Fort Morgan City Council approves water rate changes

From The Fort Morgan Times (Jenni Grubbs):

The water rates had been scheduled to increase by 4 percent in January, but Acting City Manager Jeff Wells told the council Tuesday night that an increase of 5 percent was necessary to cover the cost of running water and wastewater treatment operations in the city, as well as the purchase of water and other water-enterprise-related costs, such as complying with Environmental Protection Agency regulations. “We initially thought the regular increase would be enough, but it wasn’t,” Wells said. “Where we’re at is not where we expected to be.” The council approved the suggested 5 percent increase, which Wells said likely would amount to about $3 per month for average residential users.

More infrastructure coverage here and here.

The Fort Morgan Town Council approves $685,000 for treatment plant upgrades

From The Fort Morgan Times (Jenni Grubbs):

The new filter media and under-drain system at the water plant was the most expensive of the council’s votes, which allowed expenditures of up to $685,000 for material and installation. “It needed to be done,” Mayor Terry McAlister told the Times of the filter media system upgrade after the meeting.

The council members decided to go with plant Superintendent John Turner’s recommendation of upgrading the filter media system, rather than only fixing the old system repeatedly, which still would have cost several hundred thousand dollars over a number of years. The new system the council voted to get is one that has been proven to be “the gold standard” in such equipment and is used at water treatment plants around the state.

More South Platte River basin coverage here and here.

Wiggins: No outside watering allowed

From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):

Wiggins residents are not allowed to water their lawns until further notice. Town wells are just not keeping up with the demand for sprinklers, and the water level in the water tower fell until the pipes were sucking air, said Wiggins Town Administrator Bill Rogers. That may be partly due to people watering more due to a lack of rain and intense heat lately, but also perhaps because the wells are falling off in water production, he said. Wiggins’ well levels have been falling consistently for years now, which is why the town is buying water rights, has a new well site in another area and is building a pipeline to bring water from the new source to town.

More Wiggins coverage here.

Fort Morgan: City council will likely form committee to explore funding for stormwater projects

From The Fort Morgan Times (Jenni Grubbs):

At their regular meeting next week, Fort Morgan City Council members likely will establish an ad hoc committee to study and put together some sort of financing mechanism for city voters to consider for dealing with financing stormwater infrastructure. That was what came out of the discussion the council members had Tuesday night about how to pay for needed stormwater system upgrades, as well as system maintenance. Several months ago, the members of the Fort Morgan City Council listed the stormwater system improvements as a major need for the city at their brainstorming session. Studies are currently underway by outside design contractors for the northwest and south quadrants of the city, and public meetings have been held to discuss the findings and possible plans. Those studies have made it clear to council that millions of dollars would be needed for long-term infrastructure upgrades that would alleviate all storm-related flooding in the city…

Current estimates have the total cost of infrastructure projects at around $50 million. The very preliminary cost estimates Curtis has received from the contractor for the big version of the possible northwest quadrant project was $3 million to $6 million. Figures weren`t known on a possible south quadrant project…

They settled on the idea of creating an ad hoc committee that likely will include council members and citizens to study the issue in-depth and create a plan of action, possibly including a ballot issue or ballot issues for a 2012 general election. The issue of creating a study committee will likely be on the agenda next week as a regular item.

More stormwater coverage here and here.

Wiggins: The town is gearing up to file a substitute water supply plan for their new well

From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):

The ditch company [Weldon Valley] also did not have any objections to discharging the concentrated remains after the town uses reverse osmosis to clarify its water, said Tim Holbrook of Industrial Facilities Engineering, which is overseeing the project. Once Weldon Valley gives its approval, the town can file its water plan with the water court, Nation said.

That begins a time of waiting on a number of issues.

The case will wait for 60 days while other water users have a chance to file objections to the plan, and then a substitute water plan will be filed, Nation said. Usually, a town cannot file for a well permit until the substitute plan is filed, but it is possible Wiggins could receive an exception through an emergency filing, he said. If that happened, Wiggins could have authority for a well as quickly as two to three weeks after filing, but otherwise it will take longer, Holbrook said.

Wiggins can probably begin pumping water as soon as the substitute water plan is filed, but the best-case scenario for that is three months, Nation said.

More infrastructure coverage here.

Fort Morgan: Council okays lease price for Colorado-Big Thompson shares

From The Fort Morgan Times (Jenni Grubbs):

The Fort Morgan City Council voted Tuesday night to set the prices for shares of Colorado-Big Thompson water owned by the city, which could be purchased by local businesses.
The price has been set based on a rolling three-year weighted average of C-BT shares bought by the city. Over the course of three years, the city bought 199 shares for a total cost of $1,479,250. That averages out to $7,433.42, which is the price council members approved for the current year. That rate would be adjusted in the future based on future averages. The $7,433.42 per share covers the cost of “the water rights portion of a tap fee, when C-BT water must be purchased to cover increased water use by an existing customer, and for new business purchases,” according to a memo to the council from City Water Resources Director Gary Dreessen. In addition, council members approved a $500 service fee per related transaction, except for certain tap fees that have all fees included in one price.

More Morgan County coverage here and here.

Fort Morgan: City council sets C-BT share costs for businesses

From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):

When smaller businesses need to buy C-BT water shares, they are not always knowledgeable about buying it on the open market, said City Water Resources Director Gary Dreessen.

Under those circumstances, it would be business-friendly to help them out by selling them shares of the water that the city owns, said Acting City Manager Jeff Wells.

Council members seemed to reach a consensus that the city would sell water shares at a price based on the average cost over the past three years.

However, Councilman Scott Bryan wondered if the city should charge the going price, instead of the average of three years.

Giving local businesses a break is part of being business-friendly, said Councilman Brent Nation.

Councilman James Powers urged city officials to keep an eye on how businesses are buying water shares, so they would not be able to speculate on them to make a profit.

Any company which would want to buy a large amount of water, say 40 or 50 shares, would be helped by the city acting as a kind of broker, but the city would not sell that many shares directly, Wells said.

Powers also insisted that any money the city receives from water share sales go into a fund for purchasing more water, not just into the general water department revenue. In the past, that happened and the money seemed to get lost. Different organizations handle water sales differently, but the Morgan County Quality Water District does use the proceeds to buy more water and that seems to work, Nation said.

Businesses which bought water from the city directly would pay a $500 transaction fee for the work the city put into the sale — over and above the cost of the water, Dreessen said. Given the water market, this policy would likely change in the future, but it should work for now, Nation said.

The price for a business buying a city share of water would be $7,433 this year, which would be an average of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 prices.

This was a work session, which meant the council could not vote on the policy, but it will go on the agenda for the next meeting in two weeks.

More Morgan County coverage here and here.

Fort Morgan: New water code approved by the city council

From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):

In the past, the city expected any business which used significant amounts of water to purchase shares of Colorado-Big Thompson water to use, he said. However, sometimes a business needed just over an even amount of shares, and it was a burden for it to buy a whole new share, the council was told Jan. 4. Under a new internal policy, the city will round that off the water shares to the nearest half-share in order to be business friendly, Wells said.

Also, the city will decide on a case-by-case basis on how to convert inside water meters to outside water meters, but that will not be part of the code itself, he said. For the most part, changes to the water code are things the council has already done in the past by resolution, but were not included in the code itself, said Acting City Manager Jeff Wells.

More Morgan County coverage here and here.

Fort Morgan flooding discussion

From The Fort Morgan Times (John La Porte):

Residents of the Eighth Avenue area near Main Street blame flooding in the last two years at least partially on the downtown improvement project completed in the summer of 2009. The project has moved a flooding problem from downtown to Eighth, some residents said at a meeting called by city officials Wednesday to discuss the flooding and try to reassure residents that they were working on a solution.

And while city engineer Brad Curtis acknowledged that runoff from the downtown area “didn`t help” the long-standing flooding situation on Eighth, Scott Bryan of the city council pointed out that the area had not seen in a long time rainstorms like it has seen the last two years. Bryan, who owns a cleaning and service business, said that flooding problems in Fort Morgan are not isolated to Eighth. He said he and his workers pump out 50 to 60 houses after every big storm. He has had the business since 1995, he said, and has not seen anything to compare with the storms of the last two years.

More stormwater coverage here.

Fort Morgan: U.S. Representative-elect Cory Gardner listens to locals

From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):

Gardner said one of his top priorities is to make sure the Northern Integrated Supply Project reservoirs get built near Fort Collins, and to work with water suppliers to build more storage. Although there are contending views on NISP, everyone needs to work through the issues, Gardner said. It is not a zero sum game to find ways to meet all water needs, and without NISP agriculture will suffer, he said.

More Northern Integrated Supply Project coverage here and here.

Fort Morgan: Water rates go up January 1

From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):

The monthly base charge for water will rise from $34.13 a month to $35.83 per month, and the volume charge will go from $2.52 per 1,000 gallons to $2.65 as of Jan. 1, said water resources Director Gary Dreessen. However, the wastewater rates will not rise, City Manager Pat Merrill said.

A water and wastewater study completed by The Engineering Company indicates that a rate adjustment is needed to balance the water department budget, he said. Like other departments, the water department has limited its capital projects this year to help balance the 2011 budget, Dreessen said.

More infrastructure coverage here.

2010 Colorado elections: U.S. Senator Bennet and U.S. Representative Markey will host an agriculture forum Thursday

From The Fort Morgan Times:

The offices of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Betsy Markey, along with the USDA, are hosting a forum on agriculture, conservation and rural development in Fort Morgan on Thursday, Sept. 9. The event is to be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Morgan Community College in the Founders Room in Spruce Hall. MCC is at 920 Barlow Road. The forum will allow participants to provide feedback on agriculture, conservation and rural development issues and will include a conversation about the 2012 farm bill…

Key questions for discussion include how to cultivate the next generation of farmers and ranchers, how to provide Colorado producers with the risk management tools and safety net they need in a fiscally responsible manner, and how to address natural resource concerns, such as water quantity and quality, erodible soils and wildlife habitat, while keeping land in production and opportunities open for rural economic development. Those interested in attending should RSVP to agriculture@bennet.senate.gov.

More Morgan County coverage here.

Wiggins scores nine shares of the Weldon Valley Ditch Company

From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):

Wiggins Town Council members voted unanimously during their monthly meeting Wednesday night to contract with Tom and Donna Deganhart to buy nine shares of Weldon Valley Ditch Co. water at a cost of $720,000. That contract required $20,000 of earnest money, but that will give the town the right to look at records on the water use and a chance to figure out how much water those shares would yield for use by the town. Since the town already bought shares of Weldon Valley Ditch water which should give it 103 acre-feet, and this purchase may yield 150 acre-feet, that might be all the water the town`s water project will need, said Wiggins Town Administrator Bill Rogers.

More Wiggins coverage here.

The Morgan County Quality Water District wins second place at the National Rural Water Association Rally

From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):

The Morgan County Quality Water District was chosen as having the second-best water in the U.S. at the National Rural Water Association Rally this year. That comes on top of being recognized for the best water in both 2006 and 2009, and as Rural Water District of the Year for 2009 in Colorado by Colorado Rural Water, said MCQWD Manager Mark Kokes during this week’s meeting of the Morgan County Board of Realtors at the Country Steak-Out. Culinary chefs tasted the five finalists at the NRWA rally to choose the best and second-best, he said.

MCQWD is noted for its pure and exceptional water, Kokes said. That does not mean that it is necessarily the softest water around, but there is more to excellent water than softness, and MCQWD believes it has the best water around, he said. For instance, Quality Water exceeds EPA Safe Drinking Water standards, Kokes said.

More water treatment coverage here.

Fort Morgan: Council hears that the city needs to bump rates 5% in each of the next two years

From The Fort Morgan Times (John Brennan):

Council members seemed to agree on the need for the water rate increases, and Mayor Terry McAlister directed the city staff to bring back a proposal soon that the council could vote on.

The biggest reason for the rate hikes is the looming $40 million debt that the city will incur when its share of the cost of the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) starts coming due in the next several years, Ullman noted.

The good news, which came out of an accompanying study of city sewer rates presented by Ullman at Tuesday’s council work session, is that he sees no need for an increase in those rates at this time. He did, however, suggest that the city raise its plant investment fee, or sewer tap fee, for new hookups to the sewer system.

More Morgan County coverage here and here.

Brush: City council approves first application for wastewater services for outside the town limits

From The Fort Morgan Times (Jesse Chaney):

The Brush City Council on Monday approved the first application it received for wastewater utility service outside the city limits. Robert Pennington applied for service to his rural Brush property, 16038 County Road 28. “I do appreciate it, that’s the main thing,” Pennington told the council. “I’m somewhat frustrated by the length of time it took to get the job done.” Brush Attorney Robert Chapin said Pennington and others who receive the rural utility service must pay double the normal fees and agree to have their land annexed into the city when possible.

More wastewater coverage here.

The town of Wiggins is still shopping for water rights

From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):

At the end of the Wiggins Town Council meeting Wednesday night, after a closed-door executive session, Town Administrator Bill Rogers was instructed to meet with an undisclosed person to discuss the sale of water rights. Although Wiggins has begun building its new water pipeline and may soon have U.S. Department of Agriculture approval for a loan to finance it, the town still only has about half of the new water supply it needs to replace its failing wells.

Water levels in the town wells have fallen for years now, and mineral levels have risen. The same has been true in the rest of the Bijou-Kiowa water basin. Wiggins bought 10 shares of Weldon Valley Ditch Co. water, but that will only provide about half of what it will need, Rogers has said in the past. At its height of use, Wiggins was consuming about 240 acre-feet of water each year, although the town only used 193 acre-feet last year, partly because of water restrictions, he said.

More Wiggins coverage here and here.

Great Outdoors Colorado’s latest ‘GOCO Update’

Here’s the link to the January 2010 GOCO Update (pdf).

Emily Davies writes in an email, “GOCO played a critical role in helping the Colorado Division of Wildlife purchase the 710-acre Andrick Ponds State Wildlife Area in Morgan County.”

From the Colorado Division of Wildlife website:

[The Andrick Ponds State Wildlife Area]: 711 acre fee title; critical fall and spring migration stopover for waterfowl and other migratory birds; supports breeding and wintering mallards and geese; includes open water, wetland vegetation, grassland, sand sage and open woodland.

More conservation coverage here.

Northern Integrated Supply Project: Fort Morgan Water Advisory Board still on board

From The Fort Morgan Times (John Brennan):

“The more we sit and discuss these things, the more NISP sounds like the best option,” said Fort Morgan City Council member James Powers, who represents the council as an ex officio member of the water advisory board.

At Wednesday’s session the water board heard a presentation from Tom Ullman of The Engineering Company, who is also in the process of performing a water and sewer rate study for the city. Ullman’s presentation Wednesday, however, was an analysis of the impact on city water rates of NISP as compared to what he called “the C-BT alternative.” That alternative would have the city purchasing an equivalent amount of Colorado-Big Thompson water — the city’s primary supply now — to equal the amount of water NISP is expected to yield to the city when it is built and operational. Based on what Ullman presented, though, the C-BT proposal hardly seemed to be an alternative at all — and several in the room said so. “Maybe we should take the C-BT option off the table, because it’s not viable,” Powers said…

In addition to costing the city millions of dollars more than NISP, according to the latest and best estimates Ullman had, the C-BT alternative assumes that the city would be able to purchase the additional C-BT water it needs. That assumption is by no means a safe one. The amount of C-BT water is finite, and shrinking all the time, water board members have said. And while prices for C-BT shares are attractive now, because of a slowdown in development due to the recession, nobody knows whether sufficient C-BT water to supply the city’s needs will be available at any price in the future…

Another variable is that the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District — which supplies the city with its C-BT water and is also spearheading NISP — has announced plans to cap the ownership level of C-BT shares for any one owner, but the city does not yet know what its cap will be. Even if enough C-BT water were available, the price fluctuates greatly with demand and it’s impossible to predict what prices may do. C-BT water has been selling in the range of about $8,000 to $9,000 a share in the past year, and Dreessen suggested that any C-BT water to be had at less than $10,000 a share was “just gravy.”[...]

The average city residential customer who uses 10,000 gallons of water a month pays a monthly bill of $56.30 now, Ullman said. Under the NISP scenario, that bill would increase by about 30 percent — or about $16.95 a month — between now and 2024. Those increases would come in 10 percent increments, in 2015, 2016 and 2023. Under the C-BT alternative — if it were even feasible — the cost for the average homeowner would go up by an additional $9.35 more than the NISP increase, or closer to 50 percent higher than today, by 2027…

The water advisory board also welcomed a new member at Wednesday’s meeting. Heath Kuntz has taken the place of former member Brent Nation, who assumed his position on the Fort Morgan City Council on Tuesday. Nation, a water engineer who owns Nation Engineering, had resigned at last month’s water board meeting because of his election to the city council. Kuntz is a city resident who has extensive experience in water issues. He has worked for water advisory board Chairman Jack Odor at General Appropriators of the South Platte as well as for Nation in the past, and now works for Leonard Rice Water Consulting Engineers on the Front Range. The board also re-elected Odor as its chairman, Jim Green as vice chairman and Bill Baker as secretary, and reviewed revisions to its bylaws. The bylaws will be forwarded to the city council for approval.

More Morgan County coverage here. More Northern Integrated Supply Project coverage here and here.

Fort Morgan: New city council to get chance to voice support for the Northern Integrated Supply Project

From The Fort Morgan Times (John Brennan):

The one item of business on the organizational meeting agenda that is not tied to city organizing matters is a resolution that will test the new council’s commitment to the NISP water project. The resolution would authorize the mayor to “execute the fifth interim agreement with the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) Water Activity Enterprise,” for continued participation in NISP.

The city’s share of NISP expenses in 2010 is projected at $135,000, according to the agreement. Each of the 15 participants in the project contributes money based on its percentage share of the water from the project, to fund the work necessary to design and obtain permits for the water project. The total expenditure on these efforts for 2010 is expected to be $1.5 million, the agreement says.

The NISP project is now in its third phase, years 7 through 9, according to the agreement. The project has been delayed by a drawn-out permitting process through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well as opposition to the project from some environmental groups. Northern Water officials have said they expect NISP to receive a permit this year. The Fort Morgan City Council, as well as the city’s water advisory board, have been solidly behind NISP as the best answer to the city’s long-range water supply needs. The city’s participation in the project is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $40 million over about 12 to 15 years, with the highest payments coming due when actual construction of the water storage project starts.

More Morgan County coverage here.

Fort Morgan: Renaissance Land and Water Management LLC pitches partnership to change agricultural rights to municipal

From The Fort Morgan Times (John Brennan):

Representatives of Renaissance Land and Water Management LLC pitched their proposal as an alternative to the Northern Integrated Water Supply Project, a water storage project in which Fort Morgan plans to be one of 15 participants. Renaissance spokesman Rod Guerrieri, a member of the organization’s principal team, said the company controls or has access to some 15,000 acre-feet of senior water rights and is looking for partners to develop those rights. Guerrieri said Renaissance could begin delivering water to Fort Morgan by 2014, but acknowledged that the company’s water rights would have to make it through water court and obtain a change of use from agricultural to domestic. Members of the water board and city staff as well as several local agriculture operators and water company officials repeatedly pointed out that doing so could be a very long process with a very uncertain outcome. Renaissance made an initial presentation to the water board several months ago, board chairman Jack Odor noted, and the board had asked at that time for clarification on a number of issues. It appeared many of the questions still had not been resolved to the satisfaction of the water board.

Renaissance’s plan would call for pumping water from “three different sources in multiple locations” from Greeley to the Sterling area, using what it called “high-quality wells” and senior water rights. Several different scenarios were presented that involved building pipelines varying in length from about eight to more than 40 miles to get the water to the Fort Morgan water treatment plant. The quality of the water that would be delivered to the city plant was another one of the concerns of the water board and city Water Superintendent John Turner. Guerrieri said the water would be below 500 in total dissolved solids, but Turner said the water the city now receives from the Colorado-Big Thompson project is about 50 TDS, and improving the quality to match the city’s current supply would not be feasible. “There’s a lot of things to be figured out, but if there’s enough interest, then we get engineers and attorneys in a room and figure it out,” Guerrieri said. “There’s a lot of technical issues, but we have done millions of dollars in engineering, and I think our engineers and attorneys could probably convince your engineers and attorneys.”

The Renaissance plan would also involve the “drying” of agricultural land — or taking water away from agriculture for city use — and Odor pointed out the board and city officials have long been against that practice. “It’s always been the city’s position that drying up ag land is not a good idea,” Odor said.

Ed. Note: I interviewed Mr. Guerrieri quite a while back. At the time Renaissance was planning a large housing development in Weld County which was where he planned to use the water they had purchased. The development would have led to the buy and dry as well. The development had an interesting side to it. Some common areas were to be used for high value agriculture such as grapes. Grape belt instead of green belt — i liked the idea.

More Morgan County coverage here.

South Platte River Basin: Fort Morgan farmer that pumped without an augmentation plan now doing jail time

From 9News.com (Jeffrey Wolf/ Eric Kahnert):

The state says this is the first time someone in Colorado has had to do jail time for taking water illegally. State water authorities say the owner of Kroskob Farms in Fort Morgan stole water from wells for about a year and a half. Craig Kroskob, 44, was sentenced to six months in the Weld County Jail. All but 20 days were suspended. Water division engineers say Kroskob used five wells on his property to steal water. After he was caught, the fines against him totaled $128,000.

“When he violated our order, I think he was trying to grow crops, and therefore he wanted to use the water even though it was creating injury to other water users,” Jim Hall with the Division of Water Resources said. “It’s the first time the court has ever put someone in jail for violating an order and continuing to violate. So it is unique in that way.”

More South Platte Basin coverage here.

Fort Morgan: Council retreat participants talk water

From The Forgan Morgan Times (John Brennan):

Current council members, as well senior city staff and two new members who will join the council next month, discussed the city’s water situation and a variety of other topics during a council retreat Saturday morning at Memories Restaurant. Other topics on the meeting agenda included discussion of the city’s financial reserves; a review of the council’s rules of procedure; and the goals for the city’s new director of marketing and economic development. The first matter of business, though, was water…

[Director of Water Resources Gary Dreessen] presented charts showing the city’s supply compared to current demand in three different scenarios: with only the C-BT shares the city actually owns; with both owned and leased C-BT shares; and with a new supply from another project proposed by NCWCD, the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP).

“With NISP, we’re OK almost to 2050,” Dreessen said. “With just C-BT and leased (water), were in trouble by 2025.” Dreessen also noted that cost of C-BT water fluctuates with demand. While the price per unit has ranged as high as $16,000 to $18,000, the city was able to buy some shares this year for between $7,500 and $8,000 a share. The supply of C-BT water, however, is finite, and NCWCD officials expect it to run out of shares in about 10 years, he said.

The council has already agreed to participate in NISP, but the project will be costly — the city’s portion is expected to cost nearly $40 million. Water rates will have to be increased to help pay for the new supply.

“You’re going to have to make some tough decisions soon,” said Mayor Jack Darnell, who will leave office on Jan. 12 when new mayor-elect Terry McAlister takes over the mayor’s post. “Are you going to go with NISP? Is the council going to decide, or are you going to put it to a vote?”

Although the city would likely issue bonds to finance its share of NISP, Darnell also suggested the council consider starting with smaller increases in water rates soon, rather than waiting until the city’s NISP payments are due and hitting residents with a large increase all at once.

Projections included in Dreessen’s presentation showed the city will need to impose rate increases of 10 percent in 2015 and again in 2016, and another 7 percent in 2023.

More Morgan County coverage here.

Fort Morgan: Rate hike?

From The Fort Morgan Times (John Brennan):

The utility enterprise funds are essentially in good shape, City Manager Pat Merrill told the council, but the water fund currently shows revenue falling short of expenses by about $622,000 for 2009.
Water Resources Director Gary Dreessen pointed out that the weather this year has played a large role in that shortfall. “The reason the water fund is in the shape it’s in is that we didn’t sell any water,” Dreessen said, referring to the fact that consumption was down significantly because, for example, people did not water lawns nearly as much as usual last summer. He said he has been told by water consultants that “every water fund in the state is in basically the same situation.”

More Morgan County coverage here and here.

Wiggins Town Council delays rate increase

From The Fort Morgan Times (John Brennan):

The Wiggins Town Council decided at its meeting Wednesday to delay a planned rate increase from $36 a month to $56 a month per household…

Town Administrator Bill Rogers said the town could impose the first $20 of the increase as soon as construction begins, or delay any increase until the project is completed. Councilman Vince Longcor said he felt the town should wait to impose even a partial rate hike until the town starts work like digging trenches or laying pipe. “There’s a lot of work being done behind the scenes (on the water project), but for a lot of people seeing is believing,” Longcor said. Rogers said he expects to be able to start construction on the project as soon as the town receives a letter of authorization from USDA Rural Development, which is loaning money for the project. That letter should come shortly after the first of the year, Rogers said. The town also decided to finalize a contract with IFE, the engineering firm doing preliminary design work on the water project. Town attorney Melinda Culley told the council she understood that the design work had been approved, but no funding had been appropriated yet. She said state law requires that funding be approved before authorizing any work, so Culley recommended that the town either hold off on approving any design work, or only authorize work for which it had funding available. Rogers said the town had about $100,000 that it could dedicate for the design work, and the expense would be reimbursable through the USDA. A representative of IFE said the agreement to be approved Wednesday would allow the firm to do some initial geotechnical and surveying work, for which there is some urgency because the town can only bore under the Bijou ditch when it is not filled with water. Rogers said that leaves the town just a “very short window” in January or February to complete that work, or face delaying the project for an entire year.

The council unanimously approved the agreement with IFE and the appropriation of the $100,000, with the understanding that it would be reimbursed by USDA for whatever portion of that money is spent.

More Wiggins coverage here.