Water plant completion date extended … new system is online
By Michael Johnson, Editor
City commissioners were somewhat surprised to hear that once complete, the new water plant may not run itself. Commissioners heard from city employee Bryan Rothmann and AE2S engineer Jasper Klein on Sept. 13. They explained that it may be difficult to say how much time may be required to do daily checkups on the plant but they assured commissioners, "it’s going to take more than a 10-minute walk." It could take more than the average time especially until the system is optimized, Klein said. There is cleaning and backwashing and level checking involved. Commissioner Derek Laning said that he has operated a similar system and because they have alarm systems they only need to be checked monthly for cleaning. Rothmann was not so sure about that. Commissioner Ray Hager told the city accountant Dwight Hetletved to plan for some money in the budget to hire someone if they needed. "The story was that it was kinda going to run itself," Hager said. He said that the city is already behind on other projects and with this coming on board they want to be prepared. A field representative from GE said that there should be someone there a few hours a day so they will plan for the most hours needed and hope it doesn’t take much time.
