By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Deer Creek City Council will do some additional research regarding a bill from Bolten and Menk for the recently completed water tower project.

During its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Nov. 24, the Deer Creek City Council heard from Morgan Salo from Bolten and Menk about a bill his company sent the city regarding additional work that needed to be completed for inspections and overseeing the expansive water tower project. The water tower project, which was originally scheduled to be completed last year was delayed after the first contractor didn’t show up to complete the work at hand.

The city and the bonding company for the original contractor found a new company to complete the work according to the terms from the first contract, but delays in the project led to 25 additional trips to town over the course of eight weeks for Bolten and Menk employees. 

Utility supervisor Dan Kovar spoke highly of the work from Bolten and Menk employees and said the company did a good job of catching things during the inspection process that needed to be completed by the contractor. 

The city council said it will look into the bill further and see if there are some items that should be covered by the bonding/insurance company, before acting on the invoice from Bolten and Menk. 

In other news

• Discussed the 2026 proposed budget and utility rates. The water fund is showing a loss of $6,000 this year and the sewer fund is showing a loss of $4,000. Currently the city charges a flat base rate of $35 for water and a $34 for sewer for residential users. Commercial users pay the same rate for the first 9,000 gallons and are charged extra for additional water usage. The last time the rates were increased in 2019 and the clerk/treasurer Miriam DeCock said the city would need to increase its base rate $7 per month to break even moving forward. Since the rates have not been adjusted in six years the council discussed whether it should increase the base rate more than $7 a month in order to put money away for future projects and not increase its rates again for a few more years. The city council will hold a public hearing regarding the utility rates as soon as its December hearing to discuss water and sewer rates. 

• Heard that the furnace and air conditioner for one portion of the community center needs to be replaced. The furnace and air conditioner is currently hooked up to LP, but the council said it would like to get pricing to potentially install a new furnace and air conditioner that could be hooked up to natural gas prior to moving forward with the project. 

• Approved the purchase of a new pump for the lift station after one of the two pumps at the facility went down. 

• Approved offering a stipend by a 3-0 vote, with Danny Hendershot and Jayme George abstaining from the vote, ranging from $200-600 for officers of the Deer Creek Fire Department. Currently only the fire chief gets an additional stipend for additional work completed for the fire department. 

• Heard the Deer Creek Lions Club, who have already donated $10,000 towards the purchase of a $20,000 used rescue van, have pledged to pay the remaining cost of the van after the current van is sold. Prior to the pledge from the local non-profit the City of Deer Creek would have been responsible for the remaining balance of the used van. 

• Heard Bolten and Menk has identified three galvanized pipes that will need to be replaced in the City of Deer Creek as part of a new mandate from the Department of Health. According to the new mandate, all lead and galvanized water lines and service laterals will need to be replaced in the near future. The council heard that there are currently 48 unknown water service laterals within the City of Deer Creek and the city will make another attempt to get in touch with property owners to inspect the pipes in the buildings.