During the March 6 Braham City Council meeting, Josiah Rostad with Moore Engineering announced the first phase of the water and sewer upgrade, including road projects, will begin April 8.
The streets included in the first phase are Central Drive West, Cherry Avenye, Elmhurst West, Fifth Street, Fourth Street, Circle Drive, and some of Second Street.
After the meeting, Mayor Nate George explained more details about the project, including a timeline and funding.
“The project will take place in phases over the next four-plus years,” he said. “As work is completed on the current phase, the next phase will mean a new area of town getting done.”
George included what residents can expect as far as construction goes this year.
“As planning continues and the city receives additional information, it will be pushed out to the public as always. Be proactive and pay attention to the city’s website, Facebook page and City Council meetings to hear important news about the project,” he said.
“There will understandably be temporary road closures and detours as the roads are torn up and rebuilt. The more residents pay attention to updates, the less likely they are to be caught off guard by an unexpected road closure.
“Expect planned temporary interruptions to water service as water gets shut off to work on the pipes and turned back on.”
George mentioned that the pipes delivering drinking water will be replaced as well as the crumbling sewer lines that take wastewater to the treatment plant.
“We will also be getting upgrades to our wastewater treatment plant to not only bring it up to state code but also increase efficiency and reduce maintenance costs over time,” he said.
“We will also be getting a drainage pipe installed in the water treatment plant where our drinking water is treated. This will prevent flooding inside the building if the holding tanks overflow, putting sensitive electronic equipment at risk due to poor design. Water will now overflow outside the building.
“Lastly, as the streets are dug up to replace the water and sewer lines beneath them, new streets and sidewalks will go back in over them.”
George explained the entire project will cost roughly $27 million at this time.
“The grants from the state and federal governments will cover just under half. Getting to this point was necessary to even start the project. With the length of the project and rising/falling costs of materials, this may go up or down as time goes on,” he said.
As for getting the rest of the dollars allocated, George explained multiple ideas, but hoped little would fall on taxpayers.
“Steady increases in water and sewer rates over time will spread out the cost incurred by property owners. Tax levies and street assessments are other options to help spread out the burden,” he said.
“We will all have a share of the cost, but the city will continue to work with Moore Engineering to find other opportunities for grants to help offset as much of the burden as possible.”
George announced at the council meeting Congressman Pete Stauber, who covers the 8th District, was able to secure $1 million toward the project in a recent House Appropriations Package that was passed.
Considering the city has not secured the total amount of funding needed, they will “pay-as-they-go.” However, of the funding from the initial $10 million received, none of that has come through to the city.
“It is not entirely clear yet how this works. We are working with the state Minnesota Management Budget Department to hash this out and ensure access to the funds as soon as possible. Moore Engineering has been very gracious in holding invoices for already incurred expenses so we will start to cover what we can while we work to unlock the funds at the state,” George said.
“It was necessary to start some of the planning work in order for this project to proceed, so it is frustrating to be dealing with additional red tape at the state. However, I am confident that the funds will be available soon.”
Overall, he explained how positive this project is for the city.
“I couldn’t be more proud and more excited to see things starting to happen. Our residents and businesses have been putting up with crumbling infrastructure for far too long with no end in sight,” George said. “It has been amazing to see what progress can be made in such a short time with a little motivation and a team willing to make the effort.
“Nothing is free, and we can’t keep kicking the can down the road on this any longer or risk ever-rising construction costs. Imagine new sidewalks and walking paths through town, new streets with no potholes, a sewer system that does not pollute our ground water with wastewater and costs less to maintain, quality drinking water that we should expect.
“It will be exciting to see it all take shape. Stay tuned for the groundbreaking ceremony.”
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