City to talk connecting with GLWA at session

Water users still facing double digit rate increases

After years of study, Mount Clemens city officials are prepared to invest $17 million to connect to the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) instead of constructing a new water filtration plant.

The Mount Clemens City Commission is scheduled to hold a work session to confirm the financial projects at today’s meeting in advance of a final vote next month.

City commissioners have the choice of either either connecting to the GLWA facility at a cost of about $17 million or building a new plant, which carries a price tag of $45 million. Water users in the city will face double-digit rate increases either way to pay for the project.

The administration is recommending going with the Great Lakes option, according to City Manager Gregg Shipman.

“This decision is based on cost to the residents as well as the probability of being awarded the low interest loan with possible loan forgiveness,” Shipman said in a memo to the commission.

For decades, the city has operated its own Wastewater Treat

ment Plant on Clara Street, which is aging and in need of significant upgrades. According to city records, its water sales have decreased by 20% or about 2% per year over the last 10 years.

The drinking water is drawn from Lake St. Clair at its filtration site on Jefferson Avenue at Crocker Boulevard in neighboring Harrison Township.

According to a GWLA report, officials from the two bodies have been discussing of GLWA providing service for the past several months.

The Detroit-based authority has created a proposal that provides water transmission, treatment, and source water.

In 2020, the City Commission authorized Fishbeck Engineering to complete a water plant feasibility study. In 2022 that study was expanded to include an option to connect to the GLWA. The city also filed a notice of intent for a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan application.

Kyle Seidel, senior project engineer for the Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick engineering firm, said the DWRF annual loan payment at 2.25% for 20 years would be about $1 million. It would require a 14% rate increase to pat the loan off.

The loan would cost $1.4 million at a rate increase of 19% if it were to be paid off with a 5.5% rate.

Fishbeck Engineering is ready to proceed with the application and has indicated that to have sufficient time to prepare and submit the Planning Document by May 1, 2023, they would need a decision no later than January 1, 2023. That’s why it is planned for the Dec. 5 meeting, according to the city manager.

Today’s workshop meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in City Hall chambers, prior to the commission’s regular meeting at 7 p.m.