Two towns still at odds on new plant costs

Despite an amicable meeting of leaders, two local towns could be about to square off in court over disputed costs of just $30,000, if conversations at their respective council meetings are an indication.

Coulee Dam Town Council members talked at length last Wednesday night about the major dispute that has Coulee Dam and Elmer City disagreeing about who is responsible for paying for new equipment to lift Elmer City's sewage another 20 feet higher as it's pumped to Coulee Dam's new treatment plant scheduled to start operations this fall.

Councilmember Marcia Warneke expressed concern that talks with Elmer City, as they try to work things out, may give them its leaders a wrong impression and "lead them on" in a direction Coulee Dam's attorney advises against.

"We have documentation, and our attorney has advised us, that there's nothing we can do" to help Elmer City pay for the needed new pumps.

"What are we going to do when it's time to turn on our plant?" asked Councilmember Fred Netzel.

The pumps are needed because Coulee Dam's new plant sits higher on the landscape than the current one. That will require stronger pumps for the extra lift.

That's not Elmer City's fault, argues its leadership. The 1975 contract between the two towns says it's Elmer City's responsibility to get its sewage to Coulee Dam. It can still do that, but it should be Coulee Dam's problem to get it up to the higher entry site, Mayor Jesse Tillman told his council last Thursday night, relating the conversation that was "courteous, tense at moments" with Coulee Dam Mayor Larry Price and Netzel.

"We said, 'Hey, there's someone at error, and it's not us. And we're willing to work with you guys to try and figure out a solution," Tillman said.

At the Coulee Dam meeting, Price said he would resend a letter detailing Coulee Dam's position. Price thought it had been sent by City Attorney Mick Howe, but Clerk Stefani Bowden said later it was actually from former Mayor Greg Wilder, who sent it certified mail in October, 2017, following a Sept. 14, 2017 Elmer City Council meeting.

"IF you wish make connections to the Coulee Dam Plant, you must coordinate the actual connection methodology and location of the point of delivery," Wilder wrote. "We have previously provided ample time to make the connection timing. Both towns want to be certain that you recognize the environmental impacts from a failed lift-station."

Tillman told his council that although Coulee Dam is planning to start up the new plant in October, he thinks they could wait while the pump situation is worked out.

"One of the things that came out of the meeting, too, is just because you built the plant doesn't mean you have to turn it on," he said, adding later that Elmer City didn't know about the extra lift requirements until last November.

Coulee Dam Councilmember Keith St. Jeor thinks Coulee Dam has already done enough for Elmer City. He said Coulee Dam planned and financed a bigger plant so it would be able to handle Elmer City's waste, too, and honor the contract. But now Elmer City says it intends to build its own plant

But Councilmember Bob Poch thought the hard line was unreasonable.

"I think that they have made some mistakes; so have we." He asked if Elmer City would not be meeting their end of the contract by simply getting its wastewater to the plant.

"They're the ones that chose to back out," St. Jeor countered, saying that Elmer City had refused to be include in calculations for funding formulas that would have brought more grant money to the project.

That may be, Poch said, "but I'm saying, come Oct. 15, what the hell is going to happen?"

He suggested that a spill resulting from Elmer City's failed pumps might cause major issues with regulators and "some nasty stuff for this town."