Colfax hires CBS Squared as wastewater engineers
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has approved hiring the engineering firm of CBS Squared as the village’s wastewater engineer.
The village had previously contracted with the engineering firm of Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. (SEH) for those services.
Jeremiah Wendt served as the village’s wastewater engineer with SEH for a number of years until he took a job as the city engineer for New Richmond, said Rand Bates, director of public works, at the Colfax Village Board’s September 12 meeting.
After Wendt left SEH, another engineer was assigned to Colfax, but while Bates said he had frequent contact with Wendt, he rarely heard anything from the second engineer.
When another engineering firm came to Colfax looking for business, Bates found out that the engineer with SEH had retired.
Neither SEH nor the engineer had informed the village that he was planning to retire, Bates said.
Phosphorus
Signing on with a new wastewater engineer is important because of the phosphorus issue for the Colfax wastewater treatment facility, Bates said.
Colfax is in the midst of a phosphorus reduction pilot program mandated by the state Department of Natural Resources.
The village has been treating the wastewater with alum, which binds with the phosphorus and causes it to settle out to the bottom of the lagoons.
Colfax initially was discharging around 8 or 10 milligrams of phosphorus per liter.
Two years ago, the DNR set the phosphorus discharge limit at 4 milligrams/liter; last year and this year, the limit was set at 3 mg/L.
In January, the DNR will set a final phosphorus limit for the wastewater Colfax discharges to the Red Cedar River.
The new phosphorus limits are part of the Total Daily Maximum Load (TMDL) implementation plan for the 1,900 square-mile Red Cedar River Watershed.
Phosphorus is one of the nutrients implicated in the toxic algae blooms that turn Tainter Lake and Lake Menomin green during the summer.
Without the engineer from SEH, “it’s been me up until now. And now I need help,” Bates said.
After SEH left Colfax high and dry, Bates said he did not feel comfortable with continuing to use SEH.
CBS Squared helped with the Tower Park drainage project, and Bates said he did feel comfortable working with Bob Sworski and Sheryl Claflin of CBS Squared.
Sheryl Claflin attended the Colfax Village Board’s September 12 meeting to talk more about the services offered by CBS Squared.
The village has three options for the phosphorus: continue using alum; install an irrigation system to use the wastewater on farm fields; or engage in pollutant trading with farmers upstream, Claflin said.
CBS Squared will determine the costs for each option and formulate preliminary plans, and then the village board can make a decision on how best to deal with the phosphorus issue, she said.
Scott Gunnufson, village president, wondered what CBS Squared charges for quotes on any given project.
CBS Squared has never charged a fee for providing a quote for services, Claflin said.
Contract
The contract Claflin provided for the village board’s approval was for $4,400.
Keith Burcham, village trustee, asked what the $4,400 would buy for the village.
The contract in question will result in a plan for what Colfax must do to meet the phosphorus limit set by the DNR, Claflin said.
A variety of costs will be associated with each option. If the village continues to use alum, Colfax will need to construct a building at the lagoon site for chemical storage and also will need a shower, a well and a containment system, noted Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer.
CBS Squared will be able to provide information on the cost for 20 years of treating with alum as well as a cost for installing a system to use the wastewater for irrigation, she said.
“When we know the cost of both options, we can make a plan,” Niggemann said.
Burcham wondered if a plan had been formulated by the village’s previous engineering company.
Determining a plan of action was not possible before this, Bates said.
“Colfax is a guinea pig with the DNR. We do not know what the limit will be in January,” he said.
The DNR has operated on the principle that Colfax should try the alum and see how much the phosphorus discharge can be reduced, and then the DNR will set the limit after that, Bates said.
Grant
The DNR has an October 31 deadline for indicating an intent to apply for a grant, Claflin said.
Grant writing also is one of the services supplied by CBS Squared.
If Colfax can get on the DNR’s list and be ranked now, then it would be another year before the money is available, she said.
If the village does not move forward now on a grant, it would be two years before the money is available, Claflin said.
If the village files the paperwork and then the board decides not to take the money, there is no harm done, and at least the paperwork has been submitted, she said.
Gunnufson wondered if, since it is already the middle of September, submitting the paperwork to the DNR by October 31 is feasible.
“Yes,” Claflin said.
Mark Halpin, village trustee, wondered if Claflin, who is one of the owners of CBS Squared, had worked with other municipalities similar to Colfax.
“They are all different with different circumstances. They are not cookie cutter,” Claflin said, noting that she has done work for many similarly sized municipalities, including Cumberland, Barron, Chetek, Turtle Lake and Elk Mound.
“They are all different. They have different industries,” she said.
The DNR’s representative for each municipality also is different, which means the negotiations with the DNR will be different for each municipality, Claflin said.
No rules exist for phosphorus limits, Bates pointed out.
“It is hard for engineers to come up with a solution when there is no rule,” Claflin said.
CBS Squared will propose and recommend the best solutions for Colfax, she said.
Pollutant trading
The DNR wants to see what Colfax can get down to for phosphorus discharge, but the more the phosphorus amount is reduced, the more the chemical cost “will skyrocket,” Bates said.
Bates said he was “fine” with a limit that he could work toward but did not appreciate an open-ended approach of “let’s see what you can get down to.”
Bates also said he objected to pollutant trading.
Under a pollutant trading agreement, Colfax would pay farmers upstream to reduce the amount of phosphorus going into the Red Cedar by an amount that is the difference between the amount Colfax is discharging and the limit set by the DNR.
“Who monitors that?” Bates asked.
In the past, the village has written out a check for $15,000 for pollutant trading, but no one ever monitored the situation, so the village board did not know what the money had purchased, he said.
The DNR is trying to figure out a way to monitor pollutant trading, but the DNR also is short on staff, Claflin said.
Essentially, for pollutant trading, the village is writing out a check for a farmer not to plant corn within a certain number of feet from the river bank, Bates said.
“Who checks on that?” he asked.
The DNR has had quite a turnover in personnel in recent years, and DNR personnel who used to work with groundwater are now working with wastewater, Bates noted.
Claflin said that she and John Strand, who has been a wastewater engineer for 28 years, would be working with Colfax.
CBS Squared currently has 34 employees covering a diverse range of services, she noted.
Using an irrigation system would be a pro-active approach, Gunnufson said.
“I’d like to get away from the river if we could,” Bates said.
Claflin said she would have enough information about costs for the various options to submit paperwork to the DNR for grant funding by October 31.
“Working with CBS Squared has been good. This is a necessary step to get a cost,” Niggemann said.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved entering into a service agreement with CBS Squared at a cost not to exceed $4,400.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Village Board:
• Approved a training request from Niggemann for a workshop sponsored by the Spectrum Insurance Group in Eau Claire September 27 regarding changes to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and fair labor standards act overtime changes as well as temporary worker education.
• Approved a training request from Niggemann for the League of Wisconsin Municipalities Annual Conference October 19 to October 21 in Stevens Point. Tuition for the 118th annual conference is half price at $100 for Niggemann since she has not attended a conference prior to this.
• Approved bartender operators’ licenses from September 12, 2016, to June 30, 2017, for Whitney Rae Halasz (The Buck Snort); Thomas J. Dunbar (Colfax American Legion); Angela N. Radomski (A Little Slice of Italy).
• Approved a donation of $50 to the Red Cedar Sounds for their 10th Annual Harvest of Harmony Cabaret, Toast to 10, “Musical Memories,” on October 29 in the Martin Anderson Gymnasium.
• Approved Jeremy Klukas and Beverly Schauer to serve on the Community Development Block Grant committee. Two members stepped down, so two new members were needed. The ad hoc committee reviews the applications, and Cedar Corporation administers the program. Dave Wolff, village trustee, serves as chair of the committee. Lloyd Hainstock and Richard Hovland previously served on the CDBG committee.
The Colfax Village Board meets next on September 26.