Elk Mound turned down for Safe Drinking Water loan forgiveness
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has turned down the Village of Elk Mound for any forgiveness on a loan from the Safe Drinking Water Fund.
If there is no loan forgiveness, then there is no project, said Mark Levra, director of public works, at the Elk Mound Village Board’s June 5 meeting.
The $2.6 million project would include a new reservoir for Elk Mound and new loops in the water system to increase water pressure and maximize fire fighting capabilities for the school district’s buildings and the Settlers Ridge development as well as for other residents in the village.
In 2020, Elk Mound’s population was 897, and when the Settlers Ridge development is completed, the village’s population is expected to be 2,337.
Elk Mound did not qualify for the loan forgiveness because according to the DNR, the project for which the village was seeking loan forgiveness is to benefit new development and not for resiliency in the system to benefit existing village residents, Levra said.
At the Elk Mound Village Board’s May 1 meeting, Bernard Lenz of CBS Squared noted that the ISO flow rate needed for Mound View Elementary is 3,500, but the current flow rate is 855, and the middle school’s ISO flow rate needed is 3,000, and the current flow rate is 1,900.
As for the well capacity in gallons per minute, Well No. 1 is 175 gpm and Well No. 2 is 380 gpm, for a combined gpm of 555, Lenz said.
The ISO fire flow needed is 2,500 gallons per minute for two hours and 3,500 gpm for three hours, he said.
An additional reservoir “does wonders” for the resiliency of the water utility, and adding an additional loop means removing two of the three dead ends, Lenz had told the village board.
Levra said that CBS Squared was in the process of contacting the United State Department of
Agriculture because the USDA loans could be used for new development.
Terry Stamm, village president, said that the village’s committee for negotiating the price of the land where the new reservoir would be built had been planning to meet with the landowner, but under the circumstances, the meeting would be postponed.
SDWLF
The Safe Drinking Water Loan Fund provides financial assistance to municipalities with public water systems to construct, update or replace water supply infrastructure to maintain public health and to help with compliance regarding federal and state safe drinking water requirements.
A Safe Drinking Water Fund Loan would have the possibility of 40 to 50 percent principal forgiveness, Lenz said at the May 1 meeting.
If the principal forgiveness is 25 percent for the Safe Drinking Water Fund loan (or $650,000), then the debt service annual payment would be $126,000 and would require a utility rate adjustment of an 85 percent increase, said Josh Low of Ehlers and Associates, the village’s financial consultant, at the May 1 meeting.
If the principal forgiveness is $1 million, the debt service payment would be $103,000, and a rate increase of 72 percent would be needed, Low said.
If the principal forgiveness is $1.5 million, then the annual debt service payment would be $73,000, and a rate increase of 54 percent would be needed, he said.
Other business
In other business, the Elk Mound Village Board:
• Approved excavation at the Colfax Responsible Unit site at E401 Elk Mound Drive to improve operational procedures. The hill to the north will be dug out to make more room at the site, and the Town of Elk Mound will take the fill, Stamm said.
• Approved the emergency operations plan, which has been updated for current contacts.
• Approved a resolution identifying the line of succession for proclaiming an emergency or a disaster in the Village of Elk Mound.
• Approved Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) and sealcoating projects and accepted the low bid from Monarch Paving at $54,263 for Lincoln Street; from Monarch at $41,899 for South Fir Avenue; and from Farner Asphalt for seal coating University Street at $40,965. Between with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and the LRIP funds, the remaining cost to cover is $14,289, Levra said. The street savings fund has $11,316, and the $2,973 could come from the street budget line item for maintenance, although that would leave little money for any other maintenance during the rest of the year, he said.
• Approved leaving the next meeting as scheduled on July 3 at 6 p.m.
• Approved the renewal application for a Class “B” fermented malt beverage retailer’s license and a reserve “Class B” liquor license for Kat’s Pourhouse, Milovino Enterprises LLC.
• Approved the renewal application for a Class “A” retailer’s fermented malt beverage license, and “Class A” retailers intoxicating liquor license Dolgencorp, LLC.
• Approved bartender operator’s license applications for Danielle Berger, Roxanne K. Gibis, Meagan Johnson, Weston Moschkau, Michelle Lynn Mousel, Logan Schultz, Megan Smith, Jenny Yount (Elk Mound Travel Stop).
• Approved bartender operator’s license applications for Kathleen J. Degre, Nicole Gardner, Timothy Heit, Kelsey Hobart, Roxanne Marshall, Robert Myers, Nicole Linberg, Virginia Olger, Virginia Thomas, Erin Whyte (Kat’s Pourhouse).
• Approved bartender operator’s license applications for Kristine Brantner and Donald Foslid (Dolgencorp, LLC).
• Approved a cigarette and tobacco product retail license for Cenergy, LLC, Elk Mound.
• Approved a cigarette and tobacco product retail license for Dolgencorp, LLC.
