05-09-07 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES CITY COUNCIL MAY 9, 2007 The Superintendent reported that the League attorney found that most portable toilet businesses dump into Metropolitan Council designated sites. These are large capacity sites with a lot of flow. The Superintendent outlined several problems with the current situation, noting that On-Site's dedicated dump site causes odor problems for neighboring businesses, and the grate system that is used slows down the dumping process. The grates were a City requirement to prevent large solids with the potential of causing blockages from entering the main. In responding to the 2005 blockage, the Public Works staff found that these grates were not in place. On-Site Sanitation claimed that they grates were removed in response to the blockage so that they could look into there line and see if they could locate the blockage. Blesener asked the size of the City's main as well as the Met Council dump sites. The Superintendent reported that the City has an 8 or 12 inch line in this area, while the Met Council dump sites have 54 to 72 inch lines. Blesener asked how On-Site is charged for their sewer usage. The Superintendent reported that On-Site estimates their volumes and reports them to the Met Council. The Met Council informs the City of these volumes, and the City then bills On-Site accordingly. It was noted that there is no way to meter the actual flowage, billing is based on estimates only. The Council discussed the On-Site dump site in Little Canada. It was noted that the current agreement runs tluough March of 2008. Blesener noted that the City has had other problems with this dump site, and also noted that On-Site did not cover the full cost of the damage to the Kath building. The Superintendent reported that On-Site claimed there were construction materials in the sewer system coming from the Kath building renovation that caused the blockage. The Superintendent indicated that he plans to meet with On-Site Sanitation to determine if there is a better design for their dump site that would prevent a similar situation fi•om occurring in the future. Blesener stated that he feels the best situation would be for On-Site to use Met Council designated dump sites. Blesener noted the capacity of the City's 8-inch line versus the extremely large lines at Met Council sites. The Council also asked the Superintendent to contact the Met Council and determine if there are any other portable toilet businesses that haue their own dump site, or if all others are using Met Council designated sites. It was the consensus of the Council that the agreement would not be extended beyond that date. The Superintendent reported that he would