COLDSPRING — Coldspring’s city council met on May 4 to discuss the new sewer rate study that determines issues with the city's sewer plant.
Mayor John Benestante briefed the council on what was found during the study and what the potential solutions are. Benestante said that there is too much grease that is getting back up in the sewer plant and creating bacteria.
“Most of our problems are coming from the large commercial customers. I do have some from the smaller ones,” said Benestante.
In the winter, the trapped grease hardens up in the lines and stops up the city’s system.
The solution that Benestante proposes is considered a “two-pronged attack.”
“The large ones, if we identify some objects, there at the sewer plant, that could have only come from one place, I'm gonna show them that, tell them we're gonna recover our cost of expenses by putting a monthly charge on their bill, to recover the cost of replacing whatever it is over a period of time,” Benestante said.
Including the smaller commercial customers, Benestante introduces the idea of a monthly inspection and samples that determine individual contributions that negatively impact the sewer plant. These new regulations will be enforced by an updated sewer ordinance.
“We’re probably looking at a 4-to-5-month process to get that done, but we’re spending far too much general fund money to fix things that really should not be broken the way they are getting broken,” Benestante said.
Benestante said that Coldspring still has the cheapest basic sewer rates for residents anywhere around. However, he looks to increase the sewer rates by $5, making the bill a total of $25.
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