No cannibal system for Princeton

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PRINCETON —The Princeton City Council will not go forward with plans to purchase a cannibal system to upgrade the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

At Monday’s meeting, Princeton Mayor Keith Cain and Commissioner Bob Warren voted against a motion to issue $3.8 million in general obligation bonds to fund the cannibal system. Commissioner Ray Swanson voted in favor of the motion. Commissioners Terry Madsen and Joni Hunt were absent.

Previously, at its Sept. 15 meeting, the city council had voted to go ahead with the multi-million project, which would include upgrading the city’s wastewater treatment plant with the cannibal system, extending sewer lines to another 60 homes in various parts of the city, and retrofitting lift stations with alarm systems.

The construction of the cannibal system was the major expense of the total  project. The cannibal system was expected to reduce the city’s production of sludge by 90 percent. The city currently pays about $90,000 a year to have sludge hauled away from the wastewater treatment plant.

After Monday’s council meeting, Cain said he voted against the project because of the cost of the project.

“I’m just not comfortable with going ahead with the project in this fiscal year,” Cain said.

In other business at Monday’s meeting, the city council heard an update from Chamlin and Associates engineers Kevin Heitz and Dan Adrian on the city’s 2005 comprehensive study on the city’s sewer system.

The massive rains of a couple weeks ago led city officials and department heads to reconsider ways to alleviate possible flooding problems for the city, Princeton City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said.

As discussed a couple years ago, one option for the city is to build an off-site water holding lagoon outside of town, Heitz said. The estimated cost of building the storage lagoon would be about $1.6 million. The project would also include another $720,000 for rehabilitation work on Lift Station 5, which serves the southeast section of town, south of Peru Street and east of South Main.

The projected cost of the project also include the purchase price for land for the lagoon, though no site has been targeted. To help fund the project, the city could consider possible homeowner assistance, he said. 

Cain asked the Chamlin engineers about possible mosquito and odor problems associated with a lagoon.

The lagoon is a temporary storage site, which would reduce any long-term mosquito problem, Adrian said. Any odor would be associated with the heavy rains and should be diluted, he said.

Scott Wallis, superintendent of the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant Department, said the water would be stored in the lagoon for only a few days at a time and then piped back into the city’s plant system.

The purpose in reconsidering the lagoon option is for the city to be proactive in finding a solution to any flooding problems in the city, Fiegenschuh said. Monday’s presentation was only informational at this time, he added.