Small Town News

Local government agencies meet to discuss cooperation

---

Winneshiek County and city of Decorah officials and representatives of the villages of Frankville and Freeport gathered last week to discuss opportunities to work together to obtain funding for planned projects.

Upper Explorerland Executive Director Wendy Mihm Herold facilitated the discussion. Representatives of the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development program also attended the meeting.

"The purpose is to bring the group together to see what we could do for planning," she said. "If it makes sense to work together ... projects could be tied together to leverage funding and resources."

Pending projects for the various entities include Decorah extending water and sewer service to the Decorah Business Park, Frankville developing a community water system and Freeport upgrading its sewer system.

City Administrator Jerry Freund said construction of a water storage tank at the Business Park is "well under way" and the city is in the process of negotiating for easements with property owners for the water main and sewer trunk that will connect the Park with city services.

"The goal since annexing the Business Park and airport area was to make water and sewer available and work with Scenic View Estates folks and Steve Downing's development to provide water and sewer and have as much annexed as we can," Freund said.

City Engineer Lindsay Erdman said the design aspect of the project is 90 percent complete.

Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors Chairman Dean Darling asked whether any difficulty in obtaining easements was anticipated and Erdman said the project itself has not been resisted, that it's only a matter of working out the details for each individual.

Erdman said he'd like to see the infrastructure in place in 12 to 18 months.

Frankville update

Meanwhile, Tekippe Engineering of West Union is in the process of updating a water study for unincorporated Frankville.

One option is connecting to the city of Decorah's water system, which becomes more feasible with Decorah extending water to the Business Park.

Engineer George Tekippe said if a connection with Decorah is made, it would be beneficial to hook up those residences "along the line." The engineer said if Frankville is connected to Decorah's water system, the water line would be placed in the road right of way, or private property along the right of way, as opposed to going "cross country."

Erdman said once the elevated water storage tank is in operation at the Business Park, additional customers would be desirable to allow the city to sell the water and keep it fresh.

'Shovel ready'

Mihm Herold said I-JOBS funding is available for shovel-ready projects connected to job growth.

"Taking water to the Business Park is a good thing for the application," she said. "It would be better yet if there was a business there ready to break ground."

The deadline for the next round of I-JOBS grants is March of 2010 and Nov. 17 for community development block grants (CDBGs), which the projects also may be eligible for.

Mihm Herold suggested another meeting be scheduled after Tekip-pe's water study is updated by the end of the month to consider submitting a CDBG application by the Nov. 17 deadline.

"It (the CDBG deadline) will be here before we knpw it. We need to be continuously talking and get consensus early on," she said.

Freeport

During the discussion, it was concluded the Freeport sewer project could not be easily tied to Decorah's and Frankville's projects.

Bruce Frieden, chair of the Free-port Water and Sanitary Sewer District Board, explained large amounts of groundwater and/or river water are seeping into sewer lines.

Freeport pays Decorah to process its sewer water based on gallons processed. In the past year, the amount paid annually has increased from about $50,000 to $95,000.

"It's considerably higher than what we should be paying due to clear water running into our lines," Frieden said.

The Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors Monday approved a "request for engineering qualifications" for a firm to study how to repair Freeport's sewer lines.

The firm is to prepare preliminary and final plans and specifications and construction inspection for a sewer infiltration system project for the Freeport Water/Sewer District.

The project will consist of using a camera to scope the sewer lines, view documents and make a summarization of the condition of existing sewer lines and necessary means of repair.

The supervisors are considering applying for CDBG funding for the Freeport sewer project, and the information provided by the engineer would be required to be eligible for grant funds.

The deadline to receive the qualifications is Sept. 18.



Copyright 2009 The Decorah Journal, Decorah, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 The Decorah Journal Decorah, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

More from The Decorah Journal