RV campers from the Otter Lake Campground that use the Chapman Park Campground’s dump station will soon have to pay a $10 fee for the privilege.
The fee, approved at the Monday, July 6 city council meeting, still awaits a written agreement with the county.
Streets, Grounds, and Cemeteries head Joe Schmitt laid out the basic history in committee of the whole prior to council.
“So the biggest concern here is we get a lot of people down to the campsite dumping right now,” he said. “In the past, we’ve been told that there was a contract with Otter Lake, where anybody that camps at Otter Lake gets to dump for free. Otter Lake actually has a sign in their campground that says it’s a $2 dump fee, so nobody’s been paying that.” The city had reached out to the county, which couldn’t find anything written, leading Schmitt to believe that there had been an informal verbal agreement prior to the county acquiring the Otter Lake Campground. The answer to outside use of the dumping station at Chapman Park Campground was a fee, with council members asking questions of Schmitt.
“Are they going to attach it to their fee?” Alderperson Mark Fitzsimmons asked for outside users. “Because how would we collect it?”
Schmitt answered.
“Well, we have, there’s a pay box right there,” he said. “And I know with Dean being down there, he stops a lot of people, and there’s just so much confusion right now.” A general mindset had prevailed among Otter Lake campers that use of the dump station at Chapman was free, with Schmitt telling the county he preferred something in writing.
“Is there any idea what the fee should be?” Alderperson Jason Meyer asked, citing maintenance costs. The dump station at Chapman Park Campground went to the sewer and then wastewater, where it was treated. As it cost the city money, it was deemed fair to charge outside campers for use of the dump station.
“One of the biggest things is that we get a complaint from our campers,” Schmitt said. “There’ll be a line of anywhere from five to 10 campers there, people that are camping in our campground are waiting to dump their campers.”
The recommendation was made and later approved in council to set the dump station fee at $10 for outside campers.
“There’s always costs,” Schmitt said of maintenance. “If something goes wrong it will cost the city money.”
Also discussed in committee of the whole, the council discussed contracting a private commercial building inspector to handle commercial inspections currently performed by Chippewa County. The inspector would directly bill those commercial buildings to be inspected, with the city earning a five percent administrative fee. The city building inspector signed new building permits but wasn’t qualified to conduct commercial building inspections, while the city was reticent to step on county toes regarding who did the inspections. Committee members ultimately directed staff to obtain a formal fee proposal and continue pursuing the outside service before returning to council for approval.
Discussed and later approved in council meanwhile, the city opted to go with Three C’s for cross control connection inspected. Previously carried out by Hydrocorp of Michigan until this February, cross control connection inspections will be done by Three C’s as of August 1, the city making motion in council to accept the offer by Three C’s for $916.67, including 101 total inspections. As to why Hydrocorp had used city letterhead previously, Meyer noted the initial 10-year contract had required this as provided by the city. The 10-year contract now complete, communication had broken down somewhere along the line with the Michigan-based firm. Three C’s in contrast, was local, with motion to approve including an amendment to start the contract Aug. 1, rather than October.
Also discussed and approved Monday was a 250-foot road repair along Industrial Park Road in the business park, shoulder repairs on Janicki Road for which the city will utilize a cost-share agreement with ACE Ethanol for road maintenance, and purchase approval of a new mixer at the wastewater treatment plant.
The road repair on Industrial Park Road will extend the life of the road by five years and be carried out by the county. The cost share agreement with ACE seeks to share costs on a road heavily used by trucks heading to ACE Ethanol, with early morning parking damaging the shoulder. The new mixer purchase at the Wastewater Treatment Plant meanwhile comes after the old mixer is no longer useable due to water breeching a seal, and will cost $8,200. The mixer purchase stood to be approved at a special board meeting later in the week, not being on the council agenda following committee of the whole.
Stanley Committee of the Whole meetings are held at 6 p.m. prior to the council meeting on the first and third Monday of each month in city hall. The public is welcome to attend.