Council notes wastewater woes

HUMBOLDT — Humboldt council members were given a preliminary report Monday night on improvements needed to bring the city’s wastewater treatment plant up to snuff.
B&G Consultants, Emporia, sent a representative to outline shortcomings of inflow, including infiltration that occurs during heavy rainfall, and inefficiencies with electrical systems and lift stations, which nudge along sewage when gravity isn’t capable of doing the job.
Specific recommendations will come later. What will be proposed is expected to exceed the $100,000 Humboldt has budgeted for 2013.
That prompted Councilman Dan Julich to note the council can’t push upgrades into the future, as has been done at times in the past, and should set aside money for such projects. The 2013 budget includes $100,000 for work at the plant.
“We need to keep money budgeted (in succeeding years) to keep things up,” Julich said.
B&G Consultants will continue its survey of the plant and its collection system, with a detailed proposal to come later for council action.
Darrin Petrowsky, Kansas Department of Transportation engineer, reviewed highway improvements planned for the Humboldt area in 2013.
He said concrete patches would be made and joints sealed on U.S. 169, from the Allen-Neosho counties line to just south of U.S. 54 at the east edge of Iola. K-224, which carries traffic from U.S. 169 to the north edge of Humboldt, will be milled and overlaid to bring it back to grade from the city limit to U.S. 169. The city limit starts at the east edge of the old Santa Fe Railroad right of way.
Bids for those projects will be let later this month.
Petrowsky said an upgrade to U.S. 54, from Iola to the east edge of Moran, was planned for next year with bids to be let in March.
In answer to a question from Larry Tucker, Humboldt administrator, he said KDOT no longer designated business routes, rather “we’re in the process of eliminating lane miles” for which the state has some responsibility. Tucker had wondered about making K-224 and old U.S. 169 through Humboldt a business route.
Tucker also asked about billboards, to alert motorists of what Humboldt had to offer.
Restrictions are in place for signs along U.S. 169, considered an expressway, Petrowsky said, but elsewhere “that’s up to local entities.” Signs may be placed along a national highway, such as 169, he added, but they generally are generic, are limited in size and scope and may be placed at intersections of city access roads.

PASTOR JERRY Neeley, First Baptist Church, asked if the city would forego a 5 percent late fee on utility payments for those made by the ministerial association. He said local churches helped needy folks with utility bills and the late fee, invoked on the 10th of the month, added to the burden.
Julich said he preferred for those who received assistance to have some accountability and at least pay the 5 percent themselves. And, he said, “if we were to take it off, we should do it for everyone.”
That approach wouldn’t trouble the ministerial group, said the Rev. David Meier, of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, which prompted council members to leave the late fee untouched.
Meier and Neely said the churches had helped 14 families this year to the tune of $3,402.

IN OTHER action, council members;
— Approved a job description for a utility/court clerk, who will fill two part-time positions.
Tucker said combining the two jobs would improve efficiencies in the clerk and Municipal Court departments and reduce training required when part-time employees were replaced. Also, he said the employee could fill in when others were ill, on vacation or away on city business. He expects the job to be filled in the fall with a starting pay of about $14 an hour.
— Removed $1 a month fee from utility bills that had been in place since 2008. Proceeds had been used for drainage work about town, but had fallen short of what was needed. The fee removal was facilitated by council members including $20,000 in tax-generated funding in the 2013 general fund budget for such work.
— Approved an annual resolution making Humboldt an “official entrant in the PRIDE Program” for 2013.
— Approved closing city offices Dec. 24 and 25 for Christmas and Jan. 1.