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MINUTES OF THE <br />ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING <br />Monday, June 22, 2020 <br />6:00 o’clock p.m. <br />_____________________________________________________________________________________ <br />Page 10 of 13 <br />good for ten years, but if there is a dip in it, the City will not say there is a correction there. The City is <br />only looking for the intrusion of water. For other cities, it is kind of a sewer inspection, too. On the <br />consumer/realtor side it will be confusing, because most of it identifies any issues. <br />Seals asked if Johnson was hinting that the City should have it identify any issues. <br />Johnson indicated he was not hinting that, because then the City is also saying there is no problem, and if <br />the new buyer has a problem the next year, could they come back and say the City said there were no <br />problems, and so who is at fault. He is saying it is a communication component that Rief and his team <br />will be responsible for. <br />Walsh noted he does not think there is any silver bullet. He said every city is different, as he was at one of <br />his buildings for six hours in Golden Valley, and he knows their drill. <br />Johnson stated on the commercial side it is atypical and that it may be the City’s opportunity to squeeze it <br />to a commercial business when they are changing hands. <br />Walsh said he had four in the same building, they have to do all of them, and it takes time. <br />Johnson stated he also talked to Edwards about thinking of a way for the City to have an incentive-based <br />program for people to do this proactively. He noted Edwards is uncomfortable with the idea that the <br />government says, “We’re coming into your house because we need to fix this problem.” <br />Rief commented that he is also uncomfortable with the idea. <br />Johnson suggested there may be an incentive-based program that gets people to want to do the inspection <br />so they know they are good for the next ten years. <br />Walsh noted however it is rolled out, there will be tweaks along the way to constantly better the City’s <br />ordinances. <br />Johnson said he is very suspicious of what the City has budgeted for the actual expense and the number <br />given is a best-case scenario. Edwards does not know how this is going to go, but he has been doing these <br />in different cities for residential real estate transactions, and the inspection will uncover a lot of problems. <br />He commented that as long as things go down, no one thinks about sewer lines and assumes there aren’t <br />any problems. If there are tree roots going through the pipes or there are buckles, it’s very expensive. It <br />can also be weather-dependent at times. There will be an enormous amount of hiccups, it gets <br />complicated, and he would like to see more of a proactive approach holistically. For instance, a map could <br />be created saying, “This is the biggest problem area in the City” which would come from Met Council <br />data. <br />Rief stated he and Edwards have discussed the issue thoroughly and have looked at it lift station by lift <br />station. There is a flat rate of $276 a quarter; now it has changed to monthly. You look at your sewer <br />charge, but there could be a lift station section and those people will be given an incentive by the City <br />saying, “We know this problem is coming from your neighborhood. Do this inspection so we know it’s <br />not you, or you are going to get a charge of X amount because you are in the area.” He asked Johnson if <br />that is what he was thinking.