09-24-1984 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE REGULAR ORONO COUNCIL MEETING HFLD SEP'TE:MBE':R 24, 1984 PAGE 0 George F. Rovegno, Jr. 2010 Shoreline Drive Wayzata, Minnesota 55391 U S A. Sep'embe r 16,1984 Orono, City Council. Crystal Bay, Minnesota In the matter of the Public. Hearing on Sanitary Sewer in the Crystal 3ay area: I rfgr-,,t t' it I am personall unable to attend the September 24, 1984 Pu'.,lic Heer:ng on the above ..later. However, I could like to make a i ew crrrNrlents and suggestions. The Pub'ir Hearing Notice, as published and as mailed, appears to Le defective. It doesnot describe the same area as is reported upon i.. the feasibility report. As a result I suspect that action canr,t be taken without re -publication and notice and a new hearing held. As you know we have occasionaliy had to do this for Planning ,o-nission public hearings. Two alternatives to the problems in the Crystal Bay area are apparent: can�truct sanitary sewer or mak- private systems work properly. 'hose with functional septic systems might prefer the latter, while those with failins systems no doubt would prefer the former to the alterna- tive of a holding tank system. As more systems fail more pressure will be brought to install public sewers. Sooner or later this Brea will be sewered. In fact, since costs would have been much less and the City certainly knew of the problems, this area should have been sewered years ago. For this reason I will assume that in my absence you will take action to cause the construction of sanitary sewer in this area. The passions that surround this issue arise largely from the cost of the project. Having read the minutes of your August meeting on this subject and the feasibility report, as well as having spoken with Mike Gaffron, it would seem that the big problem is the i12,230 cost per unit. I have a few suggestions. First the Council should carefully examine the costs estimated in the feasibility report. 7o my mind,for /1,'7_T5✓ feet of sewer pipe, i.e.fYG 37 per foo�, is exorbitant. Perhaps a lift station must cost $35,000, but $4,500 of annual maintenance or. .op cf the capital expense seems unreasonable. The Council must exercise i_s management function. We should find out why parts of this system will be 21 feet under grade. We should ask these questions and many more before we spend a million dollars, a sum equal to the annual total City operating budget. If any of us was faced with this kind of expense at home or at work in the private sector, we would not accept this type of cost/benefit relationship.