City to pay EPA fine for infractions; consultant gets OK

Talk about it

The Jamestown Finance and Legal Committee agreed Tuesday to pay a $2,080 fine to the Environmental Protection Agency for infractions involving handling chlorine at the city water treatment plant.

“There were no spillage and it mostly deals with administrative procedures,” said Reed Schwartzkopf, city engineer, at the committee’s regular meeting. “Mostly it dealt with the emergency operations plan and how much chlorine we had on hand and how it was handled.”

Schwartzkopf said the amount of the fine, originally about $5,000 had been reduced by filing new information with the EPA. The EPA audit at the water treatment plant occurred in early spring.

The committee also approved the city share of sales tax funds for the Jamestown/ Stutsman Development Corp. contract with SRF Consulting. The firm will provide contract planning services for Jamestown and the surrounding area.

“The first part is the basics,” said Jim Boyd, JSDC Board member. “What data is available and what is not known and needs to be created.”

Boyd said the first phase of the consulting contract would run about six months and cost a total of $45,000 with a city share of $36,000. Further phases would be developed based on the work produced by SRF Consulting in the first phase. Subsequent phases would be competitively bid.

Greg Greenquist, planner for SRF Consulting, said the most valuable output from its work would be the land use map and roadway network. These maps could be used by developers to understand what type of development would fit best in each area of the city.

“This work is not done in a vacuum,” he said. “We work with the local people and hold an open house to discuss the draft report. Every citizen comment is logged and followed up.”

The Jamestown Building, Planning and Zoning Committee discussed the city’s proposed ordinance on financing new infrastructure for new subdivisions.

Dan Buchanan, city councilman, asked if the requirement of curb, gutter and surfaced streets in all city developments was necessary.

“We live in a city and we should have pavement and storm water control,” said Mayor Katie Andersen.

Buchanan also questioned if a new ordinance regarding how new subdivisions and development is dealt with should be implemented before the planning consultants returned any work.

“I’m not afraid to act on this in December even if we need to change it in May,” Andersen said.

The City Council also agreed to meet with the Stutsman Rural Water Board on Nov. 15 although the form of the meeting is unknown. The two boards have been at odds over who has the right to provide water service in the area southwest of Jamestown including Jamestown Regional Medical Center. The city claimed the right when the property was annexed but Rural Water claims the right under federal law.

The City Council had earlier requested an open joint meeting of the two groups. Rural Water suggested the two boards convene in separate executive sessions and communicate between each other by attorney.

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at knorman@jamestownsun.com

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