Going "Green" at Pebble Creek

With the golf season quickly approaching us the city has been active in getting our house in order for play at Pebble Creek. One area of change will be that of golf cars. Pebble Creek has had Club Car cars since it started operations in 1988. Our fleet started with gas engines. We have since phased in a complete change to electric carts. This was seen as a great move to a quieter and more energy efficient solution for the future.

We have now moved into another change in golf cars for Pebble Creek. With the conversion of the fleet many golfers were impatient with the phase out. Everyone wanted the electric cars and with several years of change we got to the point where the last two years of phase out occurred in one year. This meant we acquired approximately 30 carts rather than 15. With a rotation that provided for 15 carts to be replaced annually we sort of hit the wall with increased maintenance costs needed to replace batteries in approximately 15 carts. This is a rather large expense with limited value given the age of the cars. So options were pursued to obtain the best value for Pebble Creek.

The leasing of carts seemed to be the best option and to maximize the benefit to the golfing public a new fleet of cars was considered. After consideration and getting quotes from two makers of golf cars a decision was made to replace the fleet with 84 new EZ Go cars. In doing this all the existing cars would be traded in which brings our lease cost down.

The terms of the lease are for 5 years at a cost of $28,224 per year. This compares to an annual cost of roughly $50,000 given the past purchase option we had used. Part of the difference is we’re trading equity in the existing cars for a reduced lease payment. In thinking about this and looking at the end of the lease if the city wishes to acquire the cars we have an obligation of $1250 per car. If we choose not to acquire the cars we can look at another lease however the annual cost will be much higher than this initial lease. Keeping the differences in mind it is the intention to budget and reserve capital dollars over the lease term so that funds would be available to either acquire the cars or enter into a new lease with available funds to lower the annual cost.

The EZ Go cars will not only be a change for the golf course they are a radical change in the industry for golf carts. These carts are manufactured with mostly recycled materials. They have 350 less moving parts than previous models. They carry a 4 year bumper to bumper warranty which should dramatically reduce our maintenance costs. The motor is an AC electric motor which takes less current to run and the battery system is 30% more efficient. More total uses per battery are also part of the enhancements. The motor locks when not in use eliminating the need for a brake or for the golfer to set one. Maintenance costs are further reduced with a closed battery fill system allowing for quick service.

Looking at the end product the units will include windshields and roofs. Added features will include a rain cover for clubs and a different look. It’s a great change for the future and with a more environmentally friendly design. Please take the time to enjoy Pebble Creek while also enjoying our new golf cars.

Utility Tax Breaks

The legislative session is in full action with bills being heard and debated. As I have written in the past, the city continues to look at the utility rule change regarding valuation and the impact it has had on the city. A tax bill which included a change to the class rates for utilities was proposed. Previously we had looked at a change from 2.0% to 3.0% to bring utility property to a neutral tax considering the before and after rule change outcomes. The first year of the phase in for the rule change took effect for 2008 so all cities with utility property saw some degree of impact as a result. Almost every taxing jurisdiction has utility property of some sort. Think about pipelines, transmission lines, and substations, it doesn’t have to be a power plant. However cities with power plants see the largest impacts.

With the impact of the first year behind us the bill was amended to reflect a utility rate of 2.8%. This is a reduction of 0.2% in the rate and a tax cut for utilities. A “non-controversial” tax bill was proposed dealing with the work that was completed last year but vetoed by the governor. During the process however utilities were opposed to class rate changes and the Commissioner of Revenue warned of a possible veto by the governor if this provision continued to be included in the bill. The House passed the bill as drafted but in moving to the Senate the bill was stripped of the class rate changes for utilities. It passed in the Senate and returned to the House to be passed as amended. This bill was forwarded to the Governor for his signature.

The Governor has given his supplemental budget which provides for Transition Aid for two years for host utility cities. This only postpones the outcome for a couple of years. What the city and other host communities of power plants want however is a permanent fix to the problem. This problem was created by the state yet they want the host communities to finance the fix, another unfunded mandate. By this I mean all the tax payers who reside in host power plant jurisdictions would see a shift from utility to other tax payers.

There seems to be a commitment to find that permanent fix with a class rate change for utility property but if it happens it will be in the final tax bill that balances the states budget. A lot can happen when the state is looking at a $935 million shortfall and a governor who doesn’t want to raise taxes. What seems to be missing in all of this is the class rate change doesn’t increase taxes for the utilities; it only adjusts for the reduction in value the state imposed. Without a class rate change, taxes will increase for businesses and residents as a result of shifting burdens away from the utility taxpayer.

Utilities, state wide, since 2001 have seen tax concessions of approximately $48 million. When the rule change is fully implemented in 2010 they would receive an additional $34 million in tax breaks. Should the state continue to support tax breaks for utilities? What do you think?

Please let your Senator and Representative know what your thoughts are on this issue. Senator Wergin’s email is sen.betsy.wergin@senate.mn and Representative Olson’s email is rep.mark.olson@house.mn.

Water Progress

Spring isn’t here yet but not far away, summer will sneak up on us before we know it and that means watering season. Wow do we use water in the summer months! It seems everyone enjoys green grass in the summer and with the soils we have here in Becker, black sugar sand, it takes a good deal of sprinkling to keep the grass in top condition. So we use water in mass quantities much to the chagrin of the Mn DNR, but that’s another story.

Last year I wrote about the loss of one of our municipal wells and our efforts to replace that well. We searched all over the town looking for a good supply and finally found an area that should produce adequate quantities of water. During the winter we developed plans and specifications for a well and well house to provide for a new water source. Once they were approved, advertisements for bids were made with bids received on March 4^th.

Given the early season for bids we had a lot of interest in the work. There were 7 bids on the well house and 6 bids on the well. Both of these bids were very competitive in nature and I feel the city saw good value in the bid amounts.

The well house had a low bid of $352,697.00 from Preusser Construction of St. Cloud. They have built a number of well houses in other communities. The second bid for the well house was within 1% of the low bidder’s amount. We had originally talked about an estimate of $300,000 for a well house but increased the size to accommodate three well runs and also improved the architectural look somewhat as this will be located in Rivers Edge Park. Locating it in the park required a longer than normal for the driveway and related pipe work to get to the street.

With the well estimate we had 6 bids but one had to be eliminated. That bid had failed to acknowledge an addendum which expanded the work to be included in the bid. The lowest acceptable bidder was LTP Enterprises, Inc from Fargo, ND. There bid was $77,020.00 to drill the well and provide the related equipment. We had originally estimated the well at $75,000 but changed it to a larger casing, moved from a 12 to 18 inch to improve flow from the well and hopefully avoid a failure like we recently experienced.

One snag in the project is that of a Department of Heath permit. We have applied for it and the review has taken place. It appears we have met the requirements for paperwork and the related DNR water conservation plan but no permit has been issued. We believe it to be a matter of a few days for issuance and in the meantime the contracts and contractors bonds and insurance requirements are being prepared. Generally this process can take up to 10 days so hopefully there won’t be a delay on the project. Once the permit and contract issues have been resolved the contractors can start their work, weather permitting. We hope to have the well on line for the summer watering season but will continue to work on water resources as we have a thirsty demand for water in Becker.

North American Marsupial

The other day I came home and was in the garage when my neighbor comes over to ask about a curious animal he had seen under his bird feeder. After talking about it we thought he had seen an Opossum. Generally I think most of us think these to be a southern creature not venturing this far north but over the past decade the opossum has moved into Minnesota presumably with warmer winters making it easier for them to survive.

Sure enough after getting a flashlight and looking under the nearby structure he had a full grown opossum. These are large cat sized creatures with pointy pink nose, grey or black fur with pink feet and a naked pink tail. These are solitary nocturnal animals. They generally move very slowly and when frightened could hiss or growl but generally become unable to flee and fall into a state of involuntary movement laying down and “playing possum”.

Although we’re not accustomed to these animals they are rather unique. They are North America’s only marsupial mammal. The female carries its young in a pouch until they are 2-3 months old and then carries them on her back for another 1-2 months. They eat insects, snails, rodents, berries, over ripe fruit, grasses, leaves, occasional snakes, corn or other vegetables. They are very adaptable and live wherever there is water, food and shelter. They are at home in trees and use their prehensile tail to stabilize themselves but don’t hang by their tail as many people think. They generally live 2- 4 years and are very prone to be killed by predators such as dogs and cats, owls, other wildlife and humans with cars.

Checking the next day the opossum had moved on to where ever it had been living but it got me to thinking. Perhaps I had been too quick to blame the squirrels with the bird feeder being empty in my backyard. I won’t be filling it soon. I don’t believe you have much to fear about opossums as they are very placid animals but I’d like him or her to move on. I don’t want my vegetable garden to get raided this summer.

Fast Thinking

Perhaps you have had one of those days when things just don’t go they way they should. I think we all have and sometimes, it seems nothings seems to go right. Well we had one of those moments in fire drill fashion just before the council meeting on February 19^th. Just before we’re about to broadcast the meeting we go to turn on the DVD recorder and it’s dead. No lights, no power, nothing. The meeting is about to start and the means for recording isn’t available.

No problem, in the past as we had two VCR’s that did the job. If one went down the other would be used. Our back up now is the VCR and having not used it for several years it wasn’t automatic to switch it over. Fast thinking was in play however to save the day. We had another VCR in the building set up so it could record the broadcast as it was accomplished live. The fast thinking was great but not fast enough to catch the start of the meeting and we didn’t capture the first 3 minutes or so.

In retrospect the equipment we have been using is coming to the point where reliability is an issue. The DVD recorders weren’t that old but had seen a number of year’s worth of service. Our backup is original equipment now about 12 years old. An investment in not one both two DVD recorders seems to be in order. And unfortunately with the VCR recording of the meeting the quality of the recording isn’t what we have had in the recent past.

Given most of the equipment is 12 years old and was never of TV studio quality it probably is time we look at some upgrades. I guess it takes a “now what do we do” moment to get back on track. Thanks to Greg Pruszinske for saving the meeting recording.

Celebrate the new Wastewater Treatment Facility

As some of you know the city has been in the process of building a new wastewater treatment facility. The plant was constructed to meet several needs of which the most pressing was that of meeting discharge requirements imposed with our permit issued by the Pollution Control Agency. We were at capacity with the old plant and it had exceeded its useful life.

In accomplishing the goal of a new facility a great deal of planning was accomplished. The effort of planning had the city looking at different approaches to not only the types of systems that could be utilized but also the collection system and the degree of treatment. The city now has tertiary treatment in place to protect the receiving water of the Elk River and the environment.

Dave Pesola, our Lead Wastewater Treatment Operator, has provided us with a look at what has occurred.

The many lift stations located throughout the city were improved with the installation of radio monitoring to ensure these are operating correctly. This was done prior to construction of the new facility.

The three existing wastewater treatment lagoons were drained and decommissioned. These have been filled in and graded. Taking these ponds out of service should greatly reduce odors from the plant.

The new facility was designed by Camp Dresser and McKee, Inc. The task of construction was awarded to John T. Jones Construction Company. The new plant was constructed on the site of the decommissioned lagoons.

The project included a number of changes and major items to the wastewater project included a new influent pumping station, a new headworks building, two oxidation basins, two clarifiers, a sludge pumping building with a chemical feed room, an effluent filtration building, an ultraviolet disinfection building, an effluent re-aeration chamber, and an odor control system.

This project also provided for the elimination of a heavily used lift station by construction of a new gravity sewer line to a deeper new influent pumping station.

Construction of the new facility started in October of 2006. On February 4, 2008, the facility began accepting wastewater from the city. Only one half of the facility is presently in use, while testing and construction continues on the other portions of the new facility. The transition has gone smoothly and without any major problems. As the use of the plant progresses the efficiency of operations will improve through both operations and efficient biological action.

The old facility has been taken off line and is presently being dismantled. The building which housed the old facility is be reused and remodeled into a new administration building which will contain a new laboratory, offices and a maintenance garage. The old administration building at the plant site will be used by the water department.

The projected completion date for complete project completion is scheduled for June of 2008. Once the plant is completed in entirety the capacity to treat domestic wastewater will be 1.25 million gallons a day. This will serve the community for a great number of years and position the city very well for future growth.

Thank you Dave for that great summary! It is gratifying to know we’re well set for the future and we’re meeting the more stringent requirements imposed by PCA and being environmentally responsible.

Annual Audit

Each year the city has accomplished through an independent auditor an audit of the city books. This audit process is time consuming and comprehensive. All funds of the city are reviewed including operating funds, community center, debt service, project funds and enterprise funds of golf, water and sewer. The activity involves verifying account activity of transactions and balances. The audit process generally takes 3 or more auditors about 3-5 days of activity in our office to accomplish and then assembling the reports takes a month or two before the process is completed with a report to the city council.

Looking at this in an organized manner the following activities occur during the audit:

• Verification of golf inventory
• Verification of fixed asset inventory
• Reconciliation of cash and investments
• Verification that revenues and expenditures are reported appropriately
• Comparisons of actual revenues and expenditures to budget are done
• Analysis of project costs is completed
• Verification that all liabilities are recorded
• Verification that all receivable are recorded
• Compliance with bid requirements is checked and verified
• Reconciliation of bond funds is accomplished
• Assessments and delinquencies are reconciled
• Tax revenues and delinquencies are also reconciled
• Internal controls are reviewed and tested

As the audit is accomplished the Auditors use Government Accounting Standards along with accepted accounting principles in reviewing the finances of the city. Over the past few years the Governmental Accounting Standards Board has changed the way governmental accounting is accomplished. There goals have been to create a more transparent view of the finances of a governmental entity by moving the reporting more towards that of business. They have also wanted to improve fiscal controls and accountability within the reports. Adding these requirements each year provides additional information but also more complexity to the audit process.

The goal when completed would be to achieve an unqualified opinion from the auditor concerning the finances of the city. Along with that would also include good fiscal health of the city’s finances. These have been achieved in the past and our expectation is that that would continue with the 2007 audit.