05-11-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, April 27, 2020 6:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 5 of 16 roughly $250,000 yearly trying to rehabilitate the system. Studies indicate as much as 80% of the I/I comes in via the private part of the system, which is predominantly private sewer service lines. The draft ordinance includes edits to existing City Code which allow for a program of inspections primarily aimed at looking for cross-connections such as sump pumps that are plugged into the sanitary sewer system, etc. The edits are primarily regarding timelines and also to make sure the new and existing pieces of code work together. Also, Code 14-190 has been added, which aims to establish a point-of-sale inspection program. The program will have 2 components: an inspection requirement so that anytime a property is sold that is connected to a sanitary sewer system, it would need to be inspected; also, a compliance requirement that, if not compliant, repairs would need to be made. Meanwhile, for properties that are compliant, a 10-year certificate provided which indicates the property will not need further inspections for 10 years. The cost to implement the program will be just under $20,000 per year in labor and equipment costs, which would be offset by the permit or inspection fee that would be imposed, or each of those. The primary piece of equipment would be a push camera at a cost of approximately $8,000, which is already listed in the Capital Improvement Plan in conjunction with other camera equipment for sewer system work. He will accept comments and bring the document back to the Council on May 20 for final approval. After that he will spend time finalizing things so the program could start August 24. Walsh said he deals with this issue in a lot of cities. He was hopeful that Edwards connected with Marvel Sewer about what they see in some cities and what they are doing wrong and right so it does not become a fiasco. Marvel has said the majority of the I/I is coming from private connections, so even if the City does their job and lines all of their pipes, etc., it can still have tons of water coming in. If Orono wants to keep water rates as reasonable as possible, the inflow needs to be managed as well. He said that in the other cities he deals with, they have to get it done when listing their house for sale. You don’t want to wait until it is sold, because then the closer is wondering where their certificate is and you can’t close without the certificate. He said word would have to get out to the residents so they know the requirement is out there. Johnson said he is a little concerned about the City’s capacity to communicate the information. The draft ordinance includes language that says someone cannot advertise a property for sale without the point-of- sale certificate of I/I compliance. He said the right time to do this would be before someone puts a house on the market so it is not something they are dealing with too quickly. He does not like the point-of-sale for a variety of reasons. Johnson asked how many Orono residents were on city sewer. Crosby stated between 40-50%. Edwards said 60% of the City’s housing stock is on city sewer. He asked the Hennepin County Assessing Staff how many transactions there are in the City, which is about 195 sales, so 60% of 195 sales would be sewer properties. Olson said, ballparking it, about 2,250 have sewer connections. Johnson asked whether the formula is based on 130 inspections, which is 5% of the total homes with sewer connections. Edwards said he used the number 195, multiplied by 60%, and then added in a number for residential demolitions, thinking the City would also do the inspection for new-home builds, particularly new-home