Saline City Council Approves Review of Wastewater Treatment Plant Study

For almost 12 months, Saline City Council has been discussing options for rebuilding and expanding wastewater treatment plant operations within the city. Council has settled on the idea of rebuilding in place, on the 200 block of South Monroe Street. But before the city moves forward, it's asking a second firm to review the wastewater treatment siting plant study which was conducted by Tetra Tech and presented to city council in January 2020.

At Monday's meeting, city council voted 5-1 to have OHM Advisors review the siting study at a cost of $14,500. Councillor Jack Ceo voted against the proposal. Councillor Janet Dillon was absent.

Tetra Tech's study looked at several alternatives for meeting the city's future wastewater treatment needs, including building a new plant on a new site, connecting with Ypsilanti's regional system and rebuilding on site.

After many discussions, council chose to rebuild on site because it was the cheapest option, it avoids the political minefield of finding a new site, and it allows the city to expand in phases along with growth.

City Manager Colleen O'Toole said the city wants to be certain about some of the underlying assumptions in the Tetra Tech study. O'Toole noted that OHM Advisors has knowledge of the Ypsilanti system.

"We are just reaffirming the underlying assumptions that went into that proposal initially and making sure that we have the most recent information moving forward," O'Toole said.

Marcus McNamara, from OHM Advisors, said the firm planned to look at acreage, zoning and other issues to make its assessments about future needs and project costs for the three options.

Mayor Brian Marl explained his support for the proposal.

"I think it is essential to have a second set of eyes review the sighting study specifically the growing place option that we developed consensus on at our most recent meeting," Marl said. "We are looking at this issue from a very high level we are not yet at the point of designing new equipment, ordering new technology and integrating it into our system. Much work, much time and much money remain remain to be spent and allocated, which is why it is so essential that a second set of eyes review the documents that we received from Tetra Tech in early 2020."

Still, there were questions.

Councillor Jim Dell'Orco asked why the the OHM Advisors proposal references assessment of the wastewater treatment plant's rotating bacterial collectors. The city wants to move away from the old, cumbersome and often broken technology.

Councillor Jack Ceo, who voted against the motion, said he was tired of the delays in the project.

"I have become increasingly upset with how long it's taking us to get this issue moving forward. We continually talk about how important it is, but yet it seems like one issue after another can comes up to continually delay it," Ceo said. "And every time we make one of these delays it ends up costing this money."

Members of council praised O'Toole for bringing the expenditure to council for approval, even though it didn't meet the $15,000 threshold that requires council's stamp.

"It's under the threshold to go to council but I certainly appreciate her bringing it to the table just so that the public can be aware of the next step," Councillor Dawn Krause said. "So I appreciate her working so quickly and getting this back to us."

The city has poured money into the 66-year-old wastewater treatment plant in recent years. At long last, the city seems to have a handle on odor issues caused by the plant. The city and state are negotiating an administrative consent order for environmental issues at the plant.

The plant has been operating at close to 85 percent capacity. The state requires communities to begin planning for treatment plant expansion when flows reach 85 percent.

The city recently had to cancel an annexation agreement with Saline Township to bring the Andelina Farms development into the city. City officials listed COVID-19 and the inability to meet provisions in the agreement as the reasons for canceling the deal, but several council members were not comfortable with extending utilities when the plant's capacity was stretched.

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