City gets green light to buy property for wastewater plant project

DAYTON–The City of Dayton’s stalled Wastewater Treatment Plant Project may start moving forward again.

“The City received a memorandum from a land trust that has hold on some property that we’re looking to purchase,” said Mayor Zac Weatherford in an update to the City Council December 16.

“We have been discussing with them whether we are able to get in there and do some of the testing we need to do,” he said. “If we do purchase the property, they just sent us a memorandum saying that we can, so our attorney and our engineers are reviewing that. If that goes through, it will be coming up to Council to make a decision if we want to move forward on purchasing this property for the use of the new wastewater treatment plant to have a low-slope irrigation system that puts our wastewater back into the water.”

Councilwoman Delphine Bailey reported for the Finance Committee to say it had met and will continue to meet when budget amendments need to be made, particularly addressing a final agreement with the County for emergency services.

Administrator Trina Cole stated in regards to the contract with the County that she has “spent some time organizing some information regarding options and looking at the 2021 Budget in reference to the emergency service increase in the contract cost and provided that information to the Mayor.”

County Commissioner Ryan Rundell affirmed the Commissioners will be voting on the contract with the City on Monday, December 21. Rundell also reported that the Sheriff’s Department interviewed seven candidates to fill two deputy positions.

Flood repair work continues. Mayor Weatherford and Public Works Director Jim Costello walked the levee system with representatives from the Corps of Engineers to look over concerning spots noted in a recent report that Public Works plans to remediate. When completed, the Corps will come back out to the site to inspect them for approval provided in a new report.

Some flood work is stalled particularly for stream sediment or debris removal. Cole said that the City continues to work with FEMA particularly looking at the question over whether the County or City has jurisdiction over the stream system. This impacts obtaining funding for some of the damages from the 2020 flood.

Other project updates were given. The Third Street Sidewalk Project is wrapping up with a final walk through the week before Christmas. Also, the Council approved the adoption of Resolution 1450, the Urban Forestry Management Plan, for management of the Main Street trees. Meagan Hayes reported that the ongoing project plan was finalized in April of this year with community input incorporated in the final draft. The project is part of the docket list of the approved 2021 City Comprehensive plan so adoption of the resolution is a formality and to begin to move forward with the plan for management of the trees.

Mayor pro tem Dain Nysoe closed the meeting by saying, “Since this is our last meeting of the year, I would like to thank the other members of the Council for allowing me to serve as Mayor pro tem for this year. And hopefully not too far into next year, we can once again meet face-to-face and invite the public to attend these meetings. So, thank you and I look forward to next year.”