapid infiltration option were the best two options to handle the city's future needs. Early estimates place about a $5 million premium on the rapid infiltration option over the surface water discharge option due to necessary land ac- quisition and some piping infrastructure that woul d need to be built to the site of the rapid infiltration ponds that would need t be constructed. ' `Treated wastewater i pumped to rapid infiltration 5;rL 4 9, -,4 7/q6 -7 Sewer district offers Cooperative pact put on table, but city has not yet responded BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The Payette Lakes Recreation Water & Sewer Board is await- ing a response from the city of McCall on a memorandum of understanding between the two parties pertaining to the dispute over ownership of the wastewa- ter treatment plant. The contents of the memo have not been released. It was approved by the district in April. The memo was drafted by a joint committee made up of city and district representatives. The city has not placed the memorandum of understanding on its agenda yet. "We will schedule something before the trial," city manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. "We will continue negotiations with the district before the trial." The two parties are engaged in "on -going communications," Kirkpatrick said. "Tlitn c will be additional com- munications with them soon," he said. District chair Jerry Vevig was not bothered by the city's lack of action on the memo. "I think the city has had a lot of things to worry about," Vevig said. "We are just waiting for them." As the memo was approved by the district, the city was ordered by federal district Judge B. Lynn Winmill to "pay immediately" $6.5 million to Employers Insur- ance of Wausau and St. Clair Contractors, Inc., of Boise for the city's mismanagement of the construction of the J -Ditch wastewater storage pond. "Nothing negative has hap- pened," Vevig said. "We are trying to work out a solution. In the meantime, we think it will be negotiated and not brought to court." Kirkpatrick agreed that the two parties would be better off resolving as many disputes as they could before the trial next year. The two parties last met in mediation talks for two days in March with mediator D. Duff McKee, a retired, senior status, Idaho district court judge from Boise. During those meetings, the two parties agreed to work together to resolve their differ- PAGE A -8 - THE S 1'Ak -NEWS - THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2007 agreement with city ences. The two parties also met in mediation in December 2005. If the two parties cannot come to an agreement, the city's lawsuit that asks a judge to decide who owns what at the wastewater treatment plant will be decided in a trial that begins Sept. 8, 2008. The city asked a judge to sort out the contract between the two parties in Aug. 2005. The city con- tends that it has full ownership over the wastewater storage pond and J -Ditch irrigation system. The district says it owns a third of the capacity at the plant, which includes treatment, collection and dispersal. Fourth District Judge George Carey suggested the two parties hold mediation talks last summer when he ruled on a subsequent lawsuit by the district challeng- ing the city's ability to issue sewer hookups. That court challenge came after the city threatened last summer to halt district sewer hookups if the two parties did not meet in a public forum. The two parties did meet in public in July 2006, but the meeting was ended as soon as it was called to order by the city citing the district's lawsuits. The district had also sued the city and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality over its sewer hookup allotment system in May 2006. That suit was settled this winter. The wording was changed in the second amended consent order between the city and DEQ so that it would not be used as a vehicle for allocating building permits and ensured the district is not injured in the process. The city has 2,441 sewer cus- tomers and district 1,070. Key McCall sewage pumping station needs replacement after 50 years of service BY MICHAEL WELLS The Stw -News It is somethingmostMcCallresidents never think about, and it takes some searching to find it, but McCall Sewer Pumping Station No. 7 is a vital cog in the city's infrastructure. The station has served the city dutifully for more than 50 years, but now it has to be replaced at a cost of $1.2 million. The station is located underground along the banks of the North Fork of the Payette River near the McCall Fish Hatchery. Two 30- horsepower Fairbanks Morris mo- tors pump 1,200 gallons of raw sewage per minute into pipes that run under the river and eventually to the city's sewage treatment plant along West Deinhard Lane. On average the pumps run about 28 hours every four days, Senior Utility Operator Lon- nie King said. "It's handling it just fine, but the time is coming when we will have to do something with it," King said. There is such urgency to replace Station No. 7 that money to replace it was included Sewer in the $9.50 monthly increase approved by the McCall City Council earlier this month to pay off the J -Ditch lawsuit judgment. Five dollars of the increased rate will be used to raise cash to pay for the pumping sta- tion replacement as well planningforthe city's proposed new wastewater treatment plant. Some residents were unhappy the city com- bined the city's need to payoff the lawsuit debt with new projects, but McCall Water and Sewer Superintendent Levi Brinkley confirmed the need to replace the pumping station soon. The pumping station was built in 1955 and was upgraded in 1959, 1965, 1976 and 2005. The pumping station's location next to the river and its small capacity creates a serious problem for the city's sewer staff when the pumps fail. The station has a shallow wet well, which means crews have at best seven minutes to get the pumps working again before the well fills and raw sewage spills out of manholes and into the North Fork. During times of high flows, such as during spring run -off, the crews have no more than 3 -1/2 minutes to get the pumps working again before raw sewage flows into the river. "Before you can get your shoes on and tie them, it's going into the river," Brinkley said. "It's a health and safety issue." (Continued from Page A -1) The stationhas failed two times in the past three years and failed about every three to four months before the city last upgraded the station in 2005. The new station will likely be built along Mather Road near the fish hatchery, and would require an additional pipe to be installed beneath the riverbed. Two other pipes running under the river would have to be lined so that they could be pressurized, Brinkley said. Another problem with the current location is that crews are required to walk down a steep, often snow- covered hill to reach the pumps. See SEWER, PageA -10 McCall, sewer district agree on treatment plant costs division BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The city of McCall and the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District have decided to agree on how the two parties split the costs at the wastewater treatment plant the two own on Deinhard Lane. The two parties met in a closed meeting Friday in an attempt to iron out differences between the two ` sewer providers for the McCall area that have accumu- lated into various lawsuits. The two parties are currently trying Bill Weida to negotiate a way out of a 2005 lawsuit where the city has asked a judge to define who owns what at the wastewater treat- ment plant. The sewer district owns one -third of the capacity at the plant that is operated by the city. "We're getting along," sewer dis- trict board member Bill Weida said. "We are trying to keep the wheels on the ground." Weida said that both the sewer dis- trict and the city council would move to pass agreements about who pays what bills at the wastewater treatment plant at their next meetings. The sewer district board meets next on Friday, and the McCall City Council meets next on June 26. Weida has asked that future meet- ings between the two sewer providers be open to the public. "My preference would be that we meet in public," Weida said. "I'm hoping that the next meeting will be in public." Qneof the argumentsformeetingin private is to allow members of the city council and the sewer board to speak freely while negotiating an agreement the two parties can live with, he said. The two parties left Friday's meet- ing without setting the next joint meeting, Weida said. The city sued the district in 2005 over ownership of the wastewater treatment plant both sewer provid- ers use on West Deinhard Lane in McCall. The sewer district owns a third of the capacity at the plant. The city wants a judge to sort out the contracts between the two sewer providers. mccall claims full ownership The city claims it has full ownership over the wastewater storage pond and J -Ditch irriga- tion system. The district says it owns a third of the capacity at the plant, which includes treatment, collection and dispersal. The city wants the contract reviewed by a judge to decide if agreements still stand that were made before the city was ordered to stop dumping treated wastewater into the North Fork of the Payette River. Since the lawsuit in 2005, the two parties have filed other lawsuits against one another. They met in public in the July 2006, but the meeting was adjourned by the city as soon as it started. That was because the sewer district had filed a lawsuit against the city and the Idaho Depart- ment of Environmental Quality that challenged the city's author - ity to issue building permits in the district territory, thereby limiting sewer hookups. That suit was filed on the heels of a threat by the city to halt district sewer hookups if the two parties did not meet in a public forum. The suit was later settled, which changed the wording of the agreement between the city and DEQ so that it would not be used as a vehicle for allocating building permits and ensured the district is not injured in the process. The two parties met in mediation sessions in 2006 and last year in an effort to settle the lawsuit. Those efforts failed. In April, the two sides directed their trial attorneys to suspend a trial set for this September so the two could work out their differences. McCall City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick declined to com- ment on Friday's joint closed session. GI l 9�a q S�,Gtaj Higher McCall sewer bills go out, monthly rate $44 McCall sewer customers began receiving higher sewer bills this week as the city begins to pay off bonds used to payoff the J -Ditch lawsuit. The bills started printing last week that show an in- crease of $9.50 per month, which bring the total to $44 for a month of sewer service in the city. The increase was necessary to pay off the remaining $6 million owed to Employers Insurance of Wausau and St. Clair Contractors from a lawsuit that drained the city of $7.1 million. The increase also included money to pay for sewer infrastructure improvements to sewage pumping sta- tions that were outdated. The increase will also pay for continued planning of a new wastewater treatment plant the city wants to put in place to match expected growth in the area. The increase was approved by the city council in April. The lawsuit debt was paid off in May. The increased rates may continue for 20 years. The portion of the increased rates that will pay for in- frastructure and treatment plant plans could be removed earlierthan that, but City ManagerLindley Kirkpatricktold the McCall City Council in April the entire increased rate may be needed for future sewer infrastructure needs. At least $4.50 of the rate increase will be charged for the full 20 years to repay the bonds. McCall, sewer district, �, form advisory panel /or BY TOM GROTE The Star - News. The Payette Lakes Recreation- al Water and Sewer District and the city of McCall have agreed to form a joint advisory committee to increase communication and cooperation between the two agencies. The McCall City Council last Thursday approved the advi- sory committee, which will be composed of one elected official and one staff member from each side. The agreement forming the committee says each member should be "an honest broker" to represent the view of their respective agencies. The sewer district board of directors had approved sub- stantially the same advisory committee in April 2007, but the citynevertook action. The matter came back on the table after the last closed joint meetingbetween the two sides on April 3. The committee is advisory only and has no authority over the jointly owned sewer treat - ment plant through which both the city and sewer district send their raw sewage. A Joint Powers Board exists that does have authority to oper- ate the plant, but the board has not met since January2005. The Joint Powers Board was composed of staff members from the city and sewer district and an indepen- dent third party. The agreement forming the advisory committee set methods for determining which agency pays how much for the operation of the plant. Costs of day -to -day operations willbe determined by actual flow of sewage into the plant. Costs of repair, equipment and other improvements will be divided according to how many custom- ers each agency has connected to the system On Friday, riday, the sewerboard and city council met in a joint meeting to listen to the city's engineering firm outline the city's plans to ex- pand its sewage treatment plant to allow for future growth. The city and sewer district are negotiating to have the sewer district use treated effluent from the city's J -Ditch storage pond to irrigate 120 -acres of land south of McCall owned by the district. 73/0 � f /`j o Sewer district land studied for irrigation 120 -acre site S. of McCall could replace private parcels to sprinkle wastewater BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News A 120-acreplot south of McCall may expand the land available for irrigation onwhichthe city's sew- age treatment facilities depend. The Payette Lakes Recre- ational Water & Sewer District bought 120 acres of land between Norwood and Nisula roads south of town last year for $1.8 million, district administrator Jamie Melbo said. Boththecityof McCallandthe sewer district rely on contracts with ranchers south of town to dispose of treated wastewater that is stored in the J -Ditch winter storage pond until the irrigation season. The wastewater is mixed with water to irrigate about 2,000 acres of land south of town. The city struck a deal with the J.R. Simplot Co., to use blended wastewater to irrigate about 500 acressouthof towntwoyearsago. That deal ends this year. The district is beginning a pilot program to use unblended wastewater on its 120 acres located adjacent to the Simplot property that could take up the slack from the lost acreage. The land was bought by the sewer district as a site to test how much nitrogen and phos- phorus from wastewater could be absorbed on a plot of alfalfa, Melbo said. "It makes a big difference in our ability to dispose of treated effluent," City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick saidof thelandavail- able for irrigation. "That's been the bottleneck on our capacity." The district has applied to the Idaho Department of Environ- mental Quality to irrigate alfalfa neap courtesy d -u -o coyrrtevrs Photo maps shows location of 120 acres purchased last year by the Payette Lakes Recreation Water and Sewer District. The land could be irrigated with treated wastewater if contracts with private ranchers expi#e. on the 120 acres with undiluted treated wastewater rather than the current mix of groundwater and effluent, Melbo said. In order to do that, the district will have to learn how much ni- trogen andphosphorus the alfalfa that is grown on. the land can absorb, district board member Bill Weida said. The district will use the dem- onstration project to estimate how much additional land would be required to serve the district. It is the first phase of the district's facility plan. There are no current plans for the land to be used for a future wastewater treatment facility for the district that would be separate from the wastewater treatment plant the district and the city own together on Deinhard Lane, Weida said. The land could become even more valuable when all J -Ditch irrigation contracts expire on Jan. 1, 2017. In addition to the expiration of all current irriga- tion contracts, an easement for the J -Ditch through the Simplot property would also expire. The ditch and transmission lines could be rerouted over the district property so that the J- Ditch irrigation could continue into the future with new con- tracts, Weida said: "It could act as a safety net for the city," Weida said. The district's land illustrates the city's efforts to plan for a new wastewater treatment plant to be operational before the irrigation contracts expire, Kirkpatrick said. McCall, sewer discuss cost sl BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The city of McCall and the Payette Lakes Recreational Water & Sewer District are working together to come up with how costs are shared by the two sewer service providers in the McCall area. The cost sharing agreement between the two sewer service providers does not affect the city's 2005 lawsuit that asks a judge to determine who owns what at the wastewater treatment plant the two share on West Deinhard Lane. The lawsuit challenges the sewer district's ownership of one -third of the wastewater treatment plant that includes disposal. "The future cost share of capital is to be worked out," district administrator Jamie Melbo said. There are no capital improve- ments planned at the plant next year by the city, which gives the parties more time to settle the lawsuit out of court. The two parties have mostly agreed to cost splits based on sewage flow rates and customer hookups. The city has '4,700 sewer cus- tomer hookups and the district has 1,268 hookups. In the agreement, the district pays 21 percent of the costs of the treatment plant. The actual dollar figure will be determined after the city sets dist, Zaring its budget for next year, Melbo said. The city sewers deliver 88 per- cent of the wastewater flow into the plant, Deputy City Manager Walter Eisenstein said. The district sewer lines con- tribute 12 percent of the flow. The split determines how much each party pays toward power and chemicals at the treatment plant. In addition, the district al- ready pays the city about $61,000 each year for its share of the J -Ditch Phase I. The district has been paying the city the money since 2001. An advisory committee was also formed last month as a part of the agreementbetweenthe two parties to advise the city council and sewer board on ways the two parties can work together. The committee is scheduled to meet quarterly. Members of the committe from the city are McCall City Council members Don , Bailey with councilmemberLaura Scott and an alternate Eisenstein and McCall Sewer Plant Superinten- dent John Lewinski. For the sewer district, adviso- ry committee memers are board member Bill Weida with member Carolyn Johnson serving as alternate, Melbo and district op- erations manager Dale Caza. Both sides have said that fu- turejoint meetings of thecouncil and district will be open to the public. rt cn CD CD � F ��K� GO 0-4 PI 0 CD 0 (D owl mb rt n O c+ O `C O K CD cD O C: r* ¢ C p rL i r rt 5 CD r � C C O �" (D n (D d rt CD fl M. (D n m P� cn n � CD p o (D -ce N CD 'tS (DD M ((DD P. � K G CD U fn S-L CD � ,y. p. �+• �3 �j- N O (D K' W n n C O 5 'O CD Cep` .K• r�•r .�-. Sy rt '�-r ¢ C;o7 I (D CD o C Lf cKD fi c�D K o P CD cY ¢ . p rt CD • K m r-r 0 W VKO (D (D CD CD O O rt vi P� � (D CD CD — CD O IID (n O Sy W %. rt ,� �! Qj ID (n C7 O_ P� (gyp O (D O p.' O O O CD rt CD : r z O � COS o Vi rt ¢' r`:s P7 a ty CD R (D �' CD p r•' x m(� �c¢gymwCD d o¢� a rL u.."%" K � O (D ¢' O ?- ".� M O N O 9. CD ".s' CD on p o w art FD a�'4 -0 13o �1, -; n-(D rt(n (D r O' ".Y� -.(D 6'fD K .11D C_ K "''•K ,'.'t; ,:r cD "�'d (D (D O p7 CY (D C~ 2) N rt 0 CD CD N CD f�D ID -1 CAD K O rt M K V OV K p ZL V ((DD ((D• COi' o KO ry x N CD 0 rL CD CD CD cr O (D l?• O '"Y K rz Sy r�•S (D K (D N W i1 Z rt , Q7 rt rt h7 O K '� fRi �y'� (� . O (j• c'�D VKi Np K CIQ K Sy ¢ ID n ry� O K .� ¢•' Cn I—D O K rt �• `Y o COiI (!q rt m ON �. O cD �' ¢. fy chi chi n O O m P, CD 0 i' rt .K• CD P3 n O m O (D O' cD ¢' O ID ` ~¢J�.rt �°�, fZ� cD w m K rt p CD rt .`3' z O �'• CD• O Sy '� • W CD C7 (D .`S' K CD Q+ p C� CD — K `� cn Cn (D r-L CD K CD P+ CD V rt L7 :� �d'd fy Lv N p L Ort (7 V rt — � O CD fD CD N ¢ (D (j �' i�•S WOK ¢. rl ��„ cnC b9 rt fpn O N l9 C) (D �l (D (n O rt (D •` R J -. O Sv ACC, M M r.S. PC5 (D r cn O �' � CD (D cD ¢�G� rt� o rtcCD ' (D. CD rE CJI 11 (D ID ID N O O f:L CD "% O '%r (On rte-' p �' ID (D K p crtD Qm(7 �' CKn O W CD �. '•� ,.,.5 K K (D p7 C M n C p �� G Cr~c�D p rt� C �� S✓ m may= W cD E. CCD C D CD COD o O Ai {Jrt9 COD w "'� — . ¢' '�' P. :L r- CD CD ND N SZ rL f7 h ¢ O '� Sy W .1 P+ P. BO'S f!Q n'y VQ � �. �il KY K• CKD O O CD rKy r+TJ K Cn x ".Y Ort CD (D � t ':s (D F, K — N O..'�5• r• E 0 CD (ID (D O m fn O W Sy K p �' rt CD '� cOi ''Y '� (n w CA rt" K w p O W O �t Cn �• n CD O O O o �' ort n u' p n �• O CD �D On SZ O r � n¢ n O m O '� w v Sv ((DD A P� O rt O rt m '-n "a O M w-'�+ n '� art" pOj (CD n K O o ccn M 0, w O (Yq n U¢'Q M N c�0 N� ��//-- ('LSD 'd M A� CCr'' 't5 (D vK p' (7 N ..S iv a CD (7 Cn CD rt C/i �"� ¢' V (D Al p7 Cn (n K 0 ;D CD It CD n CA N O O CD O N rt fv O p N/ (D co O CD O 7✓ K r`r K K (Jl e-f . K O .K- (D (D K S:L '/- P ' K '� c� n ara c�low 0 ce CD c� V' � y Ity �rE Sewer district pulls, out of talks;, will o g its own way District officials convinced their plan is best, cheapest BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The Payette Lakes Recreational Water & Sewer District last week out off talks with the city of McCall over how to build the next generation of sewage treatment for the McCall area. The sewer district board gave a statement to the McCall City Council at a joint meeting of the two boards on Friday that said the sewer district was moving forward with its own plan. "We have made a decision and it is what we will do," sewer board mE mber Bill Weida said "We will not be reviewing anymore cost estimates." The sewer board told the city its plan to ex- pand sewage treatment made more sense and would cost less than the two options the city is now considering. "We worked hard to come to a resolution and we'll still try to do that," McCall Mayor Kulesza said. "If we can't, it isn't because we didn't try or because of personalities." The sewer district has already purchased 120 acres south of town and would use that land and more to be irrigated with treated wastewater. The city is currently irrigatingland with treat- ed wastewater carri �d by the J -Ditch pipeline, but contracts with land owners expire in 2016. The city's contr<.ct engineers is recommend- ing two options. See DISTRICT, Page A-8 District (Continued from Page A -1) One option would treat the sewage to a higher level to remove more phosphorus and discharge it into the North Fork of the Payette River. The city had been discharg- ing treated sewage into the river until the mid- 1990s, when it had to find a new way to dispose of treated wastewater. The second option would fill basins with treated sewage that would rapidly seep into the ground. The district's stance left open the possibility that the city and district could still work together in the future. The latest construction, op- erations cost and salvage value estimate for the sewer district proposal is $23 million. Con- struction estimates for the city's options are $15.1 million forriver discharge and $23 million for seepage basins not including operations costs or phosphorus trading deals, which would make both proposals more costly than the district plan. The city is seeking permis- sion from the Environmental Protection Agency for permis- sion to return to discharging wasterwater into the North Fork. The sewer district thinks there is little chance that permis- sion will be granted or that it will end up being costly to the city. To discharge into the river, the city would have to make deals with land owners within the North Fork watershed above Lake Cascade. Those deals would pay those landowners to lessen their phos- phorus discharges into the lake to more than make up for the amount the city would put into the river with its new plant. In the background of the ne- gotiations is a lawsuit filed by the city in 2005 asking a state judge to sort out the ownership at the jointly owned wastewater treat- ment plant on West Deinhard Lane in McCall. The city serves about 2,500 customers, mostly inside the city limits. The sewer district serves about 1,100 customers, mainly around Payette Lake and on the fringes of the city. Sewer district engineers defend their plan for new treatment plant BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -Yews Engineers for the Payette Lakes Recreational Water & Sewer District say the least risky future for disposal of wastewaterlies inowningland south of McCall. Engineers from J -U -B En- gineers told the district board last Friday that the cost of the sewer district and the city buying up land south of town to irrigate crops with wastewater would fall some- where between the city's two preferred alternatives. McCall contract engineers from CH2M Hill put the price of river discharge at $15.1 million and building retention basins so the wastewater could soak into the ground would cost about $23 million. The McCall City Council and the district board will meet Friday at the Idaho First Bank Community Room to go over the various alternatives for the future of wastewater treatment and disposal in the area. The meeting is part of an effort by the two boards to settle out of court a city law- suit over the ownership of the wastewater treatment plant on Deinhard Lane. The city asked a judge to sort out the ownership of the plant im2005. The city owns two- thirds of the plant and the district owns a third of the plant. "Essentially what the city is doing is they have only used 10 -12 years of something that was designed for 30 -50 years," J -U -B Engineer Brett Converse said. "The existing(treatment) '" plant will work until 2050." The district plan to buy land and irrigate hay crops with unmixed treated waste- water would also be less risky than the city's plan that relies on pollution trading. Pollution trading has been available in Idaho for 10 years, yet no trades have been made to date. A pollution trade on the middle Snake River in the Jerome area may happen soon, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality TMDL Program Manager Marti Bridges said. In a pollution trade, the city of McCall couldpaythe county to pave roads south of town to limit the amount of sediment entering Lake Cascade. Phos- phorus latches onto sediment and would decrease in the lake with less sediment. . More importantly, pollu- tion trades are meant to be a "stop- gap," Bridges said at the district meeting Friday. The city's sewer alterna- tives both require pollution trades in order for them to work. The district's plan does not require pollution trading' In addition, due to the long winters it is unclear how much credit the city and district would get for pollution trades. Phosphorus levels in Lake Cascade have also remained steady since 2000. In the city's plans, pollu- tion trades were said to cost about $2.1 million in the rapid infiltration plan and about $430,000 in the river discharge plan. Photo by Tim Swanson A crane lowers drywell pumps at the sewage pumping station No. 8 at the west end of the pond in Rio Vista Subdivision last fall. Work completed on key McCall sewer pumping station BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News Work is finished on an important sewage pumping station that is the last stop for sewage from downtown and west McCall before entering the wastewater treatment plant. The pumping station, lo- cated at the west end of the Rio Vista Subdivision pond, was replaced using $530,000 in funds from sewer rates dedicated to capital improve- ment projects. The new station went on- line at the end of the 'year, Interim McCall Public Works Director Tim Swanson said. Some landscaping work still has to be completed this spring, but the upgrade makes amore important sewer pump- ing station upgrade possible. Plans are in the works to re- place anotherpumping station along the banks of the North Fork of the Payette River up- stream from the McCall Fish Hatchery. But that station, No. 7, could not be replaced until the station in Rio Vista Subdivi- sion, No. 8, had been upgraded, Swanson said. The upgrade also allows for further growth on the west side of town, McCall Water Superintendent Levi Brinkley said. The new 21 -foot deep pump- ing station has two alternating pumps with 30 horsepower motors capable of pumping up to 1,200 gallons of wastewater per minute, Brinkley said. A new larger 10 by 20 foot wet well was put in place this fall along with the two pumps. The new pumping station can be upgradedfor more capacity in the future if growth merits it, he said. The station can take 40 horsepower motors capable of pumping 1,600 gallons per minute. The old station, which was only seven feet below ground, could only pump 800 gallons per minute. The duplex pumps alter- nate during normal flow periods, but can operate to- gether during peak periods to keep everything moving to the wastewater treatment plant on Deinhard Lane, Swanson said. Having two pumps also means if one is broken, the other can do the work while the city fixes the other pump, Brinkley said. Forest Service wants to put leftover retardant in sev e&` BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The U.S. Forest Service wants the city of McCall to allow it to dump its leftover fire retardant into the city's sewer system this summer. Through last year, the For- est Service had been dumping the fire retardant material, called Phos -Chek, on a patch of land at the airport. The material, which is high in phosphorus and ammonia, also contains a secret ingredi- ent that required the city sign off on a confidentiality agree- ment before it was made aware of what might be dumped into the sewer system. Currently, the city uses a land application system to dispose of its treated waste- water, so taking the leftover fire retardant would not pose a regulatory problem if it is pumped through the J -Ditch pipeline, McCall contract en- gineer Betsy Roberts of CHZM Hill told McCall City Council members last week. The deal likely would be cancelled if the city goes to a higher form of treated waste- water and decides to pump the treated water back into the North Fork of the Payette River, Roberts said. The city council was ada mant that whatever deal is struck between the two agen- cies that there be a way to break it in the future. A special fee would be charged to the Forest Service that could be based on the strength of the waste dis- charged into the system, or on volume or both, Roberts said. The amount of waste will depend on the severity of the fire season, she said. CD Im�c ono wd� aG rtQ+ Er `°�p;.y�sv cCnn(�CD y0t O 0 �-��' ' o...►��Svo °W-oCD�j '(D .1 cmgKcrya g ti• ifl CD cD ... r« rF CD '� fv ,o- f j✓+ Cn O o-y CD (D fD .�' m �•'• 0 o-y � '� � � A '4 CD ca `C rt fD QQ `� O `C t1.O w. M Sv ¢ O tj t" rt'C o' A� (D C7 S5 �. r°-. A7 m ° fv � m .'Y �•{ O f"F l Y V rf ID ��' .'r3 rt m N � C,Y � `L' y ffQ "•��G �. CCD '� fv (D �' b O O ��-+ �. ° fD f!Q .y I /► O N D+(rtD K .�'� g �� KO O CD m f0 A F... �, O 'o ,•* �" (D fv o-.. C7 'C G '"o-3 p o-S P + .'Y �+ ^ 0'� ¢_DNr.YG��O�O' W ��r�o-yA7ID M &q f0 Oq C o-S OQ oq �,. sv z a (D G . o D CCD C <D y rt..y tv .� o-Y Cfp rt ".� ",rt" (rtD �°«, 70v' (�D p. Z. It vOiR o 0 CD o ^(fin t7m HQ's fD +° CD *y rtC m Cjt(DD +moo : �CD �'9 dap K �'� C¢" m o O sv cr'�� lL� CD 0 CD n 0 0 0 w E' ¢: m o o o cCDD CD 0•(ZD �,�- O0� (rtp 0Q c� w Caj n rtn CD o-y M � � rt� �o sv rt� O m .p CD o¢' (D fDCD ��BCDCD SDcn�U) 0 �° 1 11 (D CD .� ¢ Q'tl�C �O.3 c D ¢ 0 CD CD CD rt C Sy � ��+'°*, K ry � h iOS � K O � � � O ""� ".Y cn ��.. � �p ¢ a1 � "C3�+ Z Osm, > —" COO A.¢ o-S0� �. rt SD ¢� N r - .� .3 p� �S n ^m MCD yn rq PI n "rs '" O = CD Co (D o-3 r� �n Sa i cD O o-C. "J rt CD ¢ cWi � � .�• � a � � fp�'o-s'cDCD(n b�s�•+�'NRCD a'�tl�0 m•�T�'`CO`.f' °�c�i9cc"OO��OC�r -L ¢ "� O N O C) ~o-..,� co' l3 r'e'in N `- W Z �,�rt Cw cCD Tr'�� -0 M CD CD (D� � �• �' � = — go N � � rF " ¢ �, o-CDC ,¢i ¢�j cG Ort p' M 0 "�' D ID SD �Ooz 'n p rt Cn CD 'ID +'Y ro�rtCD ¢ � (D rt ` `(D O n rt D rt O M � y CD ¢ d"'! "v M D CD SD CD tv CD� �" O N A �(rt.D • •' D p M cn n f7 CD $M (1 OQ � Sv O .7C '+cCD "�.� c~D N O cD CD rt0 CD CD f3. (D �. �••h �., �' O vi " rt Cn .3 CD '; ' It rt`C (D 11 CD m tl % cC cD CD �o-o-J• ' CD `~+ � "��' ' ¢ fy �`�,. C•i ' Sv '0 Ort o-rt+. SD co -V O o-Y ��oa n n ",E CD cr b7 S17 ��o �y CD 0 m 0 - -IDD C Im A (�o vCD Cap li o 0. O � CD y c��D Cn C SV O W Oq' CD rL is (CD OQ p s -.:3,— ( A H E N CA 0 M 'O sm' p'C p M� � � M� CD N ¢ (D 0 rt O fy 4 rt >✓ T✓ ('1 .�+ O CD CD C 0 p p 0 m n m cn,0 SD ¢gym a r o-i rt rt n'S n•1 ci X00 tlq ¢'r$ sn CD CD Mrto-It � c�h� O � i CD v (n C � CD ¢*w SD cn DCD '1 O. c�D O c+ C7 x M CCDD O Er Q= m• CD r., En f7 rt (D O SD p Sr fv CD o o-rty Z) C ' V BCD � O O _. p i-.. cn A P, cn CD (CD 0'Q• '-� CD O 59 CD r�rrtN'K o-4 O (D ¢� "C�CCn A) �'�C O • ��+ O o-.. — n i--� (D Al fl7 �. R fb O P+ fD W CD ID `C ''� ° �'DS' r- O ¢ Cn ( D (n O• =-.M n rt ¢ �O p''L7 O fy Cf0 O (n CD (n '+ M m O (D r• CD CD 0 FL CD CD CD SD CD CD L]. n p H ¢ SD "Y Cn rt O ff": ¢ rt CD .� ,�+ ¢ CD $D CD a Sewer district drops money claims in suit BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News In what was called a show of good faith, the Payette Lakes Recreational Water & Sewer District last week dropped a claim of about $550,000 in the city of McCall's five - year -old lawsuit. The dropping of the claim came after a judge dis- missed the city's damage claim in the dispute over ownership of the jointly operated wastewater treat- ment plant. McCall claimed that the sewer district should share in the so -called J -Ditch judgment that cost city sewer customers $7.1 million. That claim was dismissed by Fourth District Court Judge Michael McLaughlin in a ruling late last month. "The district finally notes and totally agrees with the court's comments on the cost of this litigation to the citizens of Valley County, both patrons of the city and patrons of the district," sewer district attorney John Hucks said. The district intends to continue its attempts to reach a resolution, consistent with the court's opinion, to avoid further accrual of costs and fees," Hucks said. October Trial Slated That case is headed for trial in October if the two sides fail to meet the request of McLaughlin and his predecessor on the case to settle out of court and save taxpayers' money. See SUIT, Page A -8 s94,4.. r� 47/ , /,o shit: sewer district drops money claims (Continued from Page A -1) every offer to settle has either The city's lawsuit claims been ignored or turned down the sewer district neither by the other side. owns or has a contractual The two sides have been in right to use any portion of the mediation twice in attempts to J -Ditch winter storage pond settle the lawsuit and spent a or pipeline that sends treated year injoint meetings without sewage to irrigate pasture- coming to a settlement. land south of McCall. The city also believes it At the time the suit was needs to build anew wastewa- filed, the city was in a building ter treatment plant that could moratorium because it feared dispose of treated wastewater the J -Ditch storage pond back into the North Fork of would run out of room. the Payette River or into large The district accepted sev- basins where the wastewater eral subdivisions while the is absorbed into the ground. city was in a building mora- Contracts with ranchers torium, which led to the city's south of town, who use a lawsuit. diluted form of the J -Ditch The city came out of the wastewater for irrigation, moratorium with a sewer expire at the end of 2016. hook -up rationing plan. The The sewer district does not wastewater storage pond agree the city needs to build never filled to capacity, be- a more expensive wastewater cause the construction boom treatment plant. that led to the moratorium lost steam beginning in 2007. The J -Ditch pipeline was built with a $3 million loan that both parties are paying back. The district makes an annual payment of about $61,000 for its share. The city's lawsuit says if the district does not own any portionof the J-Ditch project, then the district must pay for its right of use on a rate the city would develop, Hucks said. There isno dispute overthe ownership of the treatment plant located on the north side of West Deinhard Lane in McCall. The district also does not claim to own a part of the J -Ditch storage pond, Hucks said. "The district contends it has a right of use in J -Ditch (storage pond) and that it has and continues to pay its proper share of the costs or operation and maintenance," Hucks said. The district pays between $10,000 and $12,000 per year in operation and maintenance costs associated with the winter wastewater storage pond. Settlements Rejected Both parties have made of- fers to settle the lawsuit, but 01/16 S�i�wer district offers to settle city lawsuit City council declines to make details public BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District board last week sent the city of McCall an of- fer to settle the five - year -old lawsuit the city filed over ownership of the sewer treatment plant that serves both agencies. The district was willing to make the details of the settlement offer public if the McCall City Council agreed. The council did not agree to make the offer public during a closed session last Thursday. Sewer district Administrator Jamie Melbo sent the offer to the city Aug. 11 noting the district board was willing to make the offer public so district and city custom- ers could see the offer and make a determination if they believed it was reasonable. City officials declined to make the offer public Thursday night. McCall Mayor Don Bailey said he did not have to give a reason because the matter was discussed in closed session. Council Member Bert Kulesza said the city council decided not to make the offer public, but that they were still considering the offer. Suit (Continued from Page A -1) Both parties are paying back a $3 million loan that was used to build the J -Ditch pipe- line that supplies ranchers South of McCall with with water for irrigation. The city contends the sewer district does not own d and must of the storage p Pay a rate the city determines to use the storage pond. A trial is set to begin in October, althoughMcLaughlin has urged the city and sewer district to in order to settle ave the cost of a trial. Last month, Fourth District Judge Michael McLaughlin threw out the city's bid to have the sewer district pay for a part of the $7.1 million lawsuit judgment for its handling of the building of the J- Ditch winter storage pond. The sewer district then dropped a claim it had against the city for a half million dollars. The city wants the court to decide who owns the J -Ditch pond located on the south side of West Deinhard Lane. The wastewater treatment plant on the north side of West Deinhard Lane is not at question in the suit. The city owns two - thirds of the plant and the district owns one - third. See SUIT, Page A -5 6-L Atv�4 17 /J<�- �/ 0 McCall judge to ask to reconsider sewer ruling on damages lin to reconsider his July 28 ruling. Boththe McCall City Coun- cil and sewer district board of directors met in closed session to discuss the case on Friday. The city council also met in closed session on Mon- day to discuss the case. The city council will meet again tonight at its regular city council meeting in anoth- er closed session discussing the case, Kirkpatrick said. "The city is puttingtogeth- er a response to the district's recentproposal," Kirkpatrick said. He did not say if the city's response would reject or accept the district's offer of two weeks ago. Both judges in the case have urged the city and the district to settle the case out of court. Ruling said sewer district owed city nothing for J- Ditch BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News Kim Trout, McCall's lead sewer attorney, thinks a judge made the wrong decision when he ruled against the City of McCall in July. In what is the latest legal salvo aimed at the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District, Trout wants the judge to reconsider. Meanwhile, the city and sewer district met in separate closed sessions on Friday to discuss the sewer district's settlement of the city's five - year -old lawsuit. Details of the discussions were not disclosed. While both sides won vary- ing points in a ruling from Fourth District Judge Michael McLaughlin in July, the city was told it could not seek damages from the district for the J -Ditch lawsuit that cost city sewer customers $7.1 million. "If the district owns a por- tion of J -Ditch Phase 2, the holding pond, the district has "There's not an agreement, not any long- term debt and no ownership." - Lindley Kirkpatrick not paid its proportionate share of the costs of J -Ditch Phase 2," McCall City Man- ager Lindley Kirkpatrick said in court filings seeking reconsideration. The city wants the district to pay for use of the J -Ditch storage pond and pipeline but has not created a rate for the district to pay, court docu- ments said. The district maintains it owns a third of the waste- water treatment plant that includes collection, treatment and dispersal. The J -Ditch storage pond and pipeline are how both the city and the district dispose of treated wastewater. McLaughlin ruled last month that the city could not seek money in relation to the J -Ditch judgment in a trial that is scheduled to start Oct. 12. McLaughlin could reverse his decision before the trial if the city wins its reconsidera- tion request. The J -Ditch pipeline was built with a $3 million loan that the district claims it is paying $61,000 to the city each year to pay its share of the loan back. "That is in dispute," Kirk- patrick said Tuesday. "They have no judicial confirmation or vote of patrons for (the $3 million loan). There's not an agreement, not any long -term debt and no ownership." The J -Ditch storage pond was supposed to be built with about $7 million in grant money, but changes in the site location and the even- tual firing of both St. Clair Contractors and its bonding company Employers Insur- ance of Wausau meant the final cost was $17.2 million. In 2005, a jury awarded Wausau and St. Clair $4.95 million due to the city's mismanagement of the con- structionof the storage pond. Attorneys fees and interest accrued until 2008 to $7.1 million when the city paid thejudgmentoff usingbonds that increased each city sewer customer's bill by about $11 per month for 20 years. Trout also asked McLaugh- lin to reconsider information he says prove the district has no ownership in either the J -Ditch storage pond or pipeline. The court filing by the city also claims the district owes the city $300,000 in operations and maintenance costs for the J- Ditch. A hearing on a motion to dismiss the district's claims filed by the city earlier this month is set for Sept. 9. No hearing has been set on the city's motion for McLaugh- McCall sewer line will open up development Line across McCall airport will spur immediate changes BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News A sewer line across the McCall Airport is the lynchpin to development on the south side of Mc- Call, McCall City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. It's an important step," Kirkpatrick said. "Without this sewer connection across the airport it would be very difficult to serve the area." The city has held several planningmeetings on a possible business park in the Krahn Lane area. JuddDeBoerof Brown'sIndustriesalsoplanned a business park on land he owns near the airport. That project stalled when a companionproposal to build hangars near the airport was turned down Line (Continued from Page A -1) The third leg is along an easement on private property between Krahn Lane and the airport. That work is slated for next year, Borner said. "That is the solution we've been looking for, for years at the airport," said local Real- tor and hangar developer Mike Anderson. "I commend them for finding a way to complete a sewer line across the airport." Mike Anderson developed 32 new hangars on the east side of the airport in 2007. At the time, he also built a public restroom at the city's request. Health department of- ficials kept Anderson from building a sewage holding tank to handle the restrooms that have remained unused since their construction. The restrooms were later donated to the city. Anderson sold all 32 new hangars, but lost the sale of an additional relocated hangar due to the lack of by the city. This is a critical link to make either of those projects viable," Kirkpatrick said. The city awarded a $122,000 contract to build a sewer line across the airport property to Val- ley Paving of Ontario, Ore., that will eventually hookup with a sewer line on Krahn Lane. "This should open up a fair amount of land for development," McCall Airport Manager John Anderson said. The city plans to build the line across the airport in October in conjunction with runway improvements that will require the runway to be closed for two weeks, Anderson said. Joining Highway Work A second important piece is a sewer line run- ning under Idaho 55 from Krahn Lane that the city plans to build in conjunction with highway work on the section next month, McCall Public Works Director Peter Borner said. See LINE, Page A -8 sewer service at the airport, he said. Airport hangar owners will be able to hook up to the new sewer line before the entire link is established to Krahn Lane. The new sewer line will flow into line already in place near Mission Street on the west side of the airport. Once all three phases of the project are completed, the city will be able to remove a sewage pumping station on Krahn Lane that will no longer be needed for the new gravity sewer line, Borner said. Development on the air- port is a small part of the significanceof thesewerline, Kirkpatrick said. The line will also allow the city to remove sewage holding tanks that now serve hangars at the airport, he said. The sewer line will also lessen some of the airport's hangar waiting list, John Anderson said. `All these people waiting for sewer can build their hangars." McCall, sewer district reach agreement Settlement ends five- year -old lawsuit, avoids costly trial BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News A costly trial was avoided and a five - year -old dispute over McCall's sewage treatment system was settled in three grueling days of mediation last week in McCall. The City of McCall and the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District settled the city's 2005 lawsuit over ownership of the wastewater treatment plant and J -Ditch pond and pipeline. The two parties met in court to inform Fourth District Judge Michael McLaughlin of the terms of the settle - mentTuesday in Cascade. McLaughlin complimented both sides for saving their customers "hundreds of thou- sands of dollars for this litigation." The settlement gives both sides what they have been asking for over the past five years of failed mediation attempts and joint public meetings. Under the settlement, the city gets ownership of the wastewater treat - mentplant and J -Ditch winter storage pond and pipeline. The sewer district gets a promise that the city will treat the district's one -third capacity of the plant, up to 608,000 gallons per day, as long as the district is hooked up to the system. The district gets a $12,000 annual cut in the cost it pays the city to treat its wastewater, while the city gets to call the district a customer. $100,000 Annual Payment The district's first monthly pay- ment is due Monday. The district will pay the city $100,000 annually to have its wastewater treated and dispersed through the J -Ditch pipeline. The district had paid about $112,000 annu- ally to the city, district administrator Jamie Melbo said. "We're trying to do the best we can for the patrons," district chair Jerry Vevig said. McCall Mayor Don Bailey agreed the settlement was a "fair deal for both sides." The agreement also creates a tech- nical advisory committee of three people to evaluate possible long term solutions for wastewater treatment for the city and district customers. Contracts for ranchers south of town to irrigate land with treated wastewater expire at the end of the 2016 irrigation season. The technical advisory committee will include one person selected by the city and one selected by the district. Those two members will then agree on a third person. The committee will have until June 15, 2011, evaluate two alternative plans that the city developed since filing the lawsuit. The panel also will evaluate the district's plan to grow alfalfa on land it purchased since the lawsuit using the treated wastewater for irrigation. See AGREEMENT, Page A -12 "We're trying to do the best we can for the patrons." — Jerry Vevig Uo YJ � Agreement: McCall, sewer district end legal conflict (Continued from Page A -1) The committee would also look at other alternatives, such as maintaining the present J -Ditch pipeline by extending contracts beyond 2016 if ranch owners are will- ing, Bailey said. The committee could also look at other ways for the city and district to treat waste- water in the future such as a newly developed device that extracts phosphorus from treated wastewater to cre- ate fertilizer pellets, Bailey said. The city was forced to stop discharging its treated wastewater into the North Fork of the Payette River in the 1990s by the EPA due to phosphorus causing algae blooms in Lake Cascade that caused fish kills. Whatever recommenda- tions the committee makes, the city council will review it first and then make any changes before forwarding it to the sewer district. If the sewer district does not like the city- approved plan, it can disconnect from the treatment plant. "Anybody who has good ideas, we will listen to them," Bailey said, noting that the committee would not be lim- ited to the current options drafted by the city and sewer district. If the district opts out of the system, it would have to detach from the city's treat- ment plant and build its own treatment plant. The agreement also does not allow the city to raise the district's rates to cover costs of the J -Ditch lawsuit. Nor can the city raise the district's rate for any expan- sion of the system if the district's flow remains below 608,000 gallons per day. Also, the district will not pay a higher rate for the city to fix problems with the city's collec- tion system under the deal. 1�ic�aIl sewer district sign agreement on plant Pact ends 5-year-old lawsuit, sets up an advisory panel BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star-News McCall and Payette Lake Recreational Water & Sewer District officials have settled the city's five - year -old lawsuit over ownership of the waste- water treatment plant and J -Ditch storage pond and pipeline. Mayor Don Bailey and sewer district board chair Jerry Vevig met at City Hall Friday morning to sign the settlement agreement. Friday was the last day Fourth District Judge Michael McLaughlin gave the two parties to settle the lawsuit before he would force them to abide by a preliminary settlement they struck in October. The agreement makes the sewer district a user, rather than owner, of the wastewater treatment facilities. The agreement also establishes a fussed user fee for the district to 2016. The district began making monthly payments of $8,333 to the city in November. Before the lawsuit was settled, the district claimed it owned one -third of the capacity at the plant. Under the settlement, the city guarantees that it will treat, store and dispose of up to 608,000 gal- lons per day of wastewater, which is one -third of the plant's capacity. The district can participate in long -range plan- ning for the treatment facility. The agreement creates a technical advisory panel. See SEWER, Page A-2 Sewer dat ont another recommen McCall Mayor Don Bailey, left, and Payette Lakes Recreational Water & Sewer District Board Chair Jerry Vevig congratulate each other after signing a settlement to end a five - year -old lawsuit. Star -News Photo by Michael Wells If the district rejects the (Continued from Page A -1) future wastewater treatment McCall Public Works Di. plan, it has the right to detach rector Peter Borner and from the system by the end district supervisor Dale Caza of 2016. are the two members selected The district would have to for the panel. A third member, build its own treatment plant to be chosen by Borner and Caza, has not been named. if it decides against staying as a user of the city's system. The advisory panel would be tasked with making a rec- At the start of 2017, if the district remains a user of the ommendation for both the short -term and ;long -term city's system, it would pay the full rate adopted in the plan wastewater treatment needs for the area. from the advisory group. I All previous agreements The deadline for the pan- el's recommendation is July betweenthetwopartiesarere- placed by Friday's settlement 29. The city has 45 days from receiving the recommenda- agreement, City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. tion to approve or reject the plan. The settlement also dis- In the event of a rejection misses all claims and disputes between the city and the dis- from the city council, the panel would have 45 days to trict. The lawsuit was filed by the city in 2005. McCall Mayor Don Bailey, left, and Payette Lakes Recreational Water & Sewer District Board Chair Jerry Vevig congratulate each other after signing a settlement to end a five - year -old lawsuit. Star -News Photo by Michael Wells 5T�,( p Ertel to Set more time to come up � ^pith treatment p an S_�aer p� By MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News u with the best way to treat wastewater in the committee charged with coming an. A technical advisory with a p McCall area will be given more time to come up report to & Sewer Payette Lakes Re Technical Water Group Hs Many questions of � 1 raised ast Thursday tote tend a deadline for th agreed by a vote mid - October. square questioned why q is requested guard rail at a narrow section known as Cat Creek and q Residents for what curbing was used instead of rounded curb: e and is ineer Jim Federal Lands Division Construction Operations Engineer -to -1 slope and it is recoverable for a car whose tire is off on the edge It's a 3 r road," said Western Fed we do on eve. y Rathke. getting pulled off into the river," French Creek resident "My concern is for the slant of the road and 9 reasons, Rat The square curbing was installed for and Wrightman said. Linda Smith said. drainage and maintenance r Harder to Pull Over pulling g Pull to off large trailers or boats to traffic on the riverside to get by. Several residents said � would be more difficult for vehicles p said. to the side to allow o worried about lives here, not the dirt rolling in to the river," Mick Carlson Were htman said. "We take all concerns into consideration. If designed set of plans.- Wri9 the ladder for further ,We work under a then we address it. If not, we send it up he said. there's something we can do, consideration." per hour speed limit -it's not meant to be a freeway, °It's a one lane road with a 25 mite in motorist of areas where the road narrows will be installed as we as Two additional signs warning posts with red reflectors that mark the side of the road, RaCreek aesident Niki Schacher said more white p " Allison "It's confusing because of the appearance of the road now, after the meeting. Wrightman said. A new road construction schedule will begin after lwawbv°SDm nriverroad.org. Information on daily road closures is available a The McCall City Council had agreed to the deadline extension on July 28. The city and district had been locked in a five -year lawsuit filed by the city over ownership of the wastewater treatment plant on Deinhard Lane that takes wastewater from both systems and treats it to be used as irrigation on fields south of town. Sewer district member Bill Weida voted against extending the deadline and called the request "obstructionism." "Why in the world are we screwing around and delaying anything," sewer district chair Jerry Vevig said, although he ultimately voted to extend the deadline. The TAG was supposed present a report to both boards by July 29. TAG members said they got a late start on their work, including choosing a neutral member. Sewer district Operrtions Manager Dale Caza, who is the district's member of the TAG, told the board that the extension was needed in order for the committee to explore further the idea of using treated wastewater as irrigation and fertilizer for farmland south of town beyond the 2016 irrigation season. The group needs more time to discuss with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and farmers who would need to agree to take the treated wastewater beyond their current contracts that end in 2016, Caza said. A letter to the district from the DEQ also seems to support the group's efforts to further explore the land application method instead of picking one of two more expensive options. "The Department of Environmental Quality and the state of Idaho, in general, support and promote wastewater reuse," the letter written by Todd Crutcher of the DEQ Boise Regional Office said. One Drop's Journe -- - Y: 'Waste' water goes through the treatment :1 ringer (Note: This is the fourth in a series of stories following a drop of water through the cit of water and sewer systems.) Y McCall's BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The last leg of the journey for our drop of water, now wastewater, begins in the sewers of McCall. The drop will head to the wastewater treatment plant on West Deinhard Lane and finally to the J -Ditch Pipeline to be used as irrigation water. If the water came out of a tap at The Star -News office downtown, it will travel west through an eight - inch clay sewer pipe on Park Street. It meets the sewer line on Mission Street where it turns north briefly. Then the drop of wastewater enters a 12 -inch sewer pipe on Lake Street traveling downhill to the west. The sewer pipe crosses the outlet of Payette Lake at the Lardo Bridge and turns generally south to follow the river to sewage pumping station No. 7. All along this route of sewer pipe or anywhere the city has sewer lines, the drop of wastewater could have met up with clean water. This infiltration of groundwater could have come from leaky sewer pipes letting in rain or snow melt or from illegal hookups from roof drains and sump pumps, McCall Public Works Director Peter Borner said. "We don't design sewer plants to treat clean water, dirty water." ° Bomer said. "We design sewer plants to clean The addition of this clean water will take up to 20 percent of the system's storage capacity Bomer said, in winter, The wastewater enters sewage pumping station No. 7, which is a shallow 7 foot by 7 foot vault only a few feet from the west bank of the North Fork of the Payette River. The city wants to replace this pumping station with a more powerful and larger station across the river on the east bank near the McCall Fish Hatchery. The drop of wastewater, which took to 90 minutes to get from The Star -News to sewer pumping station Nc. 7, now waits 12 minutes to be pumped up the hill to Carmen Street. There, it continues in a line following the road to the city's newest sewage pumping station, No. 8. Pumping station No. 7 pumps 650 to 700 gallons per minute per pump and has two pumps. The drop of wastewater can take up to 45 minutes to get from pumping station No. 7 to No. 8, McCall Water /Sewer Superintendent Levi Brinkley said. At pumping station No. 8, the electric pumps that have backup diesel generators can pump 1,300 to 1,500 gallons per minute. The drop of wastewater now joins up with a citY-Owned and north sewer line and Lake Recreational Water & Sewer District sewer line from het west side of the lake under VRio Vi taette before entering the treatment plant. Other wastewater lines serving city and sewer district customers on the south and east side of town also meet under Rio Vista before entering the plant, Lewinski said. 7ycCall Water /Sewer Plant Superintendent John (Next Week: Treated and discharged.) r/ / /( The J -Ditch storage pond holds about 250 million gallons at a depth of up to 53 feet. (Note: This is the last in a series of stories following a drop of water through the city of McCall's water and sewer systems.) BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star-News Our drop of `wastewater" is 99.9 percent water but now has pathogens and nutrients in it. The drop goes through a bar screen at the entrance to the wastewater treatment plait on Deinhard Lane, McCall Water /Sewer Plant Superintendent John Lewinski said. The bar screen has 1 -112 inch wide opening for water to pass through to catch large solids traveling in the wastewater. Plant staffers clean the bar screen with a rake everyday. The drop of wastewater enters the first of three treatment ponds. The first pond can hold up to 9 million gallons. On an average flow of 1 million gallons of water per day, the drop of wastewater would stay in this first pond for nine days, Lewinski said. While in the first pond, air is forced through tubes to openings at the bottom of the pond, aerating it. More air is pumped into the pond during summer months because warm water does not hold oxygen as well as cold water does, Lewinski said. AV-- 14T Star -t1!, phw 6x tt 0­1 V;6k NIc( anlVater.:Seiver Plant S-upenuteudent Johu Leti miski operates tfie � <dve system of the .J -Ditch storage pond Aerobic bacteria, which is already in the pond, goes to work on the wastewater. While the bacteria is at work, the nutrients in the water are also settling to the bottom of the pond. From Pond to Pond The wastewater now travels to the second pond by gravity, through a pipe at the bottom of the first pond and up over a weir at a transfer station. The second pond holds up to 11 million gallons and it is also aerated, but not as much. Here again, bacteria use oxygen from the air that is pumped into the ponds to further break down the pathogens and nutrients that are in the wastewater. The average holding time in the second pond is about 10 day Lewinski said. The wastewater then goes into a third, smaller pond, which holds about 3 million gallons and is not aerated_ The wastewater is in this third pond for an average of three days. There is a chlorine basin and raceway at the end of the third pond. This week's front page stories Page 1 of 1 Study: Leaks account for 1/3 of McCall sewage Snowmelt floods sewer lines during spring BY KENDEL MURRANT for The Star -News One -third of McCams water processed in the wastewater treatment plant doesn't need to be there, the McCall City Council was told on Friday. Leaks of groundwater and snowmet account for one -third of the Fluids going into the system. according to a study conducted by Horrocks Engineers. Eliminating leaks will save the city wear and tear on its sewer system, pumps and lift stations, as well as money spent on overtime to keep the strained equipment operational, McCall City Engineer Nathan Stewart told council members. "There's an additional burden on the crews, management on the system, and events that lead to overtime for crews," Stewart said. Clean water gets into the sewer system by runoff pouring into leaking or broken manholes in the city's roads. Leaks are inevitable to some degree, but McCall's percentages show a serious problem, Horrocks engineer Bryan Foote told council members. 'There are other mountain communities that struggle with that, but you have a very serious problem in McCall," Foote said. In April and May, there are 2.5 gallons of clean water from storm water or runoff for every gallon of wastewater processed in the water treatment plant, he said In May 2011 alone, there were 25 million gallons of clean water out of a total of 35 million gallons processed, Foote said. That puts undue burden on the treatment facility, which has exceeded its capacity 10 times in the last three years. Ninety -seven percent of the manholes in McCall's streets have leak problems, Stewart said. Staff members are working to find particularly bad areas so they know where to concentrate their efforts for the least cost, he said. http: / /www.mccallstamews .com/pages /fp_stories_page.php 5/31/2012 Star -News News Page—Lead Story Politics of the Ditch McCall, sewer district compete to sign up irrigators "We knew we were going to do land application no matter what, and that's when we started talking with the farmers. " —Dale Caza BY KENDEL MIJRRANT for The Star-News Laura Bettis wants politics to stay off her land, but that is hard to avoid when her irrigation water is provided from McCall's sewer system. Bettis and four other landowners south of McCall are at the end of the line of the system, taking wastewater treated at the nearby sewer plant and transported through the J -Ditch Pipeline to their land. The willingness of the landowners to accept the wastewater on their collective 1,600 acres is vital to the entire operation. But with just four years left on their current agreement, the landowners have found themselves in a tug-of -war for their affections between the city and the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District. l.auea Bettis as As m oue of the pwtu'es o iedbr her faunlysouhof McCall that is nngated mth prated wart m atm collmtedfinm made and Both the sewer district and the city are negotiating with the 1 aruuxl Dtccall landowners to renew their contracts after the current agreements expire. And, both agencies have applied to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to continue sending wastewater to the irrigators from the giant J -Ditch storage pond located south of Deinhard Land. Both sides insist they are not trying to upstage the other, but neither side has kept the other in the loop about their intentions, either over contract talks with the landowners or the DEQ application. Dual Discussions The landowners met with city officials at the end of June to begin working out the details of a new contract, or to see if a new contract with the city would even be on the table. In order to sign contracts with the landowners, the city needs the new permit from the DEQ. But years before the city committed to using the farmers' land, the sewer district had been conducting its own negotiations with the landowners. The district is also seeking the required DEQ permit that would allow them to be the contract holders rather than the city. But even d the sewer district secures a contract with the irrigators, it would have a problem - the city controls the release of the treated sewage from the J -Ditch pond. Getting permission to send the water to the farmers would require an additional agreement between the district and the city. The sewer district has been working on its DEQ permit application for the last several months and has sent a draft to the DEQ, said Dale Caza, operations manager for the sewer district said. The draft permit received unofficial approval with a few suggestions for minor changes, Caza said. The city started working on its application at the end of June. The negotiations with the landowners started in earnest earlier this year after the city and sewer district signed an agreement formally ending a long- standing dispute over ownership of the sewer plant. The agreement said the current system of using wastewater for irrigation was preferable to more expensive options considered during the building boom of the last decade. Distrust of City Cited As owner of the treatment system, the city is solely responsible for signing up the irrigators, McCall City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. However, Bettis, whose family owns 600 acres that uses the treated water, feels differently. "We signed a letter of intent with the district to contract with them," she said, adding that she an other irrigators do not trust the city. The farmers' misgivings goes back to 2007, when the city told irrigators they were not going to be using them after 2016, Caza said. At that time, the city was looking at switching to a different method to dispose of wastewater due to rapid growth. Meanwhile, the sewer district planned to continue with irrigation for wastewater even if the city changed direction, Caza said. "We knew we were going to do land application no matter what, and that's when we started talking Pagel of http:// www .mccalistamews.com/pages/lead _page -php 8/2/2012 Star -News News Page—Lead Story with the farmers," Caza said. "They have nothing to give the farmers if they do get the permit," McCall Public Works Director Peter Bonier said. "It's the city's wastewater." If the district does get the permit, its wants to work out an agreement with the city to let them manage the wastewater distribution, Caza said. "The city can do the treatment and the district can do the disposal," Caza said But so far, Caza said he's had no indication from the city that they are willing to make that arrangement. The district sent the city a letter on June 20 stating that they wanted to talk about "the feasibility of the disposal options," but the city never responded, he said. The district has received letters from three of the five current landowners saying that they would agree to a new contract if "the district is in sole management and operation of the (wastewater) storage and delivery infrastructure." "We have heard repeatedly from the farmers that they will not contract with the city unless the district gets the permit," Caza said. Bettis said the previous plans by the city to discontinue sending them wastewater for irrigation caused distrust among the irrigators. She also said maps created by city staff that were distributed to the farmers at the June meeting had several errors in identifying the landowners' properties. "It makes you wonder how competent this office is," Bettis said. "It's indicative of a low level of knowledge of the product at this stage in the game." But Bettis also recognizes that using the city's water is a "win -win situation" for the fanners and the city, she said. "I hope we can continue functioning as we have been," she said. "if so, we'd be happy to continue doing it." http: / /www.mccallstarnews .com/pages /lead _page.php Page 8/2/2012 Star -News News Page_Lead Story City, sewer district agreement does not end challenges BY KENDEL MURRANT for The Star -News The City of McCall and the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District have agreed to cooperate, but the devil is in the details. The two agencies recently signed an agreement ending a years -long dispute over ownership of the treatment plant where both send their sewage. However, there are challenges that remain. The first priority is to secure contracts with area landowners that would allow treated wastewater to continue flowing through the J -Ditch Pipeline for irrigation. The second issue is to plug the leaks in sewer lines and manholes that allow clean water to take up space in the treatment system. Negotiations are now underway by both the city and sewer district with the owners of about 1,600 acres south of McCall that are currently using wastewater for irrigation. New long -term contracts are being sought with landowners J.R. Simplot Co., Will Maki, Harry Bettis, Bob Fairbother and Ken Purdon. One current user, Tommy Nisula, has said he will not renew his contract, sewer district operations manager Dale Caza said. Almost as important as the landowner contracts is a renewed effort to keep clean water out of the system, City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. "The ability of (irrigation) to work is entirely dependent upon reducing (the amount of clean water getting into the wastewater plant)," Kirkpatrick said. A recent study found one -third of the water flowing through the treatment plant was from leaks. That amount of clean water puts stress on the plant, takes up needed space in the plant's storage pond, and dilutes the water sent to the irrigators, Kirkpatrick said. A revised treatment plan will be sent to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality in the next year. Only when the DEQ gives the green light will other alternatives will be officially off the table, McCall Mayor Don Bailey. The city hired engineers during the building boom of the last decade to design a new treatment system that would either dump treated wastewater into the North Fork of the Payette River or let the water seep into the ground in giant basins. The sewer district bought 120 acres near the J -Ditch Pipeline in case it found Itself having to use its own disposal method. "As far as other planned treatment methods and facilities ... this is not off the table until such time as the farmers ... agree," Bailey said. "For all practical purposes, however, (using the current irrigators) is the only thing being pursued at this point," Kirkpatrick said. http://www.mccallstamews.com/pages/lead_page.php Page 8/2/2012 This week's front page stories Page 1 of 1 McCall. sewer district look at cooperation on sewage disposal "(Our discussions) have not been about power and control, but who does what best. " —Gene Drabinski BY KENDEL MURRANT For The Star -News The City of McCall and the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District are, at last, on the path to a good working relationship, officials said. The city is drawing up an agreement that would allow the sewer district take control of dispersing the city's treated wastewater that comes out of the sewer plant on Deinhard Lane. City Manager Gene Drabinski, City Attorney Bill Nichols, and Public Works Director Peter Barrier are drafting a list of terms to present to the district. The process is still in its preliminary stages, but the goal is to have the district responsible for distributing the city's effluent to landowners along the J -Ditch irrigation pipeline that have contracted with the city for two decades. Dispersing the city's effluent to the landowners for irrigation ensures that treated sewage stored in the massive J -Ditch winter storage pond has someplace to go. Jerry Vevig, chairman of the sewer district board, said the city has been working with the district "in a spirit of cooperation," and that it has been a "smooth" process so far. "The bottom line is, there's a spirit of cooperation, and R just makes you feel good. We're really optimistic," Vevig said. "The idea of a contract for us to dispose of the effluent is a good first step, and we welcome R." Drabinski agreed with Vevig's optimism. '(Our discussions) have not been about power and control, but who does what best,' he said. "We're playing to each others' strengths, and I'm very, very encouraged." Ease City's Burden Mayor Don Bailey said at last Thursday's McCall City Council meeting that having the district handle the dispersal of the effluent would ease a burden for the city. "We've had this issue about what to do with this (effluent)," Bailey said. "If we can get someone else to take care of that, it simplifies what the city has to think about in the future." The district's ability to disperse the city's effluent is contingent on securing land use permits from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. The district has been working on an application for that permit for several years and has spent about $50.000 to tolled the necessary data, district officials said. The city has not yet started on its application, and landowners along the J -Ditch pipeline have said they prefer working with the sewer district. Current agreements between the city and landowners to use the wastewater for irrigation expire at the end of 2016. Bailey said he would be willing to write a letter to the DEQ or attend a meeting if it would help the sewer district get the permit. http:// www.mccallstarnews.com/pages /fp_ stories _page.php 11/15/2012 This week's front page stories McCall tackles pesky problem of leaking manholes BY KENDEL NIURR.ANT For The Star -News McCall's public works department is getting serious about stopping spring runoff from getting into the city's sewer system. Engineering studies have said one -third of the water processed in the city's wastewater treatment plant on Deinhard Lane is clean water that has leaked in the system. The clean water gets into the system in multiple methods, said Public Works Director Peter Bomer. The most obvious source, and the easiest to fix, are leaking manholes. No records exists to tell Bomer when the city's 1,200 manholes were last repaired or checked for leaks. "It's unknown how many manholes have that kind of problem, but it's something we're trying to quantify; he said. He is researching software that would let the city digitally store information about damages, repair, and other necessary information. [hatlrct operator Lyvu Huss, left, shows DlcCadl Pubhc Works semor operator Lome Kmg a method to repau' a leaking manhole uear the h1W.A,luport That information is now kept in paper records that are difficult to search, Bomer said. The best way to gauge where problem areas are in the city's system is by monitoring the city's 42 pumping stations, he said. The stations that have the highest levels, which indicate excessive water in the system, include those located near Lake Street between Fir and Ruby streets. Other problem section is along East Lake Street between Mission and Boydstun. In those areas, 41 percent of the 88 million gallons that travels through those two pumping stations each year is spring runoff or stormwater, Bomer said. The majority of that water flows into those areas in April and May during the spring snow melt. Groundwater penetrates the sides of the manholes where there are cracks or holes. In cases where manholes are located at a lower ground level, water can pour in through the top. One manhole that city workers repaired recently was taking on groundwater at an estimated rate of 20 to 25 gallons per minute. The city has nearly 54 miles of pipelines that can also crack and take on water. The amount of water in the sewer system puts an undue burden on the treatment facility and takes up needed space in the wastewater storage pond, which has exceeded its capacity 10 times in the last three years. Watered Down Waste It also waters down the percentage of effluent, or treated waste, in the water that is used by local fanners for irrigation. The public works crews recently met with Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District workers to learn a new method of patching leaking manholes. The method is relatively inexpensive compared to hiring out the work, and is something city workers can learn and do themselves, Bomer said. "The sewer district has been doing this for years," he said. "We want to work together to solve issues. This was an opportunity to say, hey, this works." Page 1 of 1 .yy,� http : / /www.mccallstamews.com/pages /archive 2013/05 23_13 webedition/Copy %20of%... 5/i3�/2013 This week's front page stories McCall, sewer district tip -toe toward joint operation of sewers Governing boards endorse moving forward "It's sewer, it's not that hard. " - -Dale Casa said BY TOM GROTF The Star -News Joint operation of the two sewer systems that serve the McCall area came a bit closer last week with endorsement of the concept from the two governing boards. The board of the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and UNWELCOME VISITOR Sewer District voted unanimously on Sept. 25 to "continue forward and get an initial report" on what a joint operating agreement would include. Last Thursday, the McCall City Council gave a similar endorsement, although no formal vote was taken. The actions will allow a committee of elected officials and employees from both agencies to continue to hammer out details of joint operation of the area's sewers. "It's a very good way to go and its definitely more cost - efficient," sewer board member Rick Skelly said on Tuesday. McCall council member Nic Swanson agreed with Skelly. "It is in the best interests of both entities to streamline operations," Swanson told his fellow council members. "It would be better to have more tools at our disposal." Ile .11• �r j7 . e rb"ro H rm+seva r�ae -aa, i, WAII Fue & $bf% Fuefigbter Jay Mentzer atweets btwuhes of a tree that potrudedmto a louse atrt3n Sand We* after the tree fell onthe bottle ckarug a stomt aboot.l tJ a to Sunday No oae was mltt ed, Chef Mack 11dLaar said ltte uatum of the weWarts of the home were not .Marble Under a draft management chart, McCall City Manager Gene Drabinksi would be the overall supervisor of the joint system. Sewer district Operations Manager Dale Caza would supervise both district and city employees on maintenance of collection lines, treatment and disposal. Currently, separate collection systems maintained by separate maintenance crews carry sewage into treatment and disposal facilities operated by the city. About a dozen employees of the McCall Public Works Department attended the discussion, but none requested to speak. Drabinski said he had heard there was opposition among some city employees to the plan, but that they would have to adjust. "Work is not a democracy, not everybody gets to vote," he said. Doubts Expressed Mayor Don Bailey and council member Jackie Aymon expressed doubts about the proposal. "Who's in charge ?" Bailey said. "How do you manage the costs ?" Aymon worried the plan might lead to giving up control of city facilities to the sewer district. "I am not enthusiastic about that," she said. Caza tried to reassure council members that any questions could be answered. "It's sewer, it's not that hard," Caza said. "We can overcome the challenges." The city currently serves about 2,660 customers, mostly within city limits. The city operates about 54 miles of collection lines with 12 pumping stations. The sewer district currently serves about 1,200 customers, mostly around Payette Lake. The district operates about 61 miles of collections lines and 37 pumping stations. Drabinksi told council members about a recent incident where a leak was detected by sensors at a sewer district pumping station. However, due to an error by alarm dispatchers, a city employee was called to respond, he said. A total of 45 minutes elapsed before a sewer district employee could arrive on scene to fix the leak, Drabinksi said. "If we are able to work together, whoever got there first can hop in," he told council members. If an agreement is reached, it would not be the first time the two systems were operated jointly. In 1984, a joint powers board with city and sewer district representation was established, but the board dissolved around the time the city filed a lawsuit against the district in 2005. The sewer district also maintained the city's sewer system under contract between 1996 and 1998. Page 1 of I http:// www. mccallstamews .com/pages /fp_stories�age.php 10/3/2013 Star -News News Page Lead Story Problems in the Big Pond Wastewater leaks from J -Ditch pond into North Fork BY TOM GROTE The Star -News Mike Eckhart was hoping to have a nice dinner on his deck with his daughters just before Memorial Day, but his plans changed as soon as he opened the door. "The smell was so bad, we picked up our plates and closed all of our doors and windows," Eckhart said. "It was going to make me throw up." Eckhart's home on West Deinhard Lane is along the North Fork of the Payette River in McCall. It is also the next-door neighbor to the giant wastewater winter storage pond operated by the city of McCall. There is debate over the exact cause of the stench that drove Eckhart and his neighbors indoors, but the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is certain of one thing - the pond is leaking. The DEQ has told the city it needs to do something about treated wastewater leaking out of the massive pond because it is flowing into the North Fork just a few hundred feet away. The state has proposed a solution that is expensive and could shut down new construction in the city. The city is hoping to buy time to prevent that from happening. Keeping effluent out of the North Fork was the whole reason the pond was built 15 years ago by the city. The pond is big, covering 20 acres and 53 feet deep with a capacity of 277 million gallons. Winter Collection Mike Eckhart views the pipe from which groundwater and treated wastewater leaking fmm the J -Ditch holding pond, flows into the North Fork of the Payette River. During the winter, the pond collects treated wastewater from the treatment plant across Deinhard Lane into which sewage from the city and the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District flows. Starting each fall, the pond begins to fill up and continues to fill through the winter. Then, in June, the water is pumped through the J -Ditch pipeline to irrigate private pasture land south of town. But tests have found some of the wastewater and its high phosphorus contest is leaking through the pond's thick plastic liner. The leaks are collected by an underground system of drains that already collects natural groundwater under the pond and pours out a pipe into the North Fork a few hundred yards south of Eckhart's home. City officials think the smell that drove Eckhart indoors in May came from a routine cleaning of the concrete trenches at the treatment plant where effluent is mixed with chlorine as a disinfectant. But Eckhart is sure the leaks from the pond are part of the problem, and he points to the white foam that forms in the river where the pipe discharges the water. The leaks and the smell have greater implications than spoiling dinner. In 2008, Eckhart and his partners subdivided the land along the river into The Reserve of Payette Subdivision. Development of the eight -lot project was put on hold when the real estate market collapsed. This year, with economic recovery in sight, the partners were planning to build water and sewer lines to prepare the lots for sale. That work has been stopped until the partners know if the smell from the pond or elsewhere will make the lots impossible to sell. Pump It Back To stop the leaks, DEQ has proposed the city build a pumping system that will capture the water coming out the bottom of the pond and put it back. The city doesn't like that plan because there is no way of knowing how much of the water is leaking from the pond and how much is natural, clean, groundwater, McCall City Manager Gene Drabinkki said. One estimate says returning all the water to the pond would amount to about 65 million gallons per year. That would leave no room for sewage from new homes and shut down construction in the city, Drabinski said. The city has asked the DEQ for two years to do testing of the water coming out of the pond as well as test how much the North Fork is being polluted. After the tests, a plan for fixing the problem will be proposed. Page 1 of 2 http: / /www.mccallstamews .com/pages /lead _page.php 8/7/2014 Star -News News Page Lead Story Page 2 of 2 Eckhart would like to see more of the groundwater diverted into five acres of wetlands that are part of The Reserve property to filter out wastes. Part of the flow already is used for that purpose on one -half acres on the property. Whatever solution is chosen, there is no money to pay for it. That will need to come from an increase in the city's $44 per month fee now charged to all sewer customers. The city will conduct a study to see how much more it needs to collect to fix the pond leak as well as make other needed sewage treatment improvements, Drabinski said. In the meantime, Eckhart is hoping Drabinksi will stand by his pledge to him that the city will do what it can to make sure that only mosquitoes will chase him off his deck. http: / /www.mccallstamews .com/pages /lead _page.php 8/7/2014 This week's front page stories Deep Doo -Doo McCall sewer ponds are filling with sludge BY TOM GROTE The Star -News Thirty years of McCall's history sits before the feet of John Lewinski, and it stinks. Lewinski, superintendent of the city's wastewater treatment plant, is looking at one of three ponds along Deinhard Lane where the output of the city's toilets, showers and sinks ends up. The pond, 675 feet by 380 feet and five feet deep, looks peaceful, dotted with wading ducks and the quiet bubbling of aerators that help encourage bacteria to digest the human wastes that enter the plant. But not all the waste gets digested, and some it settles to the bottom of the pond. Over the last 30 years, the sludge at Pond No. 2 has grown to the point it now takes up one -third of pond's total volume, according to measurements made this summer by the Idaho Rural Water Association of Boise. "OIL lia" ti� Sv Ne Poem by Tom Gmx John Lewinski, superintendent of the city's wastewater treatment plant, takes a water sample from the city's aeration pond that is one -third filled with sludge. The sludge accumulation is lesser at the other two ponds, with nearly 20 percent of Pond No. 1 made up of solid waste, while Pond No. 3 has six inches of sludge on the bottom of the five -foot pool, according to the study. There is no odor from the ponds themselves, but the large amount of sludge means some of it winds up where the city disinfects the water with chlorine before sending it to the giant winter - storage pond across Deinhard Lane. Each spring, the city scrapes up the sludge from the concrete raceways where the chlorine and sewage are mixed and lays it out to dry before hauling it away. That's when the stink starts, wafting over nearby neighborhoods such as Rio Vista. The more the ponds fill with sludge, the less room remains for sewage to be treated, cutting into the plant's capacity, McCall Public Works Director Peter Bomar said. Plus, the sludge in Pond No. 2 has risen to the point it has blocked some of the aeration pipes, lessening the effectiveness of the treatment plant, Bomar said. Money Always Lacking Standard practice calls for sludge to be cleaned from treatment ponds at least every 15 years. The reason McCall's ponds have not been cleaned in twice that amount of time draws a familiar answer from Borner - there is no money. "There always seems to be a higher priority or an emergency that uses up any surplus funds we have," said Bomer, who has been public works director since 2010. "Sludge removal has always been put on the back burner." More than just sludge removal has been put off over the years. Last month, Bomar presented to the McCall City Council a two-page list of improvements and repairs needed to the entire system that collects, pumps and treats sewage from more than 2,600 homes and businesses in the city. The workshop was the start of determining how much to raise the $44 per month the typical household in McCall pays for sewer service. The study is expected to be finished sometime next year with a recommendation of new rates made to the McCall City Council. "We've put off these problems for too long and it is time to take action," Bonner said "Unfortunately, it will be expensive and the user is going to have to bear the costs." Page 1 of 1 http:// www. mccallstamews .com/pages /fp_stories _page.php 10/9/2014 This week's front page stories Page 1 of 1 McCall to spend $60,500 to fix sewer line crack under NF river BY TOM GROTE The Star -News The McCall City Council last week voted to spend up to $60,500 for emergency repairs to a sewer line crossing the North Fork of the Payette River near the new Lardo Bridge. The repairs were expected to begin as soon as this week by the contractors now working on the new Idaho 55 bridge near Shore Lodge. The crack was discovered in one of two eight -inch sewer lines that cross the river near the bridge and which drain sewage from nearby areas including Shore Lodge, McCall Public Works Director Peter Borner told council members. Crews working on the Lardo Bridge damaged the south -side line on the west side of the river, allowing dirt and rocks to enter the line, Borner said. Sewage was diverted to the north line while the debris was removed from the south line using a high - pressure vacuum cleaner. The cleaner apparently dislodged debris plugging the leak, because a check with a television camera after the cleaning found water gushing from the crack, Borner said. The crack was located in the middle of the river four to six feet below the river bottom and was not caused by the Lardo Bridge work, he said. It was unknown what caused the crack in the pipe, which was estimated to be 30 years old. The pipe needs immediate replacement because the north -side line is even older, perhaps 60 years old, and sits on top of the river bed, Bomer said. Any leak from that pipe would quickly pollute the North Fork and threaten the nearby McCall Fish Hatchery, he said. The council invoked its emergency powers under state law to authorize the work, which is not included in the city budget, because of the threat to public health. The $60,500 will come from the city's self - supporting sewer fund. Crews working for Lardo Bridge general contractor R. L. Wadsworth of Utah already have equipment in place and have permits from environmental protection agencies to work in the river, Borner said. http: / /www.mccalistarnews.com /pages /fp_stories _page.php 12/11/2014 Star -News News Lead Story Page Page 1 of 1 McCall, sewer district agree to share operations at treatment plant Pact is latest step toward consolidation ojsewer services BY TOM GROTE The Star -News The two agencies that collect and treat sewage in the McCall area have agreed to share the load in the operation of those systems. The McCall City Council and the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District board of directors were putting the finishing touches on an agreement this week that will have the sewer district take over the disposal of sewage processed by the city. The agreement is the outgrowth of a framework approved last August that the two agencies hope will soon lead to full consolidation of the sewer systems. Under the new agreement, sewer district employees will take over from city employees at the point where treated sewage is discharged into the 20-acre winter storage pond on Deinhard Lane. Sewer district employees will then make sure the treated water gets into the J -Ditch irrigation system south of McCall where it would water about 1,900 acres mostly used for cattle grazing during the summer. As part of the agreement, sewer district and city employees are to be cross- trained to ensure smooth operation of the system. A formula to share costs between the two agencies also is part of the agreement. "1 am optimistic that we will be able to work together and improve service to our users," McCall Mayor Jackie Aymon said. "With cross - training staff, we can troubleshoot quicker and respond more efficiently." The agreement also won praise from sewer district chair Jerry Vevig. "Because of this agreement we now have the least expensive plan for collection, treatment, and disposal of waste in place that was available to us," Vevig said. Working Group The new agreement also fors the Joint Wastewater Working Group to oversee sewer operations and recommend changes to the city council and sewer board. The group also is charged with moving forward with full consolidation of sewer operations. The August 2014 memorandum of agreement calls for a plan for consolidation to be completed by next February. The city collects sewage mostly inside the city limits while the sewer district collects sewage generally from homes around Payette Lake. City members of the oversight board include Aymon, Special Projects Manager Nate Coyle, McCall council member Nic Swanson and Public Works Director Peter Borner. Oversight members from the sewer district include Vevig, board member Rick Skelly, Operation Manager Dale Caza and District Administrator Jamie Melbo. The new agreement has a practical reason for being adopted. Farmers who use the treated wastewater for irrigation have said they will only deal with the sewer district, and not the city, in the future. At the end of 2016, the current contracts between the farmers and the city to use the irrigation water will expire. Those contracts must be renewed before the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality will allow the city to continue to send its treated wastewater to the irrigators. Past Disputes The agreement is the latest chapter in an often - contentious relationship between the city and sewer district. In 2005, the city sued the district in a dispute over ownership of the treatment plant. That lawsuit was settled six years later with an agreement in which the sewer district acknowledged the city owns the treatment plant in return for the city agreeing to continue to process sewage collected by the district. The city serves about 2,600 customers with about 53 miles of sewer line and 16 pumping station. The sewer district serves about 1,203 customers with about 60 miles of collection lines and 37 pumping stations. http: / /www.mccalistarnews.com/pages /lead _page.php 3/5/2015 Star -News News Main News Page Nathan Stewart named new McCall public works director Department oversees streets, water, sewer BY TOM GROTE for The Star -News Nathan Stewart has been named as new director of the McCall Public Works Department. Stewart was appointed to the job by McCall city manager Nate Coyle and his appointment was confirmed last Thursday by the McCall City Council. Stewart replaces former public works director Peter Bomer, who left the city on May 26. i No explanation was given for Bomer's departure. Nathan Stewart, previously the city engineer, was one of three finalists for the job. The other two Stewart finalists were current McCall City Council member Nic Swanson and Don MacDonald, former public works director in Cheney, Wash. His annual salary will be $80,837. Stewart earned his master of science degree in environmental engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2005. He joined Secesh Engineering in McCall in 2005 where he worked as an engineer consultant, providing engineering design for water, sewer, road, grading, drainage, and stormwater management construction plans. He joined the city in March 2010 as city engineer, who is in charge of implementing public works projects for several city departments. About $2.2 million is budgeted to be spent on city streets for the budget year that started Oct. 1. About $2.4 million is budgeted to be spent on the city's water system and about $2.4 million is to be spent on the city's sewer system during the year. A total of 27 employees worked for the public works department as of September, according to city records. The public works department is at unique time in its history, Stewart said. Planning is underway for future improvements, including an updated master water plan and the city's first -ever transportation master plan, he said. Improvements to how the city disposes of its treated sewage is also in the works. New technology is allowing the city to share large amounts of information about city streets, water and sewer with the public, Stewart said. "This combination of sound fiscal and technical planning combined with qualified and motivated personnel positions the department very well for the future," he said. Stewart is married to McCall Community Development Director Michelle Groeneveh, who consults with the pubic works department on various city matters. The couple has handled its relationship in a professional manner since Stewart has been city engineer and he said he expects that professionalism to continue in his new role. "It is our job to respond and act, or not act, accordingly without personal bias to the challenges and decisions we face at work," Stewart said. Department spending is reviewed by the city's finance department and City Manager Nathan Coyle, and final decisions on contracts and developments are made by the city's planning and zoning commission and the McCall City Council, he said. Coyle praised Stewart and Groenevelt for making extra efforts to avoid conflicts, the latest being the processing of site plans for the couple to build a home in McCall. "I am confident that these two employees will continue to provide the same level of professional service that they have to date," Coyle said. All department heads in the city routinely consider their potential for conflict of interest in decision - making, and checks and balances are provided where needed, he said. http: / /www.mccallstamews.com /pages /fp_ stories _page.php Page 1 of 1 10/13/2016 5taj� - nJ Cw s McCall council may Owtch J -Ditch sewer plan BY JEANNE SEOL For The Stagy -News As costs of the. J -Ditch sewage pipeline project increase, McCall city officials have decided to explore an- other land application plan that would remove the city's treated sewage from the North Fork of the Payette River. After more than two hours of dis- cussion at last Thursday's McCall City Council meeting, council mem- bers instructed J -U -B Engineers, Inc. to start a test plot for a "high- rate" land application plan. That high -rate system would re- quire the city. to purchase between 40 and 60 acres. Treated effluent would then be pumped onto those acres at a higher rate than with the J -Ditch plan, which would have sprinkled the ef- fluent a, a slow rate onto more than 2,000 acres of farmland 10 miles south of the city. Such a high -rate system was first proposes I by the city three years ago, but has beer blocked by the state Division of Envi;,onmental Quality. DEQ has argued such a high -rate system would still con ribute phosphorus to Cascade Reservoir through groundwater. Last week, however, DEQ's ada- mant stance against the high -rate plan seemed to soften. "We can approve a high -rate sys- tem if it can be shown to work," said Mike Smith, DEQ's Southwest Idaho regional preventive and certification supervisor. A high -rate land application has been shown to work in communities throughout Idaho, including the City of Cascade, said George Wagner, vice president of J -U -B Engineers. Wagner added that a study com- missioned by DEQ even shows that soils around McCall are suitable for a high -rate application plan. The study is written by University of Idaho soil scientist Stephen L. McGeehan. Under a high -rate system, the treated effluent percolates down through soils, with phosphorus par- ticles adhering to soil particles, thus removing them from the wastewater. In the past, DEQ and the National Resources Conservation Service have argued soils in Valley County are not suitable for a high -rate system, but Wagner said McGeehan's study proves otherwise. "The city should begin to better define the parameters of a high -rate system if the J -Ditch project does not become available," Wagner told council members. City Manager Gary Shimun agreed. "After meeting with our en- gineers and attorneys, I cannot in all honesty tell you (the J -Ditch project) is a good deal for the city," Shimun said. "I cannot advocate for it." Shimun's remarks came after in- creased pressure from J -Ditch land owners for "one -time effluent appli- cation fees," which Shimun saidcould add another $1 million to the city's already tight budget of $1.8 million for the J -Ditch project. After considerable discussion, Mayor Bill Killen said he believed the J -Ditch project was the best J - ditch sewer plan almost a cber ai t nty BY JEANNE SEOL The Star -News McCall's treated sewage may soon be flowing onto farmland instead of into the Norte Fork of the Payette River after agreements were signed Tuesday nigh *. The agreements were signed by landowners who formally agreed to participate in the J -Ditch sewage pipe- line project. Eight landowners located south of McCall committed 2,550 acres and agreed to receive a three -to -one ratio of irrigation Avater mixed with efflu- ent on their kind. The effluent -water mixture-will b-- transferred to the farm- ers through a 10 -mile pipeline extending from McCall's wastewater treatment pla it and then sprinkled on crops and pastures. The landowners also organized a legal J -Ditch Pipeline Association, Inc., and elected a board of directors with officers that will maintain the pipeline for c ne year. That board will next select en engineer to formally design what is expected to be a $2.5 million pipeline system. Tuesday', agreements came within the 60 -day deadline that the Cascade Reservoir Coordinating Council had given McCall city officials to obtain the signatures from landowners. The coordinating council will now urge the Idalio Legislature not to re- voke a $1 million grant given to McCall for construction costs of the J -Ditch alternative. The council also will encourage legislators to appro- priate another $670,000 that the council has requested for construc- tion of the pipeline. Lake Irrigation District members also signed letters of intent Tuesday night, agreeing to assume responsi- bility for the pipeline after one year and to charge non- district members a fee (currently set at $10.50 per acre) to deliver water to non - district lands. The last hurdle to jump will be get- ting the McCall City Council to sign onto the project. Council members must sign a formal letter of intent at tonight's regular meeting in order for the projecf to move forward. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at McCall City Hall. McCall City Manager Gary Shimun said Tuesday he expects the council to sign the letter of intent. "I anticipate the council will agree to go along with the project," Shimun said. If the McCall City Council does agree to the project, the Cascade Res- ervoir Coordinating Council will formally draft papers and agree to proceed with construction at its meet- ing on Monday. Coordinating Council Chair Ken Roberts said the moment would be ,'monumental" and was eager to move ahead with project. To pay for the $2.5 million pipe- line, landowners have agreed to pay for 10 percent of on -farm costs, in- cluding sprinkler installation. The City of McCall has commit- ted $1.85 million toward construc- tion costs. Appropriations by the state Division of Environmental Quality and Valley Soil and Water Conser- vation District, combined with legis- lative grants will make up the bal- ance. The J -Ditch alternative will be the first phase of an $11 million sewage treatment improvement project the city is undertaking to meet standards in a newly drafted sewage discharge permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The new permit requires 100 per- cent removal of phosphorous from the North Fork by January 1999. To fully meet that condition, city offi- cials must implement phase two of the project. That consists of building a 300 million gallon winter storage lagoon for the effluent during non - irrigation season. More than $5.2 million is still needed for construction of that phase, and city officials are still awaiting financial help from outside sources.  r hC -Ditch appearin ; more likely as verbal agreements reached on documentsthrough DEQ to the project, she said. MCCALL  The probability that the City of McCall will end up building the so -called "J- Ditch" alternative to upgrade its waste water treatment plant, is growing. That with tentative agreement among all parties over the con- tracts between the City of McCall and the 54 landowners, including subdivision lot owners, who have a stake in the project. City officials will also be noti- fied this week that concerns they've had that the city will be required to line its four existing sand fil- ters are unfounded. Sally Goodell, with Idaho's Division of Environmental Quality, said those concerns, which would have cost an estimated $800,000 to resolve, were the result of a misunderstanding. She said DEQ's position was that only the new sand filter to be built as part of the treatment plant upgrade would have to be lined to prevent leakage. The city would then inspect the four existing fil- ters to see if there is "significant leakage." Only in that case might the city be required to line them, but only after exhausting other remedies, she said. Lining the old filters is "just not on the plate," Goodell said. She also said that DEQ and the the Valley Soil and Water Conservation District have iden- tified funds for Boulder Creek and Mud Creek State Agricultural Water Quality Projects ( SAWQP) that will be re- directed to the J- Ditch project. The funds are not really addi- tional money, as district and state officials hoped they'd be able to be used for the J -Ditch project. But Goodell said about $290,000 is being re- directed from money appropriated for SAWQP projects in the Boulder Creek drainage. She said there hasn't been the demand for funding for projects in that drainage that was expected. And DEQ and VS &WCD officials found that they couldn't readily use that money on the J -Ditch without some complicated red tape. So the surplus funds are to be re- routed, J-Ditch project gets signatures, CASCADE  The papers have moves ahead been signed, and barring some unforeseen disaster, by next sum- mer the City of McCall should be applying diluted sewage effluent to agricultural ground along the J- Lateral irrigation ditch south of McCall. At last Thursday's meeting of the McCall City Council, Council members consented io sign the contracts between the :association that's been formed to represent the property owner., who will accept the diluted effl.ent. And, Monday nigh) , all parties met with the Cascade Reservoir Coordinating Council to finalize all the documents and get the pro- ject moving. Barry Albert, with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and assigned to the Valley Soil and Water Conservation District, said last week that he hopes con- struction on the project can get started this year. But he said it is unlikely that it will be operational until next summer at the earliest. Under the project, more than six miles of pipeline, actually two separate pipes stretching that dis- tance, will be built, with all the necessary pumps and plumbing to transport the effluent to more than 2,500 acres of agricultural ground. south of Heinrich Lane. One of the pipelines will carry fresh water to provide irrigation water to those landowners who won't accept the diluted effluent, and another carrying the effluent- The same goes for $360,000 budgeted for expen- diture on SAWQP projects in the Mud Creek drainage. Much of the J -Ditch project will be built in that drainage. She said DEQ has also identified another $170,000 or so to apply to the J -Ditch project, making a total of $820,000. That money will help pay the 90 per- cent cost share of the two pipelines  one for plain irrigation water and one for diluted effluent/water mix  that will be built as the heart of the land application project. Also this week, the 43 Type 1 and 11 Type 2 1 d 'll receive co ies of an owners wa p the proposed contracts between the city and the landowners, out- lining the terms of the agreement and "carriage fees" by which the Type 2 landowners, inside and outside the Lake Irrigation District boundaries, will receive the efflu- ent/water mix for land application. Next Tuesday, the landowners will meet to discuss their consent to participate in the project, and to elect to ratify the incorporation of their landowners' group. Each of the three parties, the city, the Lake Irrigation District, and the landowners group, will also appoint a representative to present the agreement to the Cascade Reservoir Coordinating Council at their April 29 meeting. Project was good news to Dewey Worth, a water quality scientist with the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality. Worth has been work- ing to improve, through various ways, the quality of the water in Cascade Reservoir. "I think it's a good step forward, and the next hurdle is going to be getting the second phase of the program initiated," he said this week. That second phase, expected to cost more than $5 million, includes construction of a huge storage lagoon in which the city will store efflu- ent during the non - irrigation season. City officials have asked for a grant from the Federal Bureau of Reclamation to pay for the cost of that lagoon. "It's been a labor of love and frustration for everybody because, even up to the last minute, there were some landowners we weren't sure were going to participate, and it all seemed to fall together and happen at the right time," Worth said. He credited Albert with continuing to push the project and find money to get the job done. Some of that money will help the landown- ers pay for the on -farm sprinkler systems. Barry Albert points to the soon- to -be- defunct )- Ditch. r e ry M ,ju 4, 1 ?9. � Pmts assure J-DietchPva l a? sewer pla, Long debated sewage Environmental Quality, the Valley Soil and Water Conservation District and leg - pipeline could be in islative grants. Landowners will pay 10 operation this fall BY JEANNE SEOL The Star -News All agreements have been signed and funding has been appropriated to build the 10 -mile J -Ditch sewage pipeline from McCall to farmers south of the city, offi- cials learned Monday. More than 2,700 acres belonging to eight landowners, including 126 acres of pasture belonging to J.R. Simplot. will receive a mixture of irrigation water and .effluent that will be sprinkled on crops and pastures. The pipeline could be operational as early as this fall, said Barry Albert, a soil conservationist who has been at the lead of the project. Agreements signed by landowners, Lake Irrigation District members and the City of McCall were presented to the Cascade Reservoir Coordinating Coun- cil Monday. The council designated up to $150,000 of its budget to pay for engi- neering costs of the pipeline. "This is indeed what the council set out to accomplish," Coordinating Coun cil Chair Ken Roberts said. As many as four engineering fines have expressed interest in building the pipeline, Albert said. Bids for pipeline construction are set to close May 13, with board members of the newly - formed J- Ditch Pipeline Association to make a decision on construction after that date, Albert said. The pipeline is expected to cost al- most $2.6 million, based on preliminary designs by a Boise engineering Finn. Of that amount, McCall will pay $1.85 million, with the balance paid through appropriations from the state Division of percent of on -farm costs. All legal fees have been donated by the J.R. Simplot Company. The pipeline, extending from McCall to the landowners, will replace McCall's current practice of releasing effluent into the North Fork of the Payette River. TheEnvironmental Protection Agency has issued a draft permit ordering McCall to remove 100 percent of its phosphorus from the North Fork by January 1999. Phosphorus in the city's effluent flows through the river to Cascade Reservoir, where it is blamed for producing excess algae and aquatic plant growth. The algae and excess plants remove oxygen in the water, which damages Iish popula- tions and creates public health haz- ards. The J -Ditch project also solves problems for landowners who have been ordered by the DEQ to reduce their phosphorus contribution to Cas- cade Reservoir. Instead of flooding land to irrigate crops and pastures, which carries phosphorus and other nutrients into ,Cascade Reservoir, landowners would irrigate using the J -Ditch pipeline and sprinkle the effluent mixture onto their land. The J -Ditch irrigation method has been recognized by both DEQ and the federal National Resource Conserva- tion Service as a significant way for farmers to reduce their phosphorus contribution to the reservoir. The pipeline project will be the first phase of McCall's $11 million sewage treatment improvement project. The second phase, still un- funded, calls for building a 300 -mil- lion gallon winter storage lagooq for effluent during non - irrigation months. } r St w5 M,3y ?, l996 J -Ditch agreements sl' Agreements were signed Monday by all parties involved in the J -Ditch sewage pipeline project that will extend from McCall to farmland south of the city. Pictured is, font from left, J -Ditch Pipeline Association vice president Jake Maki, association board of 'directors, member and Lake Irrigation Star -News Photo by Jeanne Seol �gned President Dr. Herald Nokes, and McCall Mayor Bill Killen. Back row, from left, soils conservationist Barry Albert, who coordinated the project, and association board member Gary Steihl. For more details of the agreements, see story on Page 1 of this issue of The Star - News. J -D Iftch hearing draws no critics BY JEANNE SEOL The Star -News McCall City Council members last week approved a wastewater treat- ment facility plan that includes build- ing the J -Ditch sewage pipeline project. No opposition to the plan was voiced at a public hearing at City Hall held on July 24. The plan includes updating McCall's wastewater treatment plant by replacing sand filters, which "pol- ish" the effluent on its final stop be- fore being discharged into the North Fork of the Payette River. Most importantly, the plan includes building the J -Ditch sewage pipeline project, which will take the effluent out of the North Fork and pump it to ranchers south of the city. The efflu- ent will then be sprinkled on crops and pastures. Adoption of the plan by the city council last week coincided with the long- awaited issuance of a discharge permitby the U.S. Environmental Pro- tection Agency. The permit was issued two weeks ago by the EPA in response to a law- suit filed in July, 1995, by the Cas- cade Reservoir Association against the EPA and the City of McCall. The Cascade Reservoir Associa- tion had argued that the EPA and the city were negligent in bringing McCall's sewage treatment plan into compliance with the federal Clean Water Act by discharging effluent into the North Fork. That effluent, made up of phos- phorous and other nutrients, has been. blamed for excessive algae growth and poci water quality in Cascade Reservoir, which is fed by the North Fork. The permit issued by the EPA mandates McCall to cease discharg- ing effluent into the North Fork by Jan. 1, 1999. Under the plan adopted last week by the city council, the J- Ditch pipeline, which replaces piping effluent into the North Fork, should be completed by next year. The second phase of the J -Ditch project is still lacking funding, how- ever. Construction of a winter storage lagoon for effluent during non- irriga- tion months is expected to cost almost $5 million. Agreement signed on )-Ditch proposal MCCALL — A three -way agree- ment between the parties involved in the J -Ditch proposal was signed last Thursday night and Friday morn- ing, ensuring that the city would hold to a $1 million grant from the Idaho Legislature for upgrading the city's wastewater treatment facili- ty. The McCall City Council gave their approval to the contract at Thursday's meeting and authorized Mayor Bill Killen to sign the agree- ment. Following that, Wayne VanCour tracked down Dr. Harold Nokes, who represents the water users along the J- Ditch, for his signature, and also rancher Harry Bettis, who has a sizeable parcel of land included in the project. The J -Ditch project will have the City of McCall disposing of its treat- ed and diluted sewage effluent through land application on agri- cultural lands along the J- Lateral Irrigation Ditch. Under the project that ditch will be lined with two pipes — one to carry clean irrigation water and another to carry the treated efflu- ent /water mixture — for delivery to about 2,000 acres of agriculture ground southwest of McCall. The $1 million grant was a chal- lenge grant for the city, which had to pull the project together by Dec. 31 in order to keep the grant, which was given to the city by the Idaho Legislature during its 1995 session. McCall signs agreement with J -Ditch members BY JEANNE SEOL The Star -News Construction on the J -Ditch sewer pipeline project south of McCall should start early next year after a three -way agreement between the city, the Lake Irrigation District and land- owners was signed on Friday. The six -page agreement details each party's obligations on pipeline use, ownership, maintenance and li- ability, and is the last major step to getting the $3.68 million pipeline built. "This was the key," Valley Soil and Water Conservation District Man- ager Barry Holloway said of the signed agreement. "We still need to get two - way agreements signed between each landowner and the city, but that's nothing compared to getting this (the three -way agreement) signed." Since last April, the McCall City Council, the Lake Irrigation District and individual landowners who will irrigate their crops with a mixture of effluent and water have tried to agree on a document that would oversee how the pipeline was managed. Not until last Friday was the ninth draft of that document agreed upon by each party. The agreement needed to be signed before construction bids to build the J -Ditch pipeline were re- leased. Those bids are now scheduled to go out by Dec. 31, Holloway said. Construction is slated to start next year with the pipeline fully opera- tional by the irrigation season starting in June, 1998, Holloway said. Instead of discharging its treated effluent into the North Fork of the Payette River, the 18 -mile pipeline will pump the City of McCall' s treated effluent to ranchers south of the city, where one part effluent will be mixed with three parts irrigation water and sprinkled on crops and pastures. The pipeline will also replace the current practice of landowners using flood irrigation on their land, which allows more phosphorus from animal waste to float through tributaries into the Cascade Reservoir. More than 2,000 acres will be con- verted from flood irrigation to a sprin- kler system using the pipeline. Warrington Construction apparent low bidder on J -Ditch project Braving some of our recent heavy snows, this group of con- tractors attended a bidding conference on the ) -Ditch pro - jec4 last week. MCCALL— Warrington Construction was the apparent low bidder on a significant portion of what is known as the J -Ditch project, which will remove the City of McCall's treated sewage effluent from the North Fork of the Payette River. Bids were opened on the project Monday and Warrington's bid of $1,161,530 was significantly lower than the second low bid of Masco Construction, which bid a bit more than $1.3 mil- lion for the project. And, McCall City Manager Gary Shimun said that the Warrington bid was also about $338,000 below the engineer's estimates for the project. Bezates Construction of Ontario was the third low bidder at just over $1.4 million. Shimun said the city received a total of 10 bids on the pro- ject, which will see construction of an effluent pump station, a mixing station that will dilute treated effluent with clean water, and the pipeline to carry the treated effluent /water mix, and a separate pipeline carrying just clean irrigation water, out to the J- Lateral Ditch. He said many of the bids were clustered around the $1.4 mil- lion mark, but they went as high as almost $2.1 million. Shimun said the bids are now being reviewed by the project engineers, J -U -B Engineering of Boise, to make sure they're responsive. Then at some point the City Council must formally award the bid to the low bidder. But Shimun said there is another minor snag in getting all of the signatures needed on all of the agreements pertaining to the project, a snag having to do with liability and indemnity. But, he said he hoped those details will be cleared up in the next couple of weeks and that the Council will be able to move ahead and award the bid in plenty of time so that construction can begin on the project when weather permits. "Everything is in place," he said. "From the city's standpoint, the Council has already approved (the agreement). We're just waiting on the finals from the property owners." / on5 i a_HeA� CZ �voca�e Piece.d pipe 6 -71 v 9'7 Miles and miles of 30 -inch diameter pipe stretches as far as the eye can see south of McCall along the ) -lat- eral irrigation dit(h. Work will commence soon on burying the pipe as part of the ) -Ditch project, which will remove treated McCall sewage effluent from the North Fork of the Payette River. ��-(d ��- New') MAY 9, / 9 q ? DOWN THE TUMIM More than 100 ;;emi- truckloads of blue, 30-inch- diameter PVC liipe were being delivered to Valley County this weck to build the J -Ditch pipeline south of McCat . Instead of discharging its treated sewage into the North Fork of the Payette River, the pipeline will pump the City of McCall's effluent to rancAers south of the city, where it will Star -News Photo by Jeanne Seo be mixed with irrigation water and sprinkled on crops and pastures. Ground is expected to be broken for the $2.9 million pipeline project within the next two weeks, and the system should be ready for operation by the spring of 1998, said J -Ditch Pipeline Association Contract Administrator Lori Flemmer'of Lake Fork. Ale pis �1 c�LCx y '�C cam- S I i 912 Officials break ground on T -Hitch vine Breaking ground for the $6.8 million J -Ditch project on Monday were, from left, McCalltMayor�BillJKillen�l Cascade Reservoir Coordinating Council President Wayne VanCour, state Division of Environmental Quality Administrator Walter Cory, Valley County Soil and Water Conservation District Chair Vicki Eld, Simplot Co. Representative Gary Stiehl, and J -Ditch Association President Harry Bettis. BY JEANNE SEOL The star -News More than 50 people attended a ground - breaking ceremony south of McCall on Monday for the $6.8 mil- lion J -Ditch project intended to clean up Cascade Reservoir. Standing on the edge of a pasture surrounded by sections of blue 30- inch pipe, Idaho Division of Environ- mental Quality Administrator Walter Cory hailed, the project as a "long- term solution' and a good project for all." "We wondered at times whether this thing was ever going to get off the ground," Cory said. "But I'm an engi- neer, and as an engineer I can tell you when there's pipe, there's a project. This (pointing to the pipe) is going to get the effluent out of the river and out of Cascade Reservoir." The pipeline is expected to be com- pleted by this fall and be operational for the 1998 irrigation season, offi- cials have said. Though strong handshakes and smiles between local officials and state agency dignitaries set the tone for the ceremony, Cory said in an interview that he could not guarantee the J- Ditch would solve forever McCall's dilemma of how to dispose of its effluent. "Regulations are promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency and we (DEQ) have no control over what they do," Cory said. Current regulations handed down by the EPA have required the City of McCall, several local and state agen- cies and local ranchers -to dig in their pockets to fund the J -Ditch Pipeline. The project replaces McCall's practice of discharging its treated ef- fluent into the North Fork of the Pay- ette River by instead piping it to ranch- ers south of the city, where the treated sewage will be mixed with irrigation water and sprinkled on crops and pas- tures. High loads of phosphorus in the city's effluent have been blamed for polluting Cascade Reservoir, into which the North Fork empties. Other tributaries of the North Fork are also expected to thrive after ranchers no longer flood - irrigate their land, but instead use sprinklers with the J -Ditch irrigation water- effluent mix. During the ceremony, McCall Mayor Bill Killen called the J -Ditch project "innovative" and said he hoped state agencies, like the DEQ and the EPA, would continue to "keep their minds and pocketbooks open" if the city pursues other "innovative" solu- tions in the future. "I hope this is a win- win -win deal," Killen said. "This is the first time we've ever done this and the first time you do anything, you're a little ner- vous, but we think it's going to work." The project is being funded through a variety of sources, including $2.5 million in state grants, a $3.14 million loan to the City of McCall, monies from local agenciets and about $96,000 from local ranchers. McCall awards contract to study J -Ditch reservoirs BY JEANNE HEINS The Star -News The City of McCall will pay two engineering firms more than $50,000 to make sure all funds for a sewer lagoon project are being spent efficiently. RH2 Engineering of Redmond, Wash. - the same firm hired to study the city's water rates - was hired by McCall City Council members last Thursday to form a "Value Engi- neering" team. Council members voted 3 -2 to pay RH2 Engineering $39,435 for its value engineering services. Council members also later voted 5 -0 to pay J -U -B Engineers of Boise $10,865 to assist with the value en- gineering team. Mayor Kirk Eimers and council members Allan Muller and Ray Venable voted to proceed with the value engineering concept and hire RH2 Engineering. Council mem- bers Marilyn Arp and Ralph Colton voted against the proposal. Eimers described the value en- gineering team as a "new set of eyes and ears to see if there's a better way of doing things." That opinion was ec_aoed by state Divi- sion of Environmental Quality Regional Manager Steve West of Boise. "This (value engineering) is a standard, practical way to get from here to there. It is the right thing to do," West saic.. "You're gaining confidence that taxpayer money is being spent in the most effective way possible. It gives us all an in- creased level o' comfort." The value engineering team, made up of RH2 Engineering staff, local officials, citizens and state agency experts, will spend three weeks analyzing every aspect of "You're gaining confidence that taxpayer money is being spent in the most effective way possible. It gives us all an increased level of comfort. " - DEQ's Steve West the sewer lagoon project. RH2 Engineering will also de- velop and recommend sewer system connection charges and fees to adequately pay for the city's sewer system once the J -Ditch pipe- line comes on -line this spring. The $3.3 million lagoon project, although approved by a previous city council, has been stalled by City Manager Brian Olson over project cost concerns and over lengthy negotiations tobuy 39 acres of private land on which future lagoons would be built. The lagoons would hold the city's effluent when it cannot be piped to ranchers south of the city through the J -Ditch sewer and ir- rigation pipeline during the summer. The proposed construction of the first winter storage lagoon is the first phase of a three - phase, $7 million project required by the state and federal government. Last fall, McCall received a $2.5 million appropriation from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and an $800,000 grant from the state Divi- sion of Environmental Quality to proceed with first phase construc- tion. Expenses for value engineering will be paid from the DEQ grant money, Olson said. Though the value engineering concept was endorsed by state offi- cials and a majority of the city council, Arp predicted officials would "not learn anything new. We are buying a collection of the documents that are already out there," she said. Colton, who with Arp, voted against forming the value engi- neering team, said the team would only delay sewer lagoon construc- tion, resulting in higher construction costs because the project would be put to bid later in the season. He also criticized Olson for not letting all council members review the contracts submitted from five different engineering firms who bid on the value engineering team proposal. Olson said he and Eimers reviewed the proposals and to- gether recommended RH2 Engineering for the job. That didn't sit well with Colton. "I have no basis to make a decision because this (RH2 Engineering) proposal is the only one I've seen," he said. Eimers said the other proposals from other firms were never brought to the council table be- cause "no one even compared with" RH2 Engineering. RH2 Engineering is expected to complete the value engineering work within three weeks and present a final report to council members at the April city council meeting. A preliminary report is ex- pected at the March 26 council meeting, Olson said. Y 115 McCall gains concessions on J-Ditch project Only required to do work if funded by grants, gifts MCCALL — McCall Mayor Kirk Eimers said this week that the city has gained a major conces- sion from the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality regarding future work on the .J-Ditch pro- ject — which will ultimately remove the city's treat- ed sewage effluent from the North Fork of the Payette River. That concession, which is now part of the city's consent order with DEQ, includes a clause that states that the City of McCall will only be required to do those parts of the project that are funded by grants and gifts. At'the heart of the issue is the city's need for another $3 million or so to complete the lagoon /win- ter storage component part of the project. Also at their meeting Thursday, the Council approved an agreement with Seubert Excavators, Inc., that will have the city pay nearly $892,000 for the land that will ultimately be used for construc- tion of two storage cells. That land lies near the city's present wastewater treatment facility. That property, and the fact that the city had not acquired interest in it, was at the heart of City Manager Brian Olson's decision a couple of months ago to suspend work on the J -Ditch project. Under the agreement, Seubert will be able to con- tinue to remove rock material from the proposed location of Cell Two until the city is ready to devel- op it. That rock removal will be done according to a plan prepared by the City of McCall. In his report to the Council on the matter, Olson said that preliminary geotechnical evaluations reveal that the site is suitable for the purpose of building the storage lagoons. However, the Council also approved an up -to- $50,000 contract with RH2 Engineering, Inc., of Redmond, Wash., for expedited engineering services that would back up the geotechnical analysis already done by JUB Engineering of Boise. Olson said that the contract will give him the flex- ibility to analyze all the options to insure that the land acquisition proceeds in the city's best interest. JUB is the project engineer for the J -Ditch pro- ject. McCall Mayor Kirk Eimers said that consent order agreed to by the city and DEQ means that the city is on track with the project. "it does show that DEQ has confidence that the City of McCall is moving in the right direction," he said. St. Clair must provide new schedule for completion of J -Ditch By Craig Boswell Staff Writer MCCALL— During last weekend's budget workshop, City Manager Robert Strope announced that J -U -B Engineers was going to withhold any future payment requests from its sub - contractor, St. Clair, until the company provided J -U -B with a revised schedule to complete construc- tion of the J -Ditch Sewer Lagoon by November 2. "The current timeline is unacceptable," said Strope. "There will be some allowance for removal of the burn pit, but they still must make up some time." he said During excavation, St. Clair had unearthed burn pits on the southern area of the dike in June. St. Clair had the added time and expense of excavating and sorting concrete, tree stumps and car bodies. They then had to refill and pack the excavated area. At that time, according to J -U -B's on -site engineer Matt Uranga, St. Clair was, in his estimation, one week behind schedule, but he felt that with extra equipment that time could be made up. Since then, apparently, the schedule has continued to slip to the point where J -U -B has had to make repeat- ed requests to St. Clair for a revised schedule. "We have been requesting a revised schedule for several weeks," said J -U -B's George Wagner on Monday. When asked exactly how far behind schedule St. Clair was, Wagner said he didn't know. "Until we get a revised schedule we really don't know where we are." "This project has a tight construction schedule," he said. "There is no extra time to complete this project." St. Clair is under contract to complete the project by Nov. 2, 2000. "This is not unusual," said Wagner "it is part of the construction process to revise sched- ules." Wagner said J -U -B was not withholding any cur- rent payments from St. Clair, but that they would with- hold any future payment requests unless St. Clair sub- mits a new schedule before the next city council meet- ing on Aug. 10. Lt, Ua,2P.�y advo c,i, g/2-S_1,2�aV-0 State settles J -Ditch litigation between J -U -B and the DEQ $300,000 is the price of peace By Craig Boswell Staff Writer BOISE- -The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and J -U -B Engineers, Inc., have signed a set- tlement agreement "intended (to) merely avoid litiga- tion and buy their peace" at a cost of $300,000 to the State of Idaho. The settlement was reached in a mediation session held 21 days before DEQ and J -U -B were scheduled to goto trial in Fourth District Court on charges filed by J -U -B against the DEQ and four of its employees for defamation and intentional interference of contract between J -U -B and the City of McCall on the J -Ditch sewer project. "What it came down to was I had to look at what it would cost to proceed legally, and I decided no mat- ter how rock solid our case might be, that it was bet- ter to settle the argument," said DEQ Director Stephen Allred. While admitting no liability by agreeing to the set- tlement, the DEQ did bar two of its employees from ever reviewing J -U -B contracts or projects, and issued a letter of apology to J -U -B regarding a Feb. 12, 1998, letter from the DEQ's then - Engineering Manager Larry Peterson that suggested that J -U -B was overcharging the City of McCall for work during Phase II of the J- Ditch Sewer pond. "The case against the DEQ was dismissed," said Allred, "but we weren't about to leave our employees on the line," he said. Among those named by J -U -B were Peterson, Regi ,)nal Manager Steve West, Administrative Engineer Jim Johnston, and then - Director Wally Corey. Peterson and Corey have since left the DEQ. The settlement prohibits West or Johnston from any future review of J -U -B contracts or plans and spec- ifications. That work may now be done by a third party which will only be reimbursed with DEQ funds for its review work and no other subsequent work on the pro- ject. The DEQ's letter of apology admitted that Peterson's letter of Feb. 12, 1998, "contained errors for which there was no factual basis..." and "could be interpreted to be accusing J -U -B Engineers of charging excessive fees and performing unnecessary work on the McCall project." Reports of the use of that letter by a third party to "injure J -U =B's professional reputation" was acknowl- edge by Allred in his apology to J -U -B stating that such misuse "was never intended or anticipated by DEQ." J -U -B's Executive Vice President Kirby Vickers said it has been a long 28 months since they first brought action against the DEQ. "I'm glad it's over. It's been a trying process and it's time to get back to business," he said. McCall to meet with, blo pu c on 1 -Ditch op tions BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The city of McCall could declare bankruptcy, double property taxes, sell property or issue bonds to pay a $6.2 million judgment against the city over its mismanagement of the construc- tion of the J -Ditch storage pond. Those are the choices faced by the McCall City Council in the face of a federal judge's ruling to pay the judg- ment immediately. The council will hold a town meet- ing Monday to lay out its options for citizens. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Monday at The Hunt Lodge. A detailed explanation of the city's position appears in a paid advertise- ment on Page A -3 of this issue of The Star -News. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Win - mill's order last month specified ways the city should immediately pay the judgment. However, city officials believe the methods of payment identified in the ruling are not authorized by Idaho law. "This is a critical time in the his- tory of our community," Mayor Bill Robertson said in city's advertisement. "The City does not have t are ability to immediately pay these judgments." The court ordered the ci ty to borrow enough money to satisfy the judgment and then raise property taxes the fol- lowing year to pay back the loan. The city figures it has al rout $300,000 in surplus funds that it could use to- ward the payment. In order to repay the ba lance of $5.8 million, the city would have to increase property taxes by an additional $730 per $100,000 of assessed value. The increase would double the amount of property *:axes each landowner paid last year, the city's statement said. The option would require the ap- proval of the Valley County Board of Commissioners and the Idaho State Tax Commission. Dispute over state law "The city believes its ability to raise property taxes is limited by Idaho Code ..., which creates a 3 perce nt cap of the amount a municipality can increase property taxes in a single year," the city statement said. "Judge Winmill disagrees, and has ordered the City to borrow the full amount of the Judg- ments immediately." McCall spends $1 million in attorneys fees on J -Ditch case The city of McCall has spent more than $1 million in legal fees defending and appealing the Wausau case over the past seven years, according to city records. The city has spent $1,082,500 on three lawfirms todefend the decision of firing St. Clair Contractors Inc., and Employers Insurance of Wausau in 2000 and 2001. The citypaid its contract attorney Moore, Smith, Buxton & Turcke $531,637 in legal fees related to the dispute and trial between 2000 and 2005. The city paid attorney Bill Mc- Curdy's two law firms McCurdy Law Office and Brassey Wethereli $224,232 toward trial and trial- related expenses between 2001 and 2005. Since 2004, the city has paid Kim Trout and his two firms Trout & Nemec PLLC and Trout, Jones, Gledhill, Furhman $326,630 on appealing the jury verdict that initially came down as a $4.95 million judgment against the city. Since the jury verdict, about$1.2 million has been tacked on to the city's growing obligation in attorney's fees for St. Clair and Wausau and interest accrual. The city fired St. Clair Contrac- tors Inc., in 2000 and later fired St. Clair's bonding agency, Employers Insurance of Wausau, who took over construction of the city's J -Ditch storage pond. Wausau sued the city and St. Clair Contractors in 2001. A jury awarded both Wausau and St. Clair Contractors $4.95 million. Since the verdict, the city has attempted to appeal the decision. In March, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the city's appeal. In April, the city successfully avoided a contempt of court ruling, but was ordered to immediately pay the judgment. The means to pay the judgment as specified in the ruling by U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill present a major challenge to city officials. The city asked its bank, U.S. Bank, to loan the city the money for the judgment. U.S. Bank de- clined to loan the city the money, the statement said. A May 3 letter from U.S. Bank, released this week by the city, said the city's credit was good but the bank was not able to pull together such a large loan in a short time. The second option ordered by the court said the city could issue bonds to pay $3.3 million of the judgment, which are tied to construction costs of the J- Ditch project. That would leave nearly $3 million in additional damages and attorneys fees left for the city to pay. "The City ... has been advised that if it wants to use (state law) and the Court's Order as a basis for securing revenue, it must obtain State Court judicial au- thority under the `ordinary and necessary' exception to voter ap- proval for obtaining the bond." The city has about $300,000 in surplus funds as identified in a recent city audit. "These funds could be declared and available for immediate pay - ment in the next few weeks," the city's statement said. The city council will look into declaring the surplus funds at its regular meeting tonight at city hall. Sewer rates not an option The city also considered sell- ing some of its property. In order to sell city property, the property must be declared as surplus and not essential to the city or in public use. Any citizen can object during the public process. The city also looked at sewer rates, but believes it cannot raise sewer rates to pay the judgment under state law. City officials have also looked at filing bankruptcy, which would allow itto reorganize its finances. If the city chooses bankruptcy, it would halt Judge Winmill's order to give the city time to explore alternatives and try to determine the ramifications of Idaho law on the obligation to pay the judgment. During a municipal bankrupt- cy, the city continues to operate and can provide all of its services, the statement said. The city was ordered out of the North Fork of the Payette River by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1995. In 2000, the city hired St. Clair Contractors Inc., of Boise, to build the J -Ditch storage pond, which stores treated wastewater over the winter months. The wastewater is then mixed with water for irrigation on ranch land south of the city. The city fired St. Clair and later Employers Insurance of Wausau, who was St. Clair's bonding agency, in 2001. Wausau and St. Clair each sued the city in 2001 and were awarded _$4.95 million in May 2004. The city lost its appeal in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Ap- peals in March. In October, Judge Winmill ordered the city to pay the judgment immediately. He ordered the city a second time to immediately pay the judgment last month rather than hold the city in contempt of court. "This is a critical time in the history of our community, The City does not have the ability to immediately pay these judgments." — mayor Bill Robertson Diggi0. ng out of the 1 -Ditch Mess Crowd asks questions, demands to know what city plans to do about the $6.5 million J -Ditch judgment BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News A crowd of more than 200 people filled the banquetroom at The Hunt Lodge to ask questions about how the city of McCall plans to extricate itself from a $6.5- million court judgment. Members of the McCall City Council listened to the questions and city officials provided an- swers the best they could, but the evening ended without a plan to pay off the debt. The town hall -style meeting was called to review the city's options to pay the judgment, which followed a 2004 trial over firing by the city of two contractors who were hired to build the giant J -Ditch sewage storage pond. A jury said the cite and its engineers mis- handled the project anct awarded the companies $5 million. Attorneys' fees and interest have ballooned the amount t $6.5 million, Mayor Bill Robertson announced o the crowd. Last month, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Win - mill has ordered the city to pay the judgment "immediately," leading to urgent meetings by the council on how to proceed. No testimony taken City officials led off the meeting with a back- ground presentation and then asked residents to fill out index cards with questions. No testimony was taken from the audience. The cards were passed forward and reviewed by attorneys for the city; who thenpassedthem off to Mayor Bill Robertson. The mayor then handed the cards to City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick to read and answer. About half the questions that were handed in received answers it the meeting. The city will answer every que 3tion on its Web site soon, Kirkpatrick said. Many questions expressed ignorance to how the city got in the present situation in the first place. One question asked what the jury and judge saw that led to the judgment against the city. "What the jury found was that the city was wrong in the way it handled the contract with St. Clair," Kirkpatrick said. "In a lot of ways exactly how we were wrong doesn't matter, we were wrong and we h ive this judgment in front need to solve it." Photo for The Star -News by Matt Moehr Photography McCall City Council member Bonnie Bertram, left, confers with Mayor Bill Robertson during Monday's town -hall meeting. PAGE A -14 - THE STAR -NEWS - THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2007 Meeting: crowd demands city's plan for $6.5 million judgment (Continued from Page A -1) One resident asked how bank- ruptcy would affect the city's ability to sell bonds to build a planned wastewater treatment facility to meet McCall's future growth needs. "Itwillhave surprisingly little effect on our future ability to bor- row money," Kirkpatrick said. Another resident asked why the city was paying its attorneys millions of dollars when the out- come of the case was a complete failure for the city. Kirkpatrick pointed out a graphic that showed the judg- ment against the city and the 3- percent cap allowed by state law on property tax increases. "The difference is worth fight- ing for in my opinion," he said. City can raise $600,000 The city can raise an addi- tional $600,000 in property taxes under the 3- percent annual cap in state law, Kirkpatrick said. The amount is less than one- tenth the total of the judgment. Winmill's order says the city should raise all the funds in one year. "All the experts we've talked to with very few exceptions disagree with the judge's decision," Kirk- patrick said. "The federal judge has carved out an exemption in the state law that the legislative body of work doesn't support." Affordable housing was raised in a question about what would happen to the city's rental market if taxes were raised. "That is something of great concern to the council," Kirk- patrick said. Many questions were fielded that asked where the original federal grant money went to pay for the construction of the J -Ditch pond. Kirkpatrick said that all funds were used to pay for the construc- tion. He said after the meeting that a full disclosure of what money was spent on the project would be the first question the city answers on its Web site. Many citizens wantedto know how the citywouldprotectMcCall taxpayers. "By ensuring that we are not forced to collect more property taxes than the state law allows us to collect," Kirkpatrick said. Many questions suggested possible solutions. Some asked if the city could sell its nine afford- able homes on McCall Avenue. Another question asked if the cityhad any capital improvement projects it could put off to another year and declare the funds as surplus to go towards paying the judgment. ' Kirkpatrick said most of the city's capital improvement proj- ects are tied to dedicated funding that could not be used to pay off the judgment, such as the city's nearly $5- Inillion urban renewal project at Legacy Park. One question asked if prop- erty around Payette Lake could be annexed to increase the tax base and lessen the tax burden on city residents. Kirkpatrick said it was un- likely that such an annexation could be done in time to satisfy the judgment by getting on the tax rolls in time. Another resident asked about a sales tax to spread the burden to visitors to the city. Kirkpatrick said that the city's current Local Option Tax, which taxes hotel rooms and other short -term rentals at 3 percent, does not allow for the money to be spent on the judgment. Another question asked if former council members and city staff could be held personally liable for the judgment. "The answer is highly, highly unlikely," Kirkpatrick said. "There is only one very remote avenue that gets to that possibil- ity." He did not specify further. Another question wanted to pinpoint who was advising the city not to pay off the judgment through the years. "The folks who made those decisions aren't the ones making decisions today," he said. z dp jury: city, engineers badly mishandled project (Note: This story was originally published in The Star -News in May 2004. It is reproduced here to provide perspective on the current dilemma the city of McCall is facing over the J -Ditch sewer case.) BY BEN SALMON The Star -News Three jurors who recently ordered the city of McCall to pay nearly $5 million to builders of the city's winter wastewater holding pond said the case was complex but the decision was easy because of the way the city handled the project. Jeff Kidd of Boise, Daniel Bachini of Eagle, and Franklin Kimura of Caldwell made up one - thirdof thenine - person U.S. District Court jury that found in favor of St. Clair Contractors of Boise and Employers Insurance of Wausau of Wausau, Wis. The case stemmed from the con- struction of the city's 268 - million gallon storage lagoon, commonly known as the J -Ditch Pond. St. Clair and Wausau worked on the lagoon in 2000 and 2001, but neither finished the work to the satisfaction of the city, which fired St. Clair in February 2001 and fought with Wausau overthe quality of its work for months. The companies eventually sued the city to collect unpaid bills and business damages, and the city countersued the compa- nies and claimed the project was not built to specifications in the construction contract. The case culminated in a 27- day trial that ended May 4, 2004, with a $4.95 million judgment against the city. .Outcome was obvious McCall City Councilmembers were shocked that day to learn the news, but the three jurors said the outcome was obvious to those on the jury. Bachini said jurors carefully went overtheir instructions, but that all agreed the city was more culpable. "We all agreed on who was to win. That was unanimous," he said. "It was really fast. No one took the city's side." Kidd said the decision was made primarily because jurors felt the city did not take enough responsibility for the successful completion of the project. "We saw fault on both sides, but we felt the city was most at fault," said Kidd, who acted as jury foreman although noformal leader was chosen. "It was obvi- ous St. Clair wanted to come back and finish the work when they were fired." Kidd said the biggest problem jurors had with McCall's han- dling of the case was the city's decision not to stop St. Clair when it saw what it considered to be unsatisfactory work. "The city claimed St. Clair was doing shoddy work, but the contract stated that if the city or its representative (JUB En- gineers of Boise) saw anything wrong they needed to go in and tell them so they could get it cor- rected," Kidd said. "We never heard that from the city" he said. "They had just as much responsibility as the contractor." Kidd said the testimony from JUB and the city was not helpful to the city's case because it ap- peared that side was shirking its responsibility for the project. "JUB had seen defects but nev- er told anyone. They just blamed St. Clair," Kidd said. "We saw them pointing their fingers at St. Clair all the time rather than taking their responsibility." Kimura voiced a similarview. "Both parties didn't follow the contract, butthe city shouldhave been more on the ball," he said. Unimpressive testimony Bachini also was not im- pressedbysomeof thetestimony from project engineer Matt Ura- nga of JUB. Urangaseemedto "talk down" to the jury and he seemed "with glee" when St. Clair encountered problems on the site, he said. Both Kidd and Bachini said the preparation and analysis by St. Clair and Wausau's expert witnesseswas strongerthan that of the city's expert witnesses. Both said the city's witnesses presented one -sided testimony that hurt their case. "The city's experts only analyzed one side of the case and did not perform a compre- hensive study. They didn't take into consideration both sides of the case," Kidd said. "We felt the other side's testimony offered more valid information." Kimura and Bachini each said they felt St. Clair was not given enough time to do the work and was treated unfairly by the city after the contractor missed a Nov 2, 2000, deadline to finish the project. "There just wasn't enough time to do the job because the weatherwas so bad in September, October andNovember," Kimura said. "The city should have ex- tended the contract, and their attitude shouldn't have been to fire the guy. He didn't quit, he just couldn't do the work." JUB not impartial Bachini also said he thought JUB, which was hired to act as a liaison between the city and the contractor, should have been more impartial while handling the project rather than siding with the city. "JUB is supposed to be inde- pendent, but they weren't almost from the beginning," Bachini said. "I'm not saying St. Clair was perfect, but it would have been hard to be perfect in the conditions they were under." Kidd and Bachini said the jury'sawardof $1.6 million to St. Clair for "business devastation" was to help the contractor get back on track after the months of unpaid bills by the city nearly knocked the company out of business. "We wanted to help get St. Clair back on its feet as best we could," Kidd said. "We wanted to help them go out and buy equipment and get the money they were owed." Bachini noted that St. Clair's construction employees who testified seemed honest on the stand, while McCall city of- ficials who testified seemed to be "completely in the dark" on the project. He also said the settlement process seemed "one- sided" because the city was unwilling to negotiate, and he likened the long, drawn -out case to a bad break-up. There was just something that wasn't right with the whole ,thing," Bachini said. "It was like a nasty divorce that went on too long and got worse over time." S�.YIaj `We will do 41 whatever the judge tells us' BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -Kews Valley County Prosecuting At- torney Matt Williams said the county would follow the order of a federal judge in regards to McCall's recent court defeat over the J -Ditch lawsuit. Williams made the comment in response to McCall City Council member Bonnie Bertram's comment last weekthatthe county and the state were "weenies" because they would approve any request from McCall asking for more than a 3- percent increase in property taxes to pay off a $6.5 million judgment against the city. The city tried to use the county and state oversight to any property tax increase as a defense in court as to why the city had not paid the judgment. See J- DITCH, Page A -10 J -Ditch (Continued from Page A -1) City attorney Kim Trout made the argument last month in Boise when defending the city against a contempt of court motion filed by attorneys for Wausau and St. Clair Contractors. • The city argued that the city could not increase its property tax levy enough to raise the funds immediately due to the state's 3- percent cap on property tax increases. Trout also pointed out that if the city did attempt to raise the taxes over the 3- percent cap that Valley County and the Idaho State Tax Commission would likely deny the request. Both Valley County and the state tax commission said they would likely approve a request to increase property taxes in McCall by more than double in order to satisfy the judgment if they received a request from the city to do so. Bertram thought the state should help the city fight the judg- ment that interprets state law. The city owes $6.5 million to Employers Insurance of Wausau and St. Clair Contractors Inc., over the mismanagement of the construction of the city's winter storage pond. "We are goingto follow the U.S. District Court judge's ruling," Williams said. `And if following a law makes us a weenie, then I guess we are weenies." "Right now the district judge's ruling is the interpretation of that law that I think we need to follow until another interpreta- tion arises," Williams said. "It's a state law, so if the attorney general's office wants to step in and weigh in on it then we will obviously consider the attorney general's opinion." Williams saidthe "weenie" com- ment last week did not upset him. "We're not upset, we under- stand they are in a tough spot and they have to make some tough decisions," Williams said. "If they choose to follow the district court's ruling, we're not going to get in the way of it." The ]Plan,* McCall council proposes paying St. Clair, Wausau $900,000 soon, the rest later BY TOM GROTE The Star -News The McCall C ity Council last week decided on a multi -stage plan to pay off a $6.5 million court judgment over construction of the city's winter sewage s:orage pond. The council decided not to declare munici- pal bankruptcy as part of the plan, but Mayor Bill Robertson did not rule out that option for the future. During last T'hursday's regular meeting, council members endorsed a plan by city Man- ager Lindley Kirkpatrick to payoff some of the judgment within the next few months and then seek court approval to borrow the rest. Allof thefunc .swouldbepaidbycityproperty owners and resic.ents, either through additional property taxes or monthly sewer fees. Meanwhile, the city will continue its fight in court to have a federal judge's order over- turned in ordei to cut back the amount of money owed. The plan adopted last Thursday would pay off the $5 million jury judgment plus $1.5 mil- lion in attorneys fees and interest stemming from the 2004 trial over construction of the 277 - million gallon J -Ditch pond along West Deinhard Lane. A jury said the city and its engineer, JUB Engineers of Boise, badlymishandled the events leading up to the firing the original contractor, St. Clair Contractors, and a contractor hired by Employers Insurance of Wausau to finish the job. The city council chose not to declare bank- ruptcy, which it considered an action of last resort, Kirkpatrick said in an interview. "We wanted to avoid the negative perception of bankruptcy, the stigma," he said. "But there is more perception than reality to bankruptcy, as the practical effects are no where as severe as one might expect." Robertson said declaring bankruptcy could harm the city's economy. See PLAN, Page A -12 PLAN SUMMARY Here is a summary of the plans by the McCall City Council to pay off the $6.5 million judgment owed in the Wausau /St. Clair case: • Pay all surplus funds in city coffers as soon as pos- sible. Funds available early July -About $300,000. • Borrow money equal to the amount of property taxes that can be levied by Idaho law above what is now being, levied to run city government. Funds available late summer or early fall -About $600,000. • Issue bonds to coverthe balance of the judgment, an action that requires a state judge's permission. Funds available no sooner than six months -$5.6 million. Look for any other savings in the current city budget, including a review of policies on maintain- ing reserve funds. To be done over the next several weeks. • File an appeal with Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a U.S. District judge's opinion that the city can exceed property -tax collections caps in Idaho law. If that happens, the city would not have to pay $5.6 million. Ruling expected no sooner than six months. (Continued from Page A -1) "McCall is a resort communi- ty; we depend on people bringing money to town and investing it," he said. However, the city might still declare bankruptcy to seek protection if anyone tries to challenge the funding plan, Rob- ertson said. The plan adopted last week "is our best attempt to comply with the judge's order," Kirkpatrick said, referring to the April 23 directive by U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Winmillforthe cityto pay the judgment immediately. Here are the major compo- nents of the plan: Break the Piggy Bank The city will pay as soon as possible about $300,000 in surplus funds leftover from the 2006 -07 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2006. In past years, the city has used whatever surplus funds have been left from the previous year to fund projects during the current year. That will not happen this year, Kirkpatrick said. A public hearing on using the surplus topaythe courtjudgment will be held during the council's next meeting starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 7, in the lower level of McCall City Hall. The funds would be available to turn over to St. Clair/ Wausau by early July. Also to be decided is whether the long -term bond will be paid with an annual increase in property taxes or a long -term increase in monthly sewer fees, he said. Take on the Judge While the city works to raise funds to satisfy Winmill's order, Tax to the Max The second part of the plan would see the city levy as much property tax as allowed under state law and give the difference between what the city collected this year and the maximum amount toward the court judg- ment. That amount is expected to be about $600,000. The city has $3.3 million in property taxes budgeted in the current budget year. State law allows additional property taxes to be raised two ways: •Theamountof propertytaxes from new construction inside the city limits or from annexations. That amount is expected to be about $284,000. • No more than 3 percent of the previous year's total. That is calculated at $93,000 for next year. The city has not always taken the full 3 percent tax increase, but state law allows the city to bank those "foregone" funds and use them in the future if needed. The city currently has $231,000 in that account. Those property taxes will not be available until 2008, but the city plans to borrow the $600,000 in advance in order to satisfy Winmill's order to pay immedi- ately, Kirkpatrick said. Borrowing the money will incur interestpayments, butKirkpatrick did not know how much those inter- est costs will be. the city council told its attorneys to keep fighting the order in court, Kirkpatrick said. The city disagrees with Winmill's assertion that he, as a federal judge, can waive taxing provisions in state law. Specifically, the city claims Win - mill does not have the authority to allow the city to exceed the Scour the Seat Cushions The council also ordered Kirkpatrick to squeeze as much money as possible out of the cur- rent budget. Those instructions included a review of the city's policies on how much money to keep in its reserve funds. The funds are used as a hedge against emergencies and also to keep the city running until property -tax collections are received. Such short -term funding al- lows the city to avoid borrowing money while waiting for tax payments. Bond, long -Term Bond The city has no choice but to issue long -term bonds to finance the balance of $5.6 million, Kirk- patrick said. Authority to issue the bonds without voter approval must come from a state judge, who must declare the expense to be funded is "ordinary and necessary" to the operation of the city. It could take six months to schedule ahearingbefore a judge at which any citizen may testify, he said. Interest costs also will be associated with any long -term bond, but Kirkpatrick said the interestrate andnumber of years to pay back the bond has not been decided. 3 percent cap, so it will "appeal to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ` If the appeal court sides with the city, then the amount above the 3 percent cap, or $5.6 million, would be repealed. Gaining a hearing before the court of appeals could be at least six months, Kirkpatrick said. $3009000 to a �d�t p o I -Ditch lawsuit victors BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The McCall City Council voted last week to release about $300,000 in reserve funds to begin paying off a $6.5- million judgment against the cityfor its mismanagement of the construction of the city's J -Ditch storage pond. The city will pay St. Clair Contractors Inc., of Boise $300,432 on June 22. "It will Robertson be aid after the v this off ote during the couMayor t meet- ing last Thursday. Robertson noted that the payment would put a stop to any extra street paving or improvements to the sewer system to limit groundwater leaks into the system. Those projects were previously designated for surplus funds in past years. The city owes Employers Insurance of Wausau and St. Clair Contractors Inc., about $6.5 million. the lity to pay the two entities $4.9 mill on for its of the construction of the city's winter wastewater storage pond. Legal fees and interest make up the balance. City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick told the council that St. Clair's law firm filed a lien against the payment to ensure the attorneys are paid first. The city still owes about $6.2 million and plans to pay about $600,000 more later this year. Plans call for borrowingmoney equal to the amount of property taxes that can be levied by Idaho law above what is now being levied to run city government. The funds could be available later this summer or early next fall. The city will then issue bonds to cover the balance of the judgment, which is expected to be about $5.6 million. See J- DITCH, Page A -13 J-Ditch (Continued from Page A -1) The action requires the ap- proval of a state judge. The bond funds will not be available any sooner than six months. The city considered filing municipal bankruptcy to allow more flexibility in structuring a paymentplan, butthe city council decided against that last month. Meanwhile, the city has filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Courtof Appeals to overturn U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill's April decision. That decision said the city can exceed property tax collections caps in Idaho law. A ruling is expected no sooner than six months. If the city wins the ruling, it would not be liable for the $5.6 million balance, city officials have said. e, ,;e � ? /' Judge throws out McCall's lawsuit against its attorneys City wanted its money back for bad advice judge said filing was too late BY TOM GROTE The Star -News A Boise judge last week threw out a lawsuit by the city of McCall claiming the city received bad advice from two law firms during a disastrous lawsuit against two companies over construction of the J -Ditch sewage holding pond. Fourth District Court Judge Michael McLaughlin threw out the case last Thursday, saying the city filed the case too late under the state's statute of limitations. The action means the merits of the case will not be heard. The year -old lawsuit against the Boise law firms was an at- tempt by the city to get back an estimated $750,000 in legal fees paid to the two firms between 2000 and 2005. It had been hoped that money would have been used to re- duce the amount of money needed from city taxpayers to pay off $6.5 million in awards, legal fees and interest as a result of the J -Ditch case. One of the firms targeted by the lawsuit was Moore, Smith, Buxton and Turke of Boise, which served as the city's contract law firm from 1998 to 2005. The other firm was Brassey, Wetherell, Crawford and Garrett of Boise, which represented the city in the lawsuits with St. Clair Contractors and Employers Insurance of Wausau, which won the judgment against the city following a 2004 jury trial. J -U -B release cited The lawsuit by the city said the firms, and specifically Su- san Buxton of the Moore firm and William McCurdy of the Brassey firm, gave poor legal advice to the city throughout the construction of the 277 - million - gallon winter holding pond and the subsequent legal entanglements that followed. Among the claims in the city's lawsuit was that McCurdy and Buxton advised the city council inJune 2002 to sign an agreement with J -U -B Engineers, which designed the J -Ditch pond. That agreement freed J -U -B from any claims or lawsuits arising from the project. The release came after St. Clair and Wausau filed suit in December 2001. The rationale was to avoid fighting both J -U -B and St. Clair/ Wausau. Instead, J -U -B's expertise would be used to build the city's case in the trial, according to court documents. After the 2004 verdict against the city, jurors in the case specifically pointed to J -U -B for shirking its responsibility for managing the construction of the pond. The jurors also said J- U-B was not impartial while acting as a liaison between the city and St. Clair Contractors and provided unimpressive testimony during the trial. Buxton and McCurdy should have advised the council to consult with an independent attorney before signing the 2002 release with J -U -B, the city's lawsuit said. See LAWSUIT, Page A-12 PAGE A -12 -THE STAR -NEWS - THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2007 wsuit: Judge throws out McCall's complaint aga m L attorneys La Ti advised to 20 just before two years (Continued from Page A -1) The two firms also made a mistake when they advised the city to withhold about $900,000 in payments from St. Clair in 2000 when the company fell behind in completing the pond. Jurors said the city should have stopped the work when it was clear St. Clair was having problems. Similar bad legal advice was claimed in the lawsuit for the way the city was advised to handle Wausau, which hired a second contractor, Interwest Supply Inc. to complete the project. The at- torney also advised withholding ments to Wausau when I the job started by St. Clair. Settlement offer disputed St. Clair and Wausau sued the city for breach of contract, and the jurors agreed with them. Also, the city claimed Buxton and McCurdy's firms gave bad advice when they advised against accepting a $500,000 settlement offer from St. Clair and Wausau in 2003. one of the claims by the city was countered in an affidavitfrom Christopher Yorgason, a former attorney with Buxton's firm, who said he was at the meeting in the of pay whichthe $500,000 settlementwas nterwest was not able to finish discussed. The council was make a counter - offer, but council members rejected that course, Yorgason's affidavit said. The rest of the city's claims were based on the mistaken as- sumption that any advice given by attorneys are a guarantee of success, according to a response to the city's suit filed by the two Boise law firms. The mere fact that the deci- sion the city made, having taken into account the Moore firm's advice, did not have the desired outcome does not render the Moore firm's advice negligent," the response said. The case was filed in May d expired after the J -Ditch Jury handed down its decision. The city believed it had filed the case in time under the two - year statute of limitations for filing a malpractice case. The law firms challenged that claim, saying the two -year period began in 2002, when they began accepting payments from the city for the advice the city said was flawed. McLaughlin agreed the two - year limithad expiredbefore May 2006 and threw out the case. The city was represented in the case by Boise attorney Allen Ellis. McCall to pay $661,000 9��3 on J -Ditch judgment BY MICHAEL WELLS { The Star -News The city of McCall will pay $661,000 to Employers Insurance of Wausau and St. Clair Contractors of Boise likely in mid to late Oc- tober as the latest payment in the city's lost legal case against the two firms. This will be the second payment made to the firms, for which a jury found in favor in 2004 in a dispute over construction of the city's J -Ditch sewage holding pond. In June, the city made an initial payment of $300,432, which was all of the city's surplus property taxes left over from last year. That makes a total of $961,432 to be paid on the judgment, which totaled $6.5 million in compensation and legal fees. The $661,000 is also made up of property tax funds. The total in- cludes all additional property taxes the city could legally levy next year above the amount current being used to run city operations this year. As a result, the city budget year that begins Oct. 1 will have the same amount of property -tax dollars to work with as the current year's budget. Next year's property taxes will not be available for several months, so the city will borrow the money to make the $661,000 payment. Fees on that loan are expected to cost $35,000. See J•DITCN. Page A -10 1 -Ditch (Continued from Page A -1) The amount to make the second payment of the J -Ditch judgment was firmed up last Thursday, when the McCall City Council approved next year's budget at a special meeting. The basis for the lawsuit began in 2000, when the city hired St. Clair to build the J -Ditch storage pond, which stores treated waste- water over the winter months. The wastewater is then mixed with water for irrigation on ranch land south of the city during the summer months. The city fired St. Clair and later Employers Insurance of Wausau, who was St. Clair's bonding agency, in 2001. Wausau and St. Clair each sued the city in 2001. They were awarded $4.95 million in May 2004 by a jury. Interest and attorneys' fees that accumulated during three years of court appeals totaled an additional $1.6 million. In April, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the city to "pay immediately" all it owed to the two prevailing parties. In May, the city council con- templated declaring the city bankrupt to buy time to make the payments, but opted instead to pay the full amount in three installments. To pay the remaining $5.6 mil- lion, the city will ask a state judge for the ability to issue bonds. In the meantime, Boise attor- ney Kim Trout has filed another appeal with the Ninth District Court of Appeals that challenges Winmill's decision to force the city to pay the total sum. The city has contended that Winmill does nothavethe author- ity as a federal judge to force the city to exceed the property -tax collection limits set down in state law. 5I13Iu1 Judge leans to McCall Neville inclined to grant city's request for revenue bonds to pay J -Ditch debt BY MICHAEL WELLS The Stu -News A state judge said Wednesday the "money clock is ticking" and he is inclined to rule in favor of the city of McCall's request to issue revenue bonds to pay the remaining $6 million from the J -Ditch lawsuit. The city of McCall was poised to go into bankruptcy if it could not make a deal with two companies to which it owes $6 million from the J -Ditch lawsuit. The city went forward with a hearing before Fourth District Court Judge Thomas Neville in Cascade Wednesday afternoon to ask permission to issue sewer bonds to cover the remain ing $6 million owed to Wausau and St. Clair. Two McCall citizens testified against the city's request. Mike Anderson and Jean Odmark each asked the court to deny or delay the decision until the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the city's ap- peal. of a federal judge's order to pay the judgment immediately. The appeal will not ,Hake the judgment go away," Neville said referring to an original order to pay that was not appealed. "I can't think of a clearer case of ordinary and necessary I am tentatively inclined to grant this petition." Neville could rule on t he case soon, which may make unnecessary a hearing next week in federal court in Boise on a contempt of court motion against the city. TheMcCallCity Coun ,-ilvotedunanimouslyMonday night to file for bankrup :cy if no settlement is reached before a scheduled contempt of court hearing next Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boise. Citizens at a town htcll meeting on the issue were told last Thursday the council would make a decision Monday night whether to declare bankruptcy. Instead, the council decided to keep negotiating with Employers Insurance of Wausau and St. Clair Contractors. "We don't want to hit the March 6 wall," Mayor Bert Kulesza told the town hall meeting J -D last Thu Page A-2 J -Ditch (Continued from Page A -1) "Wausau and St. Clair have put us in a tight corner. We are in an untenable position. Losing control of the city is unaccept- able.,, The city may seek bankruptcy in order to keep control over city services that could be shutdown by the contempt of court motion before U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill. Cost and control seemed the major concerns of citizens who wanted toknow more about the re- ality of municipal bankruptcy. Local developer Scott Findlay challenged the city's assertion that filing for municipal bank- ruptcy would be "business as usual." Filing for bankruptcy would temporarily stop Employers In- surance of Wausau and St. Clair from collecting the debt the city owes them' said Boise attorney Kim Trout, who the city has hired fo:advise them on the case. A financial `Hiccup' The city would have 120 days to propose a plan to pay the judg- ment. A bankruptcy judge would" decide if the plan is acceptable, he said. Trout told the audience that if not for the judgment against the city, the city would be in great financial shape. He called the judgment a financial "hiccup.,, Filing for bankruptcy could cost the city $200,000 to $750,000 in legal fees. Abankruptcy filing would also give the city's pending appeal with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Cmirt of on property -tax collect The council conside for bankruptcy after ' original order, but held The new considerate on the heels of a de Wausau and St. Clair tc city in contempt of cou The motion to be he Thursday offers Winmi options if he decides the contempt of his previc for the city to pay the j City Manager Kirkpatrick was wor a contempt ruling co, the city to lose conti services. "It's reasonable to based on the histor} case, the worst case, ders could be granted i 6," Kirkpatrick said. ` be devastating. It wol the elimination of cii es. Police, water, sew( recreation, library, strE tenance, snowplowing every service provided' would halt." He also spoke to about a suggested fine did not pay the judgmc The fine would begi a day. At the first of ea sive month, the fine doubled. The fine coul $1 million a day withir the cityfailedtopaythe; Kirkpatrick said. Wausau Attorney Rc of Lewiston attended. meeting and told the' whyhe filed the conteml motion. He also told t that he has been willin with the city. "We're ready to sit c talk," Bleweit said. "I J-Ditch payback now totals 30 years The number of years McCall sewer customers would spend paying off the J -Ditch lawsuit has risen from 20 years to 30 years. The new calculation was revealed last Thursday dur- ing a town hall meeting on the J -Ditch lawsuit. McCall sewer ratepayers could see an increase of more than $11 in their monthly sewer bills for the next 30 years in order to pay the remaining balance, City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. Kirkpatrick said the city's plan to use revenue bonds to pay off the remaining balance of about $6 million in the J -Ditch lawsuit would increase the monthly sewer rate by as much as $11.43 for 30 years. A rate study made the determination that 10 more years would be needed to pay off revenues bonds that would be sold to pay off the city's legal obligations, he said. The city previously said that20 years would be needed to pay off the revenue bonds. On Wednesday, Fourth District Judge Thomas Nev- ille heard the city's petition to seek revenue bonds in court in Cascade. The city will need Neville's permission to issue the bonds under a state law that limits the ability of cities to go into debt without voter approval. aim -IN-1 11— - ...,,...__... - ..a Boise Attorney Kim Trout answers questions about how municipal bankruptcy would work in a town hall meeting last Thursday. Behind Trout is the crossed -out date of March 6, which is when a contempt of court hearing is scheduled in U.S. District Court in Boise. The city hopes to avoid having that hearing occur. McCall raises sewer rates $9.50 /month for 20 years BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News McCall sewer customers will soon see a $9.50 per month in- crease in their bills after the city council voted to approve a plan to pay off the J -Ditch lawsuit and make improvements to the system last week. The increase will raise month- ly sewer bills in McCall to $44 per month, the highest rate in the state. The new rates will start reaching residents June 15. During a public hearing, citi- zens were angered by the city's plan to bundle together the law - suit debt and new projects. "You guys talk about it all the time that people can't afford to live in McCall," Gene Gans of McCall said. `And yet, every time you come in here this body is raising some sort of fee." The council decided to in- crease the monthly bill for the next 20 years by $4.50 to payoff the J -Ditch lawsuit. The city lost a lawsuit to Em- ployers Insurance of Wausauand St. Clair Contractors of Boise over the city's mismanagement of the construction of the city's winter wastewater storage pond. The city has paid about $1 million toward the judgment, but needed a revenue bond to pay the remain- ing $6.1 million balance. The council tacked on an ad- ditional $5 per month to pay for replacing an outdated sewage pumping station along the North Fork of the Payette River across from the McCall Fish Hatchery and to pay for schematic and preliminary designs for a new wastewater treatment plant. Cash raised from the new rates from this summer to next should fund the projected $1.2 million sewage pumping station replace- ment, Kirkpatrick said. The extra $5 per month could be decreased after the money is raised to pay for the projects, but CityManagerLindleyKirkpatrick stressed it was not assured that a future council would decide to lower the rates. The council had eight options before it to choose from last week. The council could have paid the J -Ditch debt on a 30 -year plan with a rate increase of only $1.50 per month. The council opted against only paying off the lawsuit debt, due to problems with the current wastewater system, includingthe designingof a newplant to handle expected growth in the future. The balance of the J -Ditch judgment is scheduled to be paid next week. Star -News Photo by Michael Wells Senior Utility Operator Lonnie King climbs out of McCall's sewage pumping station No. 7 after a routine check on its operation. The station located across from the McCall Fish Hatchery on the banks of the North Fork of the Payette River will be relocated and replaced as part of a $950 per month sewer rate increase passed by the city council earlier this month. J -Ditch lawsuit ends with McCall payment of $6.1 million BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The books were closed Friday on the J -Ditch lawsuit against the city of McCall when a payment of $6.1 million was made to Employers Insurance of Wausau and St. Clair Contractors of Boise. Wausau received $3.1 million from the final payment and St. Clair Contractors was paid $3 million. Overall, the city paid the two parties a totalof $7.1 millionfor its mismanagement of the construction of the city's winter wastewater storage pond known as the J -Ditch pond. In 2004, a jury awarded, Wausau and St. Clair $4.95 million, citing the city's mismanagement of the construction of the wastewater storage pond. Interest and attorneys fees piled up to increase the judgment to $7.1 million. Two times in the past year, the city considered filing for bankruptcy protec- tions to stave off payment of the final judgment. During 2007, the city made two payments toward the judgment totaling about $1 million using surplus funds and property taxes. The final payment made last week was the result of a $6.1 million bond that was approved by Fourth District Judge Thomas Neville. City sewer customers will see a $4.50 increase in their sewer dills beginning June 15 to payoff the bond over the next 20 years. The city also added a $5rate increase for improvements to sewer infrastructure �� and for planning of a new wastewater treatment plant. The total rate increase of $9.50 per month brings McCall's sewer rate to $44 per month, which is the highest rate in the state. "We've got the issue behind us now, __L:..L. -..;17 ..71 i,v.,,c 4nf rllc N7T'PY7P1'¢7PR Oil planning for the future of the community and meeting the current and future needs of the community," City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. "We have infrastructure needs across the community" The case is not completely over, how- ever, as the city pursues an appeal of its legal malpractice suit against former city attorneys Susan Buxton and William Mc- Curdy of Boise. The city sued the two former city attor- neys last year for malpractice, but Fourth District Judge Michael McLaughlin threw the case out because it was filed after the statute of limitations ran out. The city sued the two attorneys and the Boise law firms of Moore, Smith, Buxton and Turke and Brassey, Weatherell, Craw- ford and Garrett, which employed Buxton and McCurdy. The city's attorneys, Allen Ellis and Jeff Strother, both of Boise, filed their last brief to the Idaho Supreme Court Friday. The city seeks to have the Supreme Court overturn McLaughlin's ruling on the statute of limitations and seek to have an award of attorneys fees overturned as well. No date for a hearing has been set, Strother said. McCall "" wins partial victory Supreme Court says J -Ditch judge erred, sends back case BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The city of McCall has won a partial victory in its lawsuit against the law firms that advised the city on the J -Ditch debacle. The Idaho Su- u preme Court ruled "The mere last month that a fact that lower court judge erred when he Wausau and threw out the city St. Clair case against Susan Buxton of Moore, commenced Smith, Buxton & litigation Turke, and Wil b liam McCurdy of against the Brassey, Wetherell, Crawford & Garrett. Cit`V Would The ruling not have means the case will return to the given the lower court and Cit r a cause continue through the legal process. Of action The city sued the two law firms against its in 2006 as a result of the J -Ditch case. Attarneys." A jury in 2004 — Supreme awarded Employ ers Insurance of Court Chief Wausau and St. 4 ustice Daniel __Clair Contractors $4.95 million in Eismann damages for the city's mismanagement of the construc- tion of the city's winter wastewater storage pond. Interest and fees ultimately led to the citypaying$7.1 million. Thecityborrowed money to repay the debt, and city sewer users will be paying an additional $9.50 per month for the next 20 years to pay off the judgment. Fourth District Court ,Judge Michael McLaughlin agreed with the argument by the attorneys that the two -year statute of limitation had run out for the city to file a lawsuit. See J- DITCH, Page A -3 J -Ditch (Continued from Page A -1 The clock on filing the lawsuit started when the at- torneys first started giving advice on the case, McLaugh- lin said. However, the city argued that it did not realize it had received poor legal advice until 4after the jury in the Wausau case had ruled against the city. . It was at that point the clock should have started on the statute of limitation, the city argued. The supreme court agreed with the city. "Themerefactthat Wausau and St. Clair commenced liti- gation against the City would not have given the City a cause of action against its Attor- neys," Supreme Court Chief Justice Daniel Eismann wrote in the court's opinion. Had the city sued the at- torneys when the lawsuit was filed they would not have been entitled to recover any losses at the time, Eismann said. "Under the circumstances of this case, the existence or effect of any alleged neg- ligence on the part of the City's Attorneys regarding their legal advice and strategy depended upon the outcome of the litigation against the City by Wausau and St. Clair," he said. � <N/,4, GleMw Still unknown is whether McLaughlin will allow the city to recover the $6.6 million difference between what was ultimately paid in the J -Ditch lawsuit and a $500,000 offer to settle that was rejected by the city's former attorneys, City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. The Supreme Court did af- firm the district court's statute of limitations denial of a city claim seeking liability for for- mer city engineer J -U -B. The city released the firm from liability in the J -Ditch case in 2002. The clock on the statute of limitations began at that point and the filing of the case in May 2006 was too late, the supreme court affirmed. 'The ruling also barred the city's claim for negligence due to the ,rejection of the settlement offer in September 2003. "That was the date on which the city would have suffered objectively ascertain- able damage from the alleged negligence of its attorneys in advising it to rejectthat offer," Eismann wrote. "Because the city did not file this action until May 3, 2006, this claim was barred by the two -year statute of limitations." A claim for unjust riches for the attorneys was also dismissed by the ruling that affirmed the district court in that instance. McCall settles lawsuit with former 1 -Ditch lawyers Amount of money paid to city to be kept secret BY MICHAEL WELLS The Star -News The City of McCall has settled a legal malpractice lawsuit it filed againstformer city attorneys who worked on the J -Ditch lawsuit. The amount of the settlement will not be revealed. In June 2006, the city filed a legal malpractice lawsuit against former city attorneys Susan Buxton, of Moore, Smith, Buxton andTurkeof Boise, and William McCurdy of Brassey, Wetherell, Crawford and Garrett of Boise. The city claimed Buxton and McCurdy gave the city bad legal advice during the lawsuit over the city's mismanagement of the J -Ditch winter storage pond construction. At the time of the suit, the city claimed all that was owed in the J -Ditch suit, which ended up being $7.1 million. That amount was paid in 2008 using bonds and a $9.50 per month charge was added to city sewer bills to pay off the bonds over 20 years. Before the law firms and the city entered into settle- ment negotiations, the court had whittled the amount the city could sue down to about $1.4 million. "All parties to the lawsuit brought by the City of Mc- Call against its prior attorneys are pleased to announce that the lawsuit has been re solved on terms satisfactory to all concerned," City Manager Lindley Kirkpatrick said. "No party has admitted liability, fault, malpractice, or wrongdoing," Kirkpatrick said. `All parties wish to put the lawsuit behind them and, to that end, have agreed that no further comment concerning the settlement or the lawsuit shall be made by any party to any person or entity." City officials would not comment how the settlement money would be spent. See LAWSUIT, Page 2 Lawsuit (Continued from Page 1) The city's suit claimed Buxton and McCurdy advised the city to turn down a 2003 settlement offer in the J -Ditch case for $500,000, which ended up being $6.6 million less than what the city's sewer custom- ers ended up paying. Council members at the time were advised to make a counter settlement offer in the J -Ditch case, but they rejected the idea. The city's suit claimed Buxton and McCurdy advised the city council to hire J -U -B Engineers, who designed the J -Ditch pond. That agreement freed J -U -B from any claims or lawsuits arising from the project. The release came afterEm- ployers Insurance of Wausau and St. Clair Contractors filed suit against the city in Decem- ber 2001 claiming the J -Ditch project was mismanaged. The city gave the release to avoid fighting both J -U -B and St. Clair /Wausau. Instead, J -U -B's expertise would be used to build the city's case in the trial, according to court documents. Jurors who heard the J- Ditch case in 2004 specifically pointed to J -U -B for shirking its responsibility for manag- ing the construction of the pond. The jurors also said J -U -B was not impartial while acting as a liaison between the city and St. Clair Contractors and provided unimpressive testi- mony during the trial. Buxton and McCurdy should have advised the council to consult with an s�,,44 independent attorney before signing the 2002 release with J -U -B, the city's lawsuit said. Withholding A Mistake The two firms also made a mistake when theyadvisedthe city to withhold about $900,000 in payments from St..Clair in 2000 when the companyfell be- hind in completing the pond. Jurors said the city should have stopped the work when it was clear St. Clair was having problems. Similar bad legal advice was claimed in the lawsuit for the way the city was advised tohandle Wausau, whichhired a second contractor, Inter - west Supply Inc. to complete the project. The attorneys also advised withholding of payments to Wausau when Interwest was not able to finish the job started by St. Clair. The rest of the city's claims were based on the mistaken assumption that any advice given by attorneys are a guarantee of success, accord- ing to a response to the city's suit filed by the two Boise law firms. This week's front page stories Page 1 of 1 P.1,C .,!I. diets wt ink deal to end legal confrontation "We were frustrated rather that heated " - Jerry Vevig BY K iNDFL MURRANT fm Th a Star-News A ter more than five years of litigation and another nearly two years of negotiation, the City of McCall and the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District have finally made their peace. TI nis month, the sewer district board voted unanimously to approve a plan to continue to use we: tewater from the city's treatment plant for irrigation. The McCall City Council approved the plan last moi nth. Tl ie approval of the plan is part of a settlement agreement signed by both parties in October 2010 to end a 5- year-long feud over ownership and usage of the wastewater treatment plant TI ie plan recommends that the current plant and storage pond continue operations as they are, and that the wastewater be distributed to area landowners for irrigation water. D wing the period of rapid growth it the last decade, the city had studied replacing the irrigation met hod with expanding the current treatment plant at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. TI ie city was looking at either discharging treated wastewater into the North Fork of the Payette River or k 4fing the water seep into the ground in basins. F K its part, the sewer district purchased 120 acres of tend south of McCall for $1.8 million thinking it mig it break away from the city system and build its own treatment facility. That land is now being used for hazing. TI ie new plan that has been approved was written by a three - member special committee created by the murt settlement to hash out the details of the agreement. M ambers are Gary Young, a retired city engineer from Twin Fags. Dale Caza, operations manager at the sewer district; and Peter Bomer, public works director for the city. Time to Move On Spokespersons for both sides say it is time to move forward and let go of a rocky past between the two entities. 'V /e were frustrated rather than heated," Jerry Vevig, chairman of the sewer district board, sad. `I'm sun, both sides felt their temperatures rise at tines, but it was frustration more than anger.' '1 he process which led to the settlement agreement is what ended the'bad bbod' between the two pubic entities,' McCall Mayor Dot Bailey said. H, wing a finalized plan for both parties to work with is also a good thing for taxpayers, Vevig said 'I1 s definitely a positive thing at this point,' he said. 'It will be the least expensive route of treatment of sem age for the city and the district, and that's what we've been striving for for seven years' h4://www.mccallstunews.com/pages/fp_stories_page-php 6/28/2012 The Star News Groups Page rr,.o. armsr.wwbcsw rv..m SWATM41- Ma limner, of McCall, swings a punt- ladenfh'sw mrat the mdeofthebfcCall Public UbratylastThuaday. Theliluan, wddwt will recare a new coat of exterior pmt m a few week, hosted dye punting party m the sprit of f® aM pybbe artdmvg the weekly paewhod reading gaup_ Page 1 of 1 http : / /www.mccallstamews.com/pages /groups _page.php 7/26/2012 This week's front page stories Page 1 of 1 The :;tart of the Beginning McCall council, sewer board agree to study cooperation BY TOM GROTE The Star.News Th a first steps toward what could lead to joint oversight of the sewer system in and around McCall wer( taken on Friday by the McCall City Council and the board of the Payette Lakes Recreational Water and Sewer District. DL ring a joint meeting of the two boards, a consensus was reached to form a study committee to expl )re options for increased cooperation between the two governments. Th a study committee will include council member Nic Swanson, sewer board member Rick Scully, sew4 �r district Operations Manager Dale Caza, city Public Works Director Peter Bomer and McCall City Man ager Gene Drabinski. Or ibinski sees the task of the board as developing a plan where the two agencies would have joint pow .-rs over the sewer system. Mc Call Mayor Don Bailey was more reserved on the possible outcome. "Tire working group is to meet and make a plan on how, or if, a joint powers agreement can be dev(loped," Bailey said. "Neither the council nor the board has voted on anything as yet." Se wer board chair Jerry Vevig did not respond to a request for a comment on the panel's work. Th a committee was named following the joint meeting on Friday arranged by Drabinski. A presentation was made by Jim McNall, a risk management specialist with the Idaho Counties Risk Management Proc ram, on various ways the sewer system could be operated. Th Dse options ranged from joint operation to one or the other agency giving up control of their part of the : ystem, McNail said. Th a panel is the latest chapter in a decades -long feud between the city and sewer district over control of th a area's sewage service, which is a key factor to controlling growth. 2012 kgreement In June 2012, the two sides signed an agreement ending more than five years of litigation and another nearly two years of negotiation. The agreement recommends that the current treatment plant and effluent storage pond continue opei ations unchanged, and that the treated wastewater continue to be distributed to area landowners for irrigi ition water. DL ring the period of rapid growth in the last decade, the city had studied replacing the irrigation metl iod with expanding the current treatment plant at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. Th a city was looking at either discharging treated wastewater into the North Fork of the Payette River or le tting the water seep into the ground in basins. Fc r its part, the sewer district purchased 120 acres of land south of McCall for $1.8 million thinking it might break away from the city system and build its own treatment facility. That land is now being used for S razing. La st October, Drabinski tested the idea of a joint operating panel with the council and the sewer board, but i eceived mixed reviews. In 1984, a joint powers board with city and sewer district representation was established. The board diss )Ived around the time the city filed the lawsuit against the district in 2005. Th a sewer district also maintained the city's sewer system under contract between 1996 and 1998. Th a city serves customers mostly located within the city limits, while the sewer district serves cuss mers generally living around Payette Lake. http:// www. mccallstirnews .com/pages /fp_stories page.php 8/1/2013 This week's front page stories Page 1 of 1 Rain leaks dump 60,000 gallons of sewage at McCall plant BY TC,ht GROTF The Star-Netts Atout 60,000 gallons of sewage spilled onto the ground early Monday at the city of McCall's treatment pier on West Deinhard Lane, McCall Public Works Director Peter Bomer said. Most of the spill was contained on city property with cleanup expected by the end of the week, Bomer said. T1 Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were notified and sent employees to view the spill, Bomer said. Tt e overflow happened where sewage collected from around the city enters the treatment plant. The spill was due to a large amount of rain and mailing snow that leaked into the city's sewer lines, Bomar said At out three million gallons of rainwater has been leaking into sewer system due to recent heavy storms, he said. That compares to normal flows of about 700,000 gallons per day Nc long -term effects are expected from the overflow, Sorrier said. Tt a leaking water can enter through a variety of places, including pipe joints and connections, broken or a acked sewer pipes and leaky manhole walls, Borner said. Sc me of the water also comes from illegal drains from foundations and roofs, he said. http://« ,-�ivw. mccallstarnews .com/pages /fp_stories�age.php 3/13/2014 This week's front pale stories Repa it of leaks that caused sewer spill will take years lfeCc 11 has 250 manholes that creed repair BY I U M GRUTE The Ste r -News It will be at least three more years before the city of McCall can show real progress in stopping the leak t into its sewer system that caused a Bo,000 -gallon spill last week, McCall Public Works director Peter Bomar said. Heavy rainfall measuring 2.3 inches in 24 hours led to swamping of sewer lines that feed into the sewage treatment plan on Deinhard Lane in the early morning hours of March 10. Th a sewage hit a bottleneck at the point where the entire contents of the city's sewer system enters the I slant. On the night of March 10, Flows were estimated as high as 3,000 gallons per minute, or twice the rapacity the entry point could handle, Bonner said. The raw sewage mixed with rainwater flowed off the city's property and ran southwest, crossing Industrial Drive before being caught in a basin near Deinhard Lane, Somer said. There was no standing sewage and no health Uueat due to the spit, he said. Lune will be put on ttte contaminated soil after the spring thaw. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were notif ed of the spill. Th a EPA was gathering information on the spill this week to help the agency decide if any penalties are varrented, said Maria Lopez, environmental scientist in the EPA's Idaho Operations Office in Boise. TI- e state will take no action because the spitted sewage did not enter a stream or lake, said Jack Gan:z, technical engineer for the DEQ's regional office in Boise. Ti- a last sewer spill from the McCall system happened at a pumping station in 2011 and was $mail, Born er said Largr st Source Le eking manholes are the largest source of rainwater and snowmet that gushes into the city's sewer system each spring. Br,mer estimates 250 of the city's 600 manholes need repair and contribute half of the leakage.. The one i that leak the most are located in ditches along the sides of streets. Ci.y crews hope to be able to repair about 50 manholes this year. Last year, 87 manholes were reps fired at a cost of $17,000, he said. Even at that rate, the city may still not catch up soon, Bomar said. "hanholes need to be inspected each year and some manholes repaired previously may need add tional repair," he said. "it is an ongoing maintenance issue" Tt a leakage this spring would have been even worse K the city had not spent $133,000 last year to rep] ace the main sewer line along Park Street between First and Mission streets, Borner said. Ti.e city is on the lookout for other contributors, 'including illegal sump pumps in basements and crawl spares that put groundwater directly into the sewers, he said. http://N"N,%N,.mccallsiarneNvs.com/pages/fp—stories_page-php Page I of I 3/20/2014