City council approves sludge filtration system

City Council members approved a contract with McClelland Consulting Engineers for a wastewater treatment plant rotary filtration system and approved waiving competitive bidding for the project during their meeting Tuesday, Feb. 22.

The proposed facility would process sludge, a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process, from the new wastewater treatment plant as well as the 20 to 30 years worth of sludge stored at the old lagoon treatment system, according to the contract. The filtration system would be contained inside a 40- to 70-foot building, which would include two 10,000 gallons aerated storage tanks, said Ken Hayes, Water/ Wastewater Department manager.

The new facility is estimated to cost between $670,275 and $819,224, according to McClelland Engineering. Hayes estimated the cost will be closer to $700,000 to $750,000. The project could be completed without borrowing money or raising utility rates, he said.

Not taking action will also cost the city, Hayes said. If the city continues to store sludge in the old lagoons, they will have to upgrade equipment at a cost of $100,000 to $300,000 and the electricity to aerate the sludge will cost about $2,000 a month,

Hayes said.

The rotary filtration system will convert sludge into a cake-like material that is approximately 18% solid, which will then be hauled off to be applied to land in Missouri at a cost of approximately $42 a ton, he said. The filtration system uses fairly new technology that has a small footprint and will prevent odor problems, he said.

Some cities have a sludge dryer that turn the sludge into a powder, but dryers are extremely expensive and are not cost effective unless a plant has a flow of more than 1 million gallons a day, far more than Pea Ridge, said David Meints of McClelland Engineering.

When the city does grow, the Wastewater Treatment Department will be able continue to use the rotary filtration system by adding on to it, Hayes said.

It is necessary to waive competitive bidding because city employees will complete most of the construction and McClelland Engineering has institutional knowledge of the project because of their work on the new wastewater treatment facility, Hayes said.

Using a contractor to complete the project would probably cost about $1.5 million, said Meints. McClelland Engineering will charge a 10% engineering fee, which is very low for a small project, Hayes said.

The project needs to be started as soon possible because it will take a minimum of six months before the city can receive a permit from the state and nine months before it can be completed, Hayes and Meints said.

Both Hayes and Meints called the project a “no brainer” and “a good investment.”

“It’s a bad idea not to do something while we can,” Hayes said.

In other business, city council members passed an ordinance establishing lift assist fees for the Fire Department.

Lift assist calls happen when the Fire Department personnel help an individual rise from a fall to the floor but first responders determine that the person is uninjured and doesn’t need to be transported for further medical evaluation or treatment, according to the ordinance.

Under the ordinance, lift assist calls will cost $300 for health care facilities and $100 for all other calls.

The City Council approved a lift assist fee in December 2019, according to Fire Chief Jack Wassman. Then in December 2020, the council approved allowing the Fire Department to bill patients using Center for Medicaid Services rates, based on insurance rates and CMS guidelines, he said. Those guidelines do not include lift assistance because it is not a provider service, he said.

In some cases, the Fire Department has been able to resolve situations where they are being consistently called to the same location for lift assists, Wassman said. For example, in 2018, the department was regularly being called to a the retirement facility to pick up residents even though medical personnel were on staff, Wassman said. After speaking with the administration, the number of lift assists greatly decreased, he said.

In another instance, the Fire Department was called to one home for six lift assists in 24 hours for one patient, he said. Fire Department personnel were able to contact the patient’s hospice care workers, who weren’t aware of what was going on and were able to resolve the situation, he said.

The Pea Ridge Fire Department has already had around 176 calls for service this year and if it continues at the current rate, the department will exceed 1,200 calls for service, or about 270 more calls than in previous years, he said. There have already been 33 times the Fire Department had to call other departments for assistance because the ambulance was already on another call, he said.

With more growth coming to the area, an aging population and more health care facilities, the department has to be very diligent, Wassman said.

“This does take time effort, energy and money from the Fire Department to maintain these lift assists and we’re seeing larger numbers of these lift assists we are responding to,” he said.

The City Council took the following additional actions:

• Approved the 2019 Water/Wastewater audit by Przybysz & Associates;

• Approved Ordinance No. 702 annexing Elk Mountain Development on McNelly Road;

• Approved Resolution No. 460 for a grant application for the fire department and ambulance service;

• Approved advertising for 2021 street overlay projects; and

• Approved the 2021 annual spring clean up on April 7 through 10.