NYM council moves forward with water treatment study
News | Published on June 17, 2025 at 4:02pm GMT+0000 | Author: Tucker Henderson
0By Chad Koenen
Publisher
With an eye to the future, and a hope of potentially securing funding to help offset the cost of a new water treatment plant, the New York Mills City Council moved forward with a preliminary design phase of a water treatment plant.
During its regularly scheduled meeting last Monday night, the NY Mills City Council approved a preliminary design order for a new water treatment plant that could be located at the South Point development. The goal of approving the preliminary work now, prior to funding being in place, was to get ready should a state bonding bill be approved in the future that could provide funding for the expansive project.
“The primary reason to get going and get moving on this now so is that we can be in a position, if and when the PFA allocates funding for this project…and your project was in the fundable range, we could then move forward to get the designs completed, plans and specifications done and submit it to have the project certified by the agencies and the funding agency at the Department of Health. In order for us to be in a position to do that we would have to really get going on some of the preliminary design activities this summer so we could complete the design plans and specs,” said Michael Weber of Apex Engineering.
As part of the design project, Apex Engineering will prepare and present a Preliminary Engineering Report for the City of NY Mills. The council has discussed creating a new Water Treatment Plant at South Point housing development. Weber said Apex Engineering will test for new wells, including water quality and clarity to ensure quality water for the new water treatment facility.
The cost of the service is estimated to be $99,600 and would be worked on from June to September. The city council moved forward with the preliminary design services for the water treatment plant.
The estimated cost for the project was estimated to be $10.15 million.
The current water treatment plant was constructed in the late 1960s and was designed to remove iron and manganese through gravity filtration. The facility has undergone multiple improvements, including a backwash waste storage tank in 1996, a plant retrofit with process equipment and controls in 2001 and a filter media and under drain replacement in both 2001 and 2017.
The supply wells number three and four were constructed in the late 1960s and early 1970s and have undergone multiple pump rebuilds/replacements, and piping that was replaced over the years.
Weber has stated the current plan is to downsize a new water treatment facility to better-fit the needs of the community. He said the new plant will have a design capacity of 350 gallons per minute, which is down from the current 550 gallons per minute. Weber said downsizing the plant will make it run more efficiently and will still be large enough to meet current and future demand.
In other news
• Heard the monthly report from Mills Liquor Store that showed the combined gross sales for the month were down four percent from last year, but the net revenue for the month was up 6.56 percent as a percentage from sales from the prior year. The net revenues year to date before transfers is currently at a loss of $10,083.02, compared to a profit of $2,053.12 last year at the same point.
• Heard the monthly call report from the NY Mills Fire Department that showed firefighters have responded to 21 calls for service in May, which included 10 medical calls and seven fire calls. The department also attended a training consisting of power line training with Lake Region Electric, water rescue and care for trauma patients. In June the training will consist of a walk through of the newly remodeled Vitality Living as well as the classroom portion of driver training for emergency vehicles.
• Heard the monthly call report from the NY Mills Police Department that showed 124 calls for service, two citations, 18 warnings and one arrest last month.
• Heard from Public Works Director Kyle Mattson who stated Dylan Ness has started with the department on May 19 and has been learning the daily operations. Mattson said Ness has also started his natural gas training and has made good progress. The council also heard Mike Pederson’s last day of work will be June 26 and the city will hold a small retirement party for him on June 17 at Central Park to thank him for his years of service.
• Heard the new emergency siren has been installed at Hidden Trails Park. The plan is to test the new siren on June 20 at 1 p.m.
• Approved a lease with Mahube-OTWA to lease approximately 3,458 square feet of space in the current day care building for two childcare spaces and exiting lot for an outdoor play area for the childcare area. The new lease was an extension of the current day care lease agreement for the city-owned day care center in the community. The lease will go from August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2027.
• Accepted a cash donation from the NY Mills Eagles Boosters to the City of NY Mills in the amount of $10,121.98 for the Lund Park batting cage turf.
• Accepted a cash donation from Farmers and Merchants State Bank to the City of NY Mills in the amount of $180 for the pool.
• Approved a resolution acknowledging the city council support of the Greater Minnesota Housing Infrastructure grant program. The acknowledgment came after the city has identified a proposed project within the city that meets the Greater Minnesota Housing Infrastructure Grant Program’s purpose and criteria.
• Approved a variance for Brian Sellers and Nikki Larabel to keep a goat on their property located at 417 East Park Street in NY Mills. The pair were requesting to allow their goat to stay on the property in the city limits as their property fell just short of the minimum of five acres needed to have farm animals in the city limits. The variance was approved by the city council since the property was so close to the minimum of five acres needed to meet city ordinances.