East Bethel Discusses Sewer District with Met Council

Civic Leaders from East Bethel are scheduled to meet with staff and engineers from the Metropolitan Council’s Environmental Division on November 1^st to make plans for the long and tedious process of instituting a sewer district in East Bethel. There is expected to be a wide range of talking points between the two entities.

East Bethel Mayor Greg Hunter told Lakes and Loons that this meeting would be just the beginning of many and at this point the groups will attempt to define issues such as a time table of events, discuss the various expectations of either party, start to put together numbers and analyze costs. “This is going to be an ongoing discussion,” warns Hunter. “It’s going to take some time.” Hunter explains that details such as the type of plant, plant capacity, and location are all items that must be put on the table.

The Met Council has indicated that they would provide funding of approximately  $30 million for a wastewater treatment plant. Hunter points out that the city needs to look at their proposal and “what is expected from East Bethel” if they decide to accept it. “All we’ve done is approve the vision,” purports Hunter regarding the recent approval of East Bethel’s comprehensive plan. “Now we must work on turning the vision into a reality.” Hunter said that the money slated for the plant is generous, but that the city must look at all aspects of the issue and find what is best for East Bethel.

Hunter met with Ham Lake Mayor Paul Meunier and Ham Lake City Administrator Doris Nivala on October 24^th to discuss details regarding the possibility of Ham Lake tying into East Bethel’s sewer district. Hunter said that the discussion was preliminary and explained that, “Until the plant is built or identified there really is nothing firm.” Hunter suggested that the Ham Lake issue would come more into focus as construction details become more clear. To this end, Ham Lake has not approved a sewer district in its comprehensive plan. Ham Lake is currently in the process of implementing a task force to identify whether there is support from citizens for a sewer district among other things. The task force was financed by the county at a cost of approximately $85,000. “Ham Lake has to decide what they want to do first,” said Hunter.