City commission discusses groundwater contamination and 2020 budget
Groundwater contamination testing and the 2020 Operating Budget were among the things discussed at the Oct. 28 Mount Pleasant City Commission meeting.
The commission had a lengthy meeting with a few topics driving the discussions. Concerns about drilling holes for water contamination testing and goals for downtown infrastructure, fees for the 2020 budget and exemption for sewer line replacement were all discussed during the three-hour meeting.
During the meeting, Mount Pleasant City Manager Nancy Ridley proposed a bid to the city commission for AKT Peerless to test a former landfill area in Mount Pleasant. This is in response to pipes being discovered earlier this year in this landfill area that were discharging contaminated water into the Chippewa River.
While these pipes were capped earlier this year to stop the flow, the proposed testing would have AKT Peerless drill holes into the landfill site to verify if any leakage is coming out of that landfill into the Chippewa River. Ridley said the tests were recommended by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the EPA. She said the testing costs cannot exceed $30,000.
When discussing the bid, Commissioner Petro Tolas voiced some concerns he had about drilling holes into the former landfill area. He had a back and forth conversation with Mount pleasant Director of Public Works, John Zang, about why he feels drilling the holes doesn’t make sense.
Tolas said the tests should be done along the bank of the river and not on the site itself since tests by the banks would show if anything is leaking into the river. He also said there is clay lining protecting the aquifer underneath the former landfill site from the contaminants. He said drilling holes into the clay might even make the contamination worse.
“I’m telling you from experience that you’re opening a can of worms,” Tolas said.
Zang said he doesn’t know if the aquifer is below the clay lining and there are Michigan laws that require assurance that there’s not a pathway between contaminated groundwater and the surface water in the river.
After a lengthy discussion, Commissioner Tony Kulick proposed to postpone deciding on the groundwater testing until the next commission meeting, which was passed in a unanimous vote. This was done so the commission could get more information from AKT and EGLE about why drilling holes into the clay lining won’t create future problems, Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Joseph said.
The commission also had a work session about the city’s 2020 Operating Budget, which mainly centered around fees and downtown infrastructure. When talking about downtown, there was a lengthy discussion about tree lighting. The commissioners had various opinions about how long lights should stay up during the year.
They explored various options for how long to keep the lights up, each with varying costs. Joseph said he likes having lights up beyond the holiday season because it adds an ambiance to downtown. Vice Mayor Lori Gillis said she’s concerned with the lights being paid for by taxpayers since the lights are paid for by the general fund.
The commission also discussed replacing lamp poles to improve pedestrian lighting and parking lots downtown. Along with that, they also discussed citizens' fees for services such as Christmas tree pickup.
In other commission news:
· An item was added to the agenda regarding a private sanitary sewer line in town that has to be replaced by the city code. Tony Kulick said a property behind his has two buildings on it and must replace the sewer line that failed on the property. However, this would result in tearing up an alley that was recently paved on a special assessment. Kulick is asking the commission to allow Ridley to possibly investigate making an exception to requiring the separate line so the asphalt doesn’t have to be torn up. The city manager does have the power to consider exceptions under the ordinance.
· The commission voted unanimously to schedule a public hearing on Nov. 11 regarding fireworks. The proposal introduced would match the city’s laws on fireworks to that of the state’s.
