Joint wastewater plant back on table

Several years ago, Medford and Owatonna had a conversation about sharing wastewater treatment.

It didn’t go anywhere, but times–and leaders–have changed. Now both communities face wastewater treatment challenges that could be resolved with a joint effort to lobby the state legislature for state bond funds.

Owatonna officials broke ground last year for a $65 million wastewater treatment facility expansion, hoping state lawmakers would approve a $22 million bond request and an $8 million grant. Unfortunately, the legislature closed out its session without approving either.

In Medford, officials in 2012 set aside plans for a new, $6 million treatment plant in favor of looking for a regional partner–which they never found. Since that time, the existing plant has started to show its age, requiring regular repairs.

This year, an Owatonna-Medford connection is back on the table.

Medford Mayor Danny Thomas, city administrative director of operations Jed Peterson, and city engineer Brandon Theobald traveled to Owatonna on Feb. 7 to take regional discussions to the next level.

“We’ve been, on a staff level, looking at how that works, and how it would impact our chances of success in bonding for the wastewater treatment plant,” Owatonna city administrator Kris Busse said. There’s a push at the state level for regionalization, she said.

Theobald said Medford is now “between and rock and a hard place.” The average residential sewer bill, now around $63, would more than triple if the city builds a new plant. A shared system would drop that to around $140, and with bonding, to around $100 a month.

“Regionalization gets sewer rates down to a reasonable level,” he said.

Medford generates about 300,000 gallons of wastewater per day, which he said was not much in terms of overall capacity.

Thomas said Owatonna is his city’s “only real option.” Medford’s facility is meeting local needs, he said, “but the problem is, it keeps breaking down.” Officials looked at spending more than $3 million to fix it up, “but it’s not going to get us more than a few years.”

“You’re the big brother,” he said. “You have the ability to guide us and lead us.”

Owatonna council president Greg Schultz said while the move would be a great undertaking, “I think we all want to be good neighbors.”

“We have to show something for our constituents, as well,” he said. “It seems like the magic bullet is this bonding bill.”

Without the $22 million, Owatonna rate payers would bear more of the project’s burden. The city has already instituted rate increases to cover costs.  

“If (the bonding) doesn’t come through,” council vice president Kevin Raney said, “we’re all in trouble.”

The cities will work with local lawmakers to lobby for the $22 million for the Owatonna facility, as well as $4.5 million to get Medford connected to it.

“I think we’re on the same page,” Owatonna council president Greg Schultz said.