Digging of City of Mountain Lake’s newest well to begin next week
The digging of the City of Mountain Lake’s newest well is scheduled to begin next week – the week of Monday, September 1. The well will be dug on the former Boldt’s Watercare property site at the north intersection of Nickel Street and 10th Street North, adjacent to Cottonwood County Road #29. To reach the current well house, located in the southwest corner of Mountain Lake City Cemetery, a new raw water line will be placed under 10th Street North, and follow 9th Street to the well house location.
The digging of a new well has been a top Utility Commission priority. Earlier attempts to locate a suitable source of water on city property ended up unsuccessful. In 2013, the Utility purchased the former Boldt’s Watercare after test boring proved there was water on the property.
This project was bumped up to urgent when production at two of the city’s wells dropped this past January 2014 – and still has not returned to normal.
GM Contracting of Lake Crystal is the general contractor, while subcontractors for the project are Thein Well Company of Spicer, Kuehl Electric of St. James and MR Paving of New Ulm. GM Contracting was the lone bidder on the project, coming in at $723,257.23 – or 30% above the engineer’s estimate. A change order in the project, however, reduced the bid amount by $58,775.15. This reduction was due to the contractor opting to use horizontal directional boring, which is less costly than an open trench and means less traffic control costs. The bid amount was further reduced by having city staff – and not the contractor – complete the tree removal necessary for the project.
The digging of the well is expected to completed this fall, but it will not be operational until early 2015, after electrical, computer technology and other related work is finalized.
Funding for the well tied to housing rehabilitation
The city received a 2014 Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Small Cities Development Program (SCDP) grant which will be teamed with an 80% grant/%20 loan from Public Facilities Authority (PFA) and a $100,000 contribution from the Mountain Lake Economic Development Authority (EDA) – to build the new well, dig a raw water line from the property to the water treatment plant and to close several old, low-producing well (including in the Mountain Lake Fire Hall) – as well as for the rehabilitation of approximately 20 owner-occupied homes. Only $47,532 will need to be repaid to the PFA.
The SCDP grant was also for the rehabilitation of approximately 20 owner-occupied houses. Rehab activities will include correcting structural deficiencies and code violations, improving energy efficiency, health and safety concerns and accessibility. Additionally, homes will be tested for lead paint, mold, radon and asbestos.
The grant will provide 80% of each project’s cost. The remaining 20% will be drawn from a variety of sources, including owner funds, bank financing, Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) funds, weatherization, Energy-Related Repair funds and Lead Hazard Control grants.
These SCDP funds will be secured with a 10-year 0% interest deferred loan. All of the loan will be repaid if the client sells the home within the first year. Thereafter, a reduction of 10% per year will be applied to the payback amount until 10 years have passed, whereupon the loan is forgiven.
The target area for housing – the western half of the city – was selected because a large number of those returning the Fall 2013 SCDP questionnaire were low-to-moderate income homeowners living that part of the city. Priority will be given to homeowners in the target area who indicated an interest in housing rehab.
If there is a shortage of those applicants, other applicants from the target area will be given the opportunity to apply.
(See more on housing rehabilitation kick-off meeting in a separate post)
