ARCHBOLD WEATHER

Council Begins $6 Million In Wastewater Plant Work; ConAgra To Share Cost


Archbold Village Council set plans in motion to do as much as $6 million in improvements at the Archbold Wastewater Treatment Plant at its meeting, Monday night, Feb. 17.

At least part of the work– expansion of aeration tanks at the plant– will mostly be paid for by ConAgra, said Donna Dettling, village administrator.

For ConAgra to add a new production line to its Archbold facility, the wastewater treatment plant needs more capability to process a certain type of waste.

As a result, Dettling said village officials and representatives of ConAgra are working out an 80%-20% cost-sharing plan, with the company covering 80% of the cost.

At an estimated $1.5 million, ConAgra could pay about $1.2 million.

Dettling explained that while the village will benefit from a small portion of the expansion, most of the expansion of the aeration tanks will benefit only ConAgra.

The second part of the work covers several projects, including repair and renovations of the two large tanks called digesters, improvement of wet weather pumping capabilities, switching from dangerous chlorine gas to ultraviolet light for disinfection, upgrading of pumping stations, and addition of the new electric generator.

The engineering firm working on the project, Jones & Henry, Toledo, has not completed preliminary design work, but the current estimate is $4-$5 million on the second part.

Financing

Dettling said council plans to finance the projects with a loan from the Ohio Water Development Authority for $6 million, the lowest amount available.

OWDA will charge 1.85% interest, an amount Dettling said can’t be beaten by other financing methods.

But OWDA won’t release the money until final bids for the projects are in, tabulated, and approved by council.

To move the projects forward, council approved allowing Dettling and Kathy Rupp, village fiscal officer, to negotiate with Farmers & Merchants State Bank on a $1 million “bridge” loan to pay for engineering.

The F&M loan will be repaid from OWDA funding.

Kevin Eicher, councilman, asked about repaying the OWDA loan and whether there is a fee for paying the loan off early.

Dettling said the term can be stretched to 30 or 40 years, or be paid back in as little as 8-10. At 20 years, the payments are $350,000 per year.

There is no penalty for early repayment, but Dettling said at a 1.85% interest rate, early repayment would not be advantageous.

Jones & Henry

As part of its actions, council approved entering into “task orders” with Jones & Henry for engineering services for both the aeration system expansion and the other engineering work.

Dettling said the hope is plans for the projects will be ready to be sent out for bids in April.

ConAgra needs the new aeration system operational by May 2021.

Mike Short, wastewater treatment plant superintendent, attended the meeting.

Eicher asked him if he was comfortable with the projects.

“I’m confident we can make it happen,” Short said.

Kevin Morton and Brad Short, councilmen, were absent.

The next meeting is Monday, March 2, 5:30 pm, in Archbold Council Chambers.