Samson Street meeting

Last Wednesday I attended a meeting at the community center along with our city engineer and our department heads. We invited residents along the west side of Samson Street to have a discussion about the possibility of running a new sewer trunk line through their back yards.

We were working towards getting a hazard mitigation grant, and the council thought that would be an effective use of money, namely a newer, larger sewer trunk line, that would help prevent sewer backups in various parts of the city.

We wanted to gauge the mood of those residents, who would have to grant an easement to the city for the project, and also to see if they had any ideas. It was a good meeting, and we had a very informational back and forth discussion.

One thing we did learn, is that in some of their backyards is the former city dump. That raised all sorts of red flags, because with getting money for the grant, we would have to do environmental studies. And if we starting digging through a dump, that is not going to go well in regards to environmental impact.

So, in our council meeting last night, we have pretty much nixed that idea. So if we want to pursue a new main sewer trunk, we have a couple other options. One is to replace the existing trunk. And that means going right down the middle of Samson. That street would be out of commission for a couple months, and would likely cost near 1 Million dollars, after every thing is done. I don't like that.

Another is to go in the "parking" along the west side of Samson, with a forced sewer main. That would involve putting a generator near the pool, and forcing the sewage down a new pipe. Currently the sewage is all gravity flow. We can't go through those front yards and get the right elevations for gravity. So it has to be physically forced through with pumps. Not sure on the cost on that, but that is likely a half million dollar project.

Or we may decide to just really work on cleaning up inflow to the sewer system around town. Trying to find leaks, and relining sewer pipes.

So in a hold right now. In any case, an expensive proposition.