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July 15, 2009 Town Stormwater Utility Board Meeting Minutes
TOWN OF NEENAH
STORMWATER UTILITY DISTRICT MEETING
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Municipal Building
1600 Breezewood Lane
3 PM
Present: Bob Schmeichel, Jan DeKeyser, Geoff Hibner, Glenn Winkler, Dave Dexter
Absent: None
Also Present: Bob Bingen, Dave Melum & Don Gallo from Michels Materials
Ben Hamblin and Nick VandeHey from McMahon
Chairman Schmeichel called meeting to order at 3 PM. Discussion pertained to the
District’s stormwater utility charge to Michels Materials quarry properties located in the Town, and specifically three documents from the DNR:
• June 6, 2005 – guidance document from Russ Rasmussen. Re: Developed Urban Areas and the 20% and 40% TSS Reductions. Sections NR 151.13(2) and NR 216.07(6), Wis. Adm. Code
• April 6, 2009 – guidance document from Russ Rasmussen. Re: Developed Urban Areas and the 20% and 40% TSS Reductions. Internally Drained Areas
• June 11, 2009 – Letter from Gordon Stevenson. Re: Use of Non-Metallic Mining Sites to Meet the Developed Urban Area TSS Standard
B. Bingen advised of concern on the part of Michels regarding the above communications from the DNR and interpretation of same. D. Gallo advised there was a follow-up meeting between Michels and DNR representatives Mary Anne Lowndes, Gordon Stevenson and Peter Flaherty regarding these communications. Mr. Gallo reported concurrence was reached in that both the June 2005 and April 2009 documents are guidance only and the June 2009 letter does not deal with specifics. Messrs. Gallo, Melum and Bingen reiterated their belief that the Town of Neenah complies with the DNR 40% TSS requirement if we are allowed to use treatment activity as a result of work done by the quarry to meet the requirements of their DNR permit. Furthermore, if the quarry were to be classified as heavy industrial or a construction site, we would more than meet the 40% requirement (except Ms. Lowndes does not see it that way). Applying that which Michels is currently doing, they believe the Town meets the DNR guidelines of 40% TSS reduction at this time. We are currently at about 30% and more than meet the 2008 requirement.
Other points discussed:
• Unpredictable what the future rules will be from the DNR.
• No other municipality has quarries included in the model.
• There are no comparable sites with whom we could team up to solve this issue.
• DNR may allow Neenah to use the quarry for the remaining 10%. However, those municipalities that are only at 8% or 10% may not be allowed to use a quarry to reach the 40% level, and they should be consistent.
Meeting Minutes – Page 2 – Town of Neenah Stormwater Utility District
Other Points (continued):
• Request was made by Michels for us to apply the Michels data and report to the DNR that we comply (thus putting the ball in their court to tell us we are wrong).
• Michels permit has wastewater and stormwater regulations set by the DNR. After it is pumped out, it is called wastewater, i.e., the internally drained area is for stormwater…rain goes in and what’s pumped out is wastewater.
• Michels is 1,966 of our 5,768 Total Equivalent Runoff Units in the Town.
• DNR could exclude the quarry but tell the Town we can’t use it to be in compliance.
• Economic hardship may play a part in how we are measured if we don’t meet the 2013 requirements.
• DNR will ask if we are doing everything reasonably practicable to meet the 2013 deadline.
• There is no sunset date, but annual reports will monitor us.
• There is a treatment system going on now that the DNR refuses to recognize. We need to decide if we want to force this.
• Assume the worst. We need to be prepared.
• Conservative and safest is to start now to determine where we stand.
• 2013 deadline may get pushed out.
• Is risk worth the effort?
G. Hibner will prepare a pro/con document in draft form for comment by all parties in attendance at this meeting. J. DeKeyser will circulate it with the minutes and a copy of the latest version of NR 151, of which a re-write has been drafted. Everyone is asked to send their comments via return e-mail to J. DeKeyser, who will make copies for discussion at the next meeting, when the Town needs to make a decision on how to proceed and whether or not to seek legal counsel.
Meeting adjourned by consensus at 5:10 PM. Next two Stormwater Utility District meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, 8 AM at McMahon Offices and Tuesday, August 4, 8 AM at the Town Hall.
Jan DeKeyser, Supervisor
Minute’s approved:____August 13, 2009______
Archive:
September 7, 2010 Park Board Meeting Agenda
August 9, 2010 Town Board Meeting Minutes
August 4, 2010 Storm Water Utility District Minutes
July 26, 2010 Town Board Meeting Minutes
July 12, 2010 Town Board Meeting Minutes
July 6, 2010 Storm Water Utility District Minutes
June 28, 2010 Town Board Meeting Minutes
June 14, 2010 Town Board Meeting Minutes
June 3, 2010 Special Town Board Meeting Minutes
June 3, 2010 Stormwater Utility District Minutes