Osage funding sought — World War II-era water, sewer systems in Osage need to be replaced
Osage officials will hold a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. on May 15 in meeting room No. 1 at Kitty Moats Complex, 551 Metz St., Osage, regarding public infrastructure projects for sewer and water systems.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality released two notices regarding the meeting: one on April 17 from the Osage Improvement and Service District of Osage and one on April 28 from the Osage Water District.
The sewer project consists of the replacement of the Osage sewer main on McGrew Street, Metz Street and North Park Street, and required updates to the Osage sewer lagoon, according to the Osage Improvement and Service District notice. The notice said that the sewer mains on those listed streets “are failing, have Orangeburg pipe in them and need to be replaced in order to insure clean water and a healthy environment for our citizens.” It indicated the sewer lagoon must “be divided, the berms raised, and the weir boards replaced in order to be more efficient and prevent any health issues to our citizens.”
The notice stated that, based on current cost estimates, the improvement and service district plans to borrow $1.5 million for the sewer main replacements and $250,000 for the lagoon project from the Wyoming Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund, which the Wyoming Office of State Lands administers. The interest rate for each portion would be 0.75%.
To pay for the loans, the district would increase user fees, according to the notice.
“The average rate increase is estimated to be 2.5% for an $8.00 increase on active sewer accounts to repay the loans,” the notice said.
The water district’s public meeting notice was similar to one posted for the sewer improvements. It said the water mains on McGrew Street, Metz Street and North Park Street are “failing and have Orangeburg pipe in them and need to be replaced to ensure safe drinking water and a healthy environment for our citizens.”
The notice said that the district plans to borrow $1.5 million for the water main replacements from the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund, which is administered by the State Land and Investment Board, at a 1% interest rate. The document stated that user fees of $72 per users would facilitate the loan’s repayment.
Orangeburg pipe is a bituminized fiber home sewer pipe made from hot pitch and wood pulp “little more than asphalt-soaked paper and pulp” that was first created by the Fiber Conduit Company in Orangeburg, New York, and frequently used from 1945 to 1972, according to a blog post from Express Sewer & Drain, a plumbing company based in Sacramento, California. The pipes absorb moisture and can change shape. In general, Orangeburg pipe failure can cause problems like sinkholes in foundations, mold and
bad smells.
The two districts’ notices both said they will present their project’s preliminary design, estimated costs and plan for funding at the May 15 meeting, and that project details can be reviewed at Kitty Moats Complex. Interested people are asked to contact Janice Heard, the secretary of the OISD, at 307-465-2407.
Written comments on either project can be sent to Heard at P.O. Box 44, Osage, WY 82723. The deadline to send written comments on the OISD project is close of business on May 14, and the deadline to send written comments on the Osage Water District project is close of business on May 15.
Ed Quinones, the vice chairman of both the water and the sewer district, asked the Weston County commissioners at their Feb. 4 meeting to express their support of a letter to state officials. He said at the meeting that the improvements and service district is looking at two separate grants. County Clerk Becky Hadlock reported that the commissioners had already sent the letter to the State Loan and Investment Board on behalf of the improvement district.
The State Loan and Investment Board then countered with a letter, stating that they needed statements indicating that the district doesn’t require bonds to finance the project, and Commissioner Garrett Borton said he wanted the public to be able to weigh in on the letter before commissioners signed it.
“This was sprung on us by the revenue, OK? They called us up after we got all of our paperwork done in a timely fashion, and then they gave us essentially 24 hours, and you just can’t do that in 24 hours, so that’s why we’re trying to move forward on this,” Quinones said. “I don’t think it has any impact on the county as in regards to where the money is being raised.”
Vice-Chairman Ed Wagoner described the Osage work as shrinking the size of its pond so that it has “some water to stand in it.” Quinones affirmed that description, explaining further that the district lagoon has two cells that would have supported population growth in Osage at the time. But with no growth, the system is now too large.
“Now, we got a slight little problem — there’s no growth, and the cells are way too big,” he said.