Astronomical Price Tag Looms for Grant City Wastewater

An astronomical price tag looms over Grant City's wastewater treatment as DNR is leaning on cities to upgrade their wastewater systems. The Clean Water Act requires state DNR's to have standards at least as stringent as EPA, or the EPA will take over management of the state system. They have done so for four states, which they deem to have not met Clean Water standards. EPA is seeking to avoid runoff from going into rivers and downstream into the Gulf of Mexico, where there is a massive dead zone in addition to the BP Oil Disaster as well as other such spills.

The city learned at their regular meeting Wednesday that an estimated price tag for Albany would be $5-6 million and $5 million for Stanberry; these are two cities which are slightly larger than Grant City. Even if Grant City's price tag comes out to $4 million and USDA grants and loans cover half of that, that is still a steep price tag for Grant City to come up with. Mayor Debbie Roach said that there were efforts to set up a regional treatment facility and pipe Grant City's wastewater and other communities there. One possible location was Darlington.

Rolling Hills of Albany offered to partner with Grant City on recycling. It would cost each resident $2/month, and it would go on their utility bill each month. Pickup would be every other Thursday, and they could start as soon as the middle of July. They take all recyclables except for glass, and nothing has to be sorted except for cardboard and paper. They provide bags, or people could use their own, preferably grocery bags that are not plastic. Pickup time would be around 9 am. The city tabled the proposal until next month's meeting.

Water Superintendent Caleb Moyer reported that he had gotten the pool fixed for summer and had patched some cracks.

Public Works Director Carl Staton reported that the city had cleaned out streets and potholes. The city put up the old Dodge pickup for sale. The city paid off the rest of the pool loan. The city ordered a new volleyball net, as the old one had worn out. Staton said that the city was not responsible for ruts that were created if it mowed along the city right of way, which is 33 feet from the center of city streets. Property owners are responsible for mowing along the city right of way; however, if the grass gets high enough, the city reserves the right to mow.

The city said that there was a problem with junk cars at a house across the street from Hy-Vee.

The city said that permits are required to have a semi-truck bed on one's property in town.

The city received compliments for its work on the road running by Jerry Drake's.

City cleanup day was set for June 4th. The city rescheduled its regular council meeting to June 22nd.