St. Michael Looks At Amending Improvements On The Wastewater Treatment Plant | Press And News

St. Michael approved a contract amendment for the wastewater treatment plant facility improvements project to update improvements to look towards the long term at its June 28 meeting.

Jan. 25 the council approved the improvement project, including recommendations to pursue regulatory certainty, enhance the biological nutrient removal process by converting the existing sequencing batch reactors to membrane bio-reactors, biosolid aerobic digestion and dewatering improvements. Staff now recommends additions to the updates for the facility to have more longevity.

“Originally we were looking at bare bones what it would take to address our existing issues with the plant being 20 years old,” City Administrator Steve Bot said. “We realized through that process that we probably need to be looking at a little bit more long-term, big picture.”

The updates will add covered sludge storage, better screening, liquids treatment and additional storage for the Vactor truck and other emergency equipment. It will also allow the plant to keep up with changing regulations from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and allow the city to qualify for grants and have at least 20 years of established standards with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

With the change in contract and additional design fees related to the changes, the total contract with Sambatek for engineering and planning the improvement project is estimated to cost around $2.3 million, which is up from $1.4 million, adding around $895,920. The total construction cost of the project is now estimated at $34 million, up from $22.4 million. Approximately half of the cost of the project is hoped to be covered by the state and federal grants the city staff is pursuing, and then city funding.

Bot said that the city would still like to do the improvement project all at once, instead of splitting it up into phases to correlate with grant funding.

There are multiple grant options for project funding, including a $7 million Point Source Implementation grant, $5 million for a State Bond grant, $1 million Minnesota Pollution Control Agency environmental grant, $2 million American Rescue Plan Act grant and around $10 million in sewer fund cash and borrow or bonding for the rest through a low-interest loan program.

“Funding is the key,” Sirish Samba from Sambatek said to the council. “It’s important for us to make sure we have the funding and the set dates.”

Construction is estimated to start in 2024 after all grant funding is submitted and processed.

The city council also approved having a social hour Aug. 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Daze and Knights event.

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