Local homebuilder Anton Moody said he was surprised by his bill to connect electricity to a spec house he is building in Creechville.
Moody said he was aware of the city’s fees to connect to municipal water, sewer and electricity to the home he is building to sell, but he questioned how the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission (PUC) decided to use his project in Creechville to initiate a 3-phase 2000 foot underground electrical service to the house when the property was only 150 feet away from the nearest electrical pole.
“I was hit with a third of the bill, $4,600,” Moody said, adding he had made numerous inquiries during the process, “I’m happy with how everything turned out, but it would have been nice to have been in the loop.”
Neither Electrical Superintendent Mike Taylor nor City Administrator Mike Roth were at the December 16 PUC meeting to answer Moody’s questions.
“This isn’t the first time I have heard of this happening,” said PUC Board Member Tim Kennedy. “We need to be clear and spell out what the sewer, water and electrical hook-up costs will be to people who are building in town.”
“This seems like an administration issue,” said George Wilkes. “But without either of the Mikes being here, we can’t do much for you today.”
“I know nothing is just black or white,” said Moody, “but there needs to be a lot less grey.”
Wilkes asked Moody to return to the board’s January 6 meeting when Taylor and Roth could be there to answer his questions. Meanwhile Kennedy said future discussions needed to be held so that the city’s fees are better spelled out to potential builders.
Sewer assistance fund suggested
The board discussed a letter from Carol Backlund, who wrote, “Since purchasing my home in 2013 I have discovered significant problems with the sewer plugging up. After doing some research I discovered this has been an ongoing problem with previous owners. Every two years the sewer line plugs up and has to be cleaned out. I did not know this at the time I purchased the house but when water backed up into the basement I realized I had a problem.”
Backlund hired several contractors to diagnose and fix the problem, replacing old cast iron pipes with PVC, however she said they discovered that where her sewer line connects to the pipe under the street it was not draining properly because the line under the street is not angled enough to adequately drain downward to the main.
“I have already spent a significant amount of money with just finding and replacing the lines on the property,” wrote Backlund, expressing concern about the additional cost of digging up the road and putting in a new line further down from where it connects to the main so that it can drain efficiently.
Backlund asked if the PUC could help with patching up the road after the work is done.
She also asked the PUC to “give some serious thought to setting up a budget for homeowners to help with the cost when you have to dig up the street.”
She said a monthly fee could be charged and set aside just for situations like this. “I know that people complain when rates go up but if they were informed that this is a fund set aside to help customers with costly expenses it could be a good thing.
“I would appreciate any help you could give me,” said Backlund.
Board Chair Karl Hansen asked Water/Sewer Superintendent Tom Nelson if he had discussed Backlund’s proposal to set up a fund with Administrator Roth. Nelson said the PUC is not currently able to collect and bank money and loan it back. “The PUC has never acted like a financial institution. Yes, I talked this over with Mike [Roth] and he agreed it’s not something we probably want to get into.”
Nelson said the dilemma for homeowners is that under the city’s policy, they are responsible for the sewer line to the main. If the main is across the street, they are responsible for digging up and resurfacing the street. They have to pay for the road work.
“Obviously this is a situation that needs to be remedied,” said Kennedy. “We want people to be able to live in their houses. If they have a hardship and can’t pay upfront, there must be a way we can help them.”
“What qualifies as a hardship?” Hansen asked. “We could run into issues trying to set up qualifications.”
“But if there is a hardship is there anything that we could do?” Kennedy asked.
The board discussed potential remedies including attaching and spreading out repair fees to a client’s PUC bill or adding the cost to property tax assessments. The board tabled the matter until the January 6 meeting when it will be taken up again.
Solar power
Wilkes asked the board permission to go to Moorhead, Minnesota to check out the city’s community solar project.
“They are the only municipality to have a solar project,” Wilkes said. Originally the venture was going to be a 22 k solar array but it grew to a 44 k solar array with 144 solar panels said Wilkes, because the interest was so great. “It sold out in two weeks,” he said.
The board gave Wilkes permission to make the trip in January, and he will report back with his findings on the potential for Grand Marais to have a similar project.
East Bay leak bigger than thought
At the previous PUC meeting, on December 2, Water/Wastewater Superintendent Nelson said the water main break near the East Bay Suites that was repaired this fall “dramatically reduced the water leak loss” his department experiences every month.
“After it was fixed we pumped half of what we pumped the month before. I haven’t seen it [water loss from leaks] this low in at least the last six years.”
Nelson said before that repair he was worried the city would take more than 110 million gallons from the lake. The city is only allowed that amount, he said, and if they pump more, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency takes notice.
“Now I think we will only hit 100 million gallons for the year. And maybe next year only 80 million gallons unless we get another big leak like this.”
Nelson also said he recently attended a conference where the speaker told the audience that out of all of the water pumped from Lake Superior by all of the cities and towns in Canada and the United States for the year, that in one day more water evaporates from the lake than all of those gallons combined.
“Then he explained to us why it mattered so much for us to be careful about the amount of water we took from the lake.”
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