Council considers water, sewer rates

Cloquet city councilors got a lesson in water and sewer costs and rates Tuesday night, as public works director Caleb Peterson provided an overview of the fee-based utilities.

The good news?

No. 1: Cloquet has good water.

No. 2: Cloquet's water isn't very expensive for users.

Compared to similarly sized cities around the state, Cloquet has always been right in the middle of the pack for water and sewer rates, Peterson said. However, when compared to other neighboring towns that also pay the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District to treat sewage, Cloquet is a bargain.

"We are substantially cheaper than surrounding communities," Peterson said. "Duluth is probably the most comparable city because they're a producer - meaning they're not buying their water - and we're $10 per month lower than they are and as much as 40% lower than other mid-sized communities in the [WLSSD] district."

Peterson walked the council through both the sewer and water budgets. While the sewer budget is on track and even accumulating some excess funds, city staff are recommending an increase of 50 cents per 1,000 gallons water instead of the planned increase of 35 cents, so an additional 15 cents.

"That 15 cents more equates to about 60 cents more per month per customer," city administrator Tim Peterson said. "Property taxes are high in this county, this community, but we don't overcharge for utilities. ... This allows us to reinvest and keep costs low for consumers."

The council didn't vote on any increases Tuesday; those will be part of the adoption of the city budget in December.

Sewer grants available

Peterson noted there are also extra funds because not enough people have taken advantage of the city's private sewer grant. That was good news for anyone inside city limits who struggles with a home sewer line that backs up repeatedly from roots.

The grants are for homeowners who need to upgrade or repair leaky or decaying lateral sewer lines running from the home to main sewer lines. The program offers financial assistance of 80% of costs up to $4,000 for the repairs, to be reimbursed after completion of the project. There is money for up to 20 grants per year. All grants must be approved by the city in advance of the work being done.

"It's a new program and it's been very well-received, but we're finding that not many people have been taking advantage of it," Peterson said, adding that the grants help the city meet its annual mandated repair results with WLSSD. The grants are part of a program to reduce the problems of clean water entering the sanitary sewer system during rain events; heavy rain events can overwhelm the system and cause overflows of untreated sewer water.

To find out more, contact assistant public works director John Anderson at 218-655-1509 or [email protected] for more information.

Council OKs police vehicle purchases

Also Tuesday, city councilors approved the purchase of three new vehicles for the police department, to replace aging patrol cars and trucks that are incurring more repair costs, police chief Derek Randall said.

The replacements are budgeted at two vehicles per year, but last year the order for a squad car was unexpectedly canceled so this should get them back on track, Randall said, provided they don't run into the same supply chain issues as last year.

The council approved a total of $146,733 for the three new vehicles - a 2023 Ram and two Dodge Durangos - plus the necessary squad car equipment build-outs and repurposing the three vehicles departing the patrol division for reassignment or sale.

Randall said a marked squad car is often utilized 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can accumulate up to 100,000 miles within three years. Replacing squad cars helps keep officers safe.

The council also approved the six-month probationary appointment of Lynn Johnson as the new administrative police secretary, replacing Raeanna Marnati, who resigned effective Sept. 30.