Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
The Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Facility is in line for a $1.6 million improvement project in 2014 after Hurley, Ironwood, and Ironwood Township all approved bonding for the work this week.
The three municipalities involved in a $1,160,000 improvement project at Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant in Ironwood approved bonding for the work this week.
The city of Ironwood and Ironwood Township approved bond documents on Monday and the city of Hurley approved the borrowing on Tuesday.
The three communities will borrow $465,000 through the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in a 2 percent loan to help pay for the project. The remaining money will come from the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Authority’s fund balance. The authority is financed by user fees from homeowners in the three communities.
The project is scheduled for next summer. Staab Construction Corp., of Marshfield, Wis., was awarded the bid for the work, at around $900,000, according to Jean Basom, administrative assistant at the wastewater treatment facility.
The company was founded in 1984 by Aaron Staab as a general contracting firm focusing on construction of wastewater and water treatment facilities. It has around 95 employees.
The project funding works out to 40 percent bonding and the remaining 60 percent from the authority’s resources.
Ironwood City Manager Scott Erickson said Monday the project will upgrade the portion of the facility where wastewater enters the plant, called the headworks. Basom said there has been a problem for several years with screening the larger materials that enter the plant at the headworks. The project will improve the treatment process.
The engineer for the project is C2AE, an architectural and engineering firm out of Escanaba.
The split for the bonding for the three communities is: Ironwood, 72.35 percent; Hurley, 18.35 percent, and Ironwood Township, 9.3 percent.
The Ironwood City Commission and Hurley City Council approved the bonding unanimously, while the vote was 6-1 in Ironwood Township, with Kevin Lyons opposed. He cited the 40-year bonding repayment schedule, saying that commits the township to the Ironwood treatment services for too long of a period..
The three communities originally entered into a wastewater agreement in 1984.
