Colfax approves resolutions for additional $600,000 toward lagoon bank stabilization project
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has approved two resolutions that will allow the village to proceed with supplying an additional $600,000 toward the rip-rap project on the Red Cedar River to protect the wastewater treatment lagoons.
Both resolutions relate to applying for a low-interest Clean Water Fund loan, said Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, at the Colfax Village Board’s February 14 meeting.
The first resolution establishes that the village board understands the village is paying the additional $600,000 for the project, she said.
The resolution must be on file to qualify for any possible reimbursement later on from the Clean Water Fund, Niggemann said.
The second resolution authorizes either the village administrator-clerk-treasurer or the village president to act as the representative for the Village of Colfax to file the application and any other necessary paperwork for financial assistance from the Wisconsin Environmental Improvement Fund.
The first resolution dealing with the village borrowing $600,000 includes an additional $60,000 over the $540,000 the village board learned about at the January 24 meeting.
The extra $60,000 is in case “something comes up,” such as a change order, because the bids for the lagoon bank project are in and the price has been established, Niggemann said.
$1.6 million
The initial estimate to stabilize the river bank was $1.6 million, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers paying 65 percent of the cost and the village paying 35 percent of the cost.
In 2019, Colfax was awarded $592,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to cover the village’s 35 percent of the project.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved accepting the CDBG funds of $592,000 in August of 2019.
The money from the Army Corps of Engineers is considered to be matching funds, so with the award of the $592,000 as CDBG funds, the only cost to the village for the $1.6 million project was expected to be $35,000 to $40,000 to CBS Squared for the grant application, grant administration and project oversight.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently recalculated the income eligibility of Colfax residents. People in the village are now considered to be low to moderate income, which qualified the village to apply for CDBG funds.
But instead of the bids for for rip-rap, slope excavation, restoration seeding and an access road coming in at the initially-estimated $1.6 million, the bids have come in at around $2.6 million.
Approval
The Colfax Village Board approved the first resolution establishing that the village will borrow $600,000 to pay the additional cost of the Red Cedar River Bank stabilization cost on a vote of four “yes” to two “no.”
Village Trustees Margaret Burcham, Anne Jenson, Jeff Prince and Gary Stene voted in favor of the motion.
Village President Jody Albricht and Village Trustee Carey Davis voted against the motion.
Village Trustee Jen Rud was absent from the meeting.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved the second resolution authorizing the administrator-clerk-treasurer or the village president to act as the representative for the Village of Colfax to file the application and any other necessary paperwork for financial assistance from the Wisconsin Environmental Improvement Fund.
Payments on a Clean Water Fund loan would amount to about $30,000 per year over the next 20 years, according to an analysis from Ehlers and Associates, the village’s financial consultants.
The payments would be covered by the village’s sewer and water utility and would not come out of the property tax levy.
The Clean Water Fund has a grant fund available for “principal forgiveness” of a loan. That could be a “silver lining” for Colfax, but the village will not know until 2023 whether the loan will be forgiven or whether it will be low interest loan, according to Jon Strand of CBS Squared at the village board’s January 24 meeting.
WRWA Conference
The Colfax Village Board has decided not to send village employee Don Logslett to the annual Wisconsin Rural Water Association’s 34th Annual Technical Conference in Plover March 15 to March 18.
Logslett holds certification as both a water operator for the village and as a wastewater operator.
The cost is about $1,000 each to send Logslett and Rand Bates, director of public works, to the WRWA Conference.
Several village board members asked if it was necessary to send Logslett since he may be retiring in the next year.
The annual technical conference counts as continuing education, Niggemann said.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website, “Ch. NR 114, 499 and 524 Wis. Adm. Code require an operator to earn continuing education credits to maintain an active certification.”
The DNR website goes on to say, “continuing education requirements are designed to help operators keep current on new requirements and technical innovations as well as acquire additional knowledge and skills.”
In response to questions from the village board, Bates said one of Logslett’s licenses expires in October of 2023 and the other expires in October of 2024.
If the licenses lapse in 2023 and 2024, then the village does need not to send Logslett for certification, Jenson said.
Considering the information from the DNR’s website, it was not clear from the village board meeting whether Logslett would be able to maintain his active certification without the continuing education credits.
What happens if the certification expires? Prince asked.
Two licensed operators are necessary in case something happens to one person, Bates said.
Village employee Aaron Hodnett [who was hired recently] has taken the training but is now waiting to take the certification test, he said.
According to Niggemann’s report to the village board included in the board packet, the DNR has changed the procedure for testing and classroom instruction because of COVID-19. Testing for water and wastewater certification will be done on-line, but the process has not yet been successfully set up.
Niggemann points out in her report that Hodnett and village employee Cody King may actually be taking their certification tests at the same time even though Hodnett took the classes six months earlier.
The Colfax Village Board approved sending Bates to the WRWA Technical Conference and not to send Logslett on a vote of four “yes” to two “no.”
Stene said he was voting “no” on the motion because “it is short-sighted, and I cannot support it.”
Prince also voted “no” on the motion.
Albricht, Burcham, Davis and Jenson voted “yes” on the motion.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Village Board:
• Approved a training request for Cody King to attend required training for basic general wastewater training March 21 to March 25 and for pond, lagoon and natural systems training April 19 and April 20. Wastewater Training Solutions out of Viroqua offers the training on-line using the Zoom platform.
• Approved sending King to water certification training in groundwater, wells and pumps from April 4 to April 6 in Plover.
• Approved a resolution to extend or reissue interim financing in the amount of $120,000 for the Dunn Street Phase 2 construction. The village board authorized the funding last year to close out the expenditures for Tax Increment Finance District 4. Colfax has now established TID-5 for the area including the East View residential development. The resolution is asking the bank to extend the financing until the bid process is finished for the Dunn Street project, Niggemann said.
• Approved a quote for a computer for the Colfax Rescue Squad and a fire wall for the computer at total cost of $4,163.77. Both items are a budgeted expense.
• Learned that the village has received a letter from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue dated February 9 stating that the village is in compliance with property assessments. Niggemann had received a letter earlier stating that the village was not in compliance with state law. Barb Zempel, the village’s tax assessor, had uploaded the assessment by the deadline but the assessment and the DOR letter crossed paths, and the DOR letter that Colfax was not in compliance was sent out.