TRAVERSE CITY — Two contracts for the Traverse City Regional Wastewater Treatment plant are on hold.
City Manager Benjamin Marentette said he expects city commissioners will consider an agreement to buy eight membrane trains for the plant over eight years at their Feb. 17 meeting. Same goes for a six-year contract that would have both the wastewater treatment plant and the city’s drinking water plant switch to backup power during grid electricity shortages.
Commissioners met Monday with a bare quorum, but they couldn’t do much. Mayor Pro Tem Laura Ness announced that Mayor Amy Shamroe was absent because she tested positive for COVID-19.
“And I know we all share in wishing her a speedy recovery, and we look forward to welcoming her back soon,” Ness said.
Commissioners Lance Boehmer and Heather Shaw also were absent — Marentette said afterward that Boehmer was on vacation while Shaw was sick.
By city charter, commissioners need at least five affirmative votes to approve any contracts, among several other actions with the same limitation.
So Marentette asked, and Ness agreed, to scrub several purchase and contract requests from Monday’s agenda. They can be moved to any future meeting agenda, Marentette said.
That left a handful of traffic control orders and two appointments — Laura Dagwell to the Traverse City Housing Commission for a term ending Nov. 30, 2030, and former city treasurer Bill Twietmeyer to the Board of Tax Review through Dec. 31, 2028.
Marentette agreed it’s unusual for the city commission to be so short-handed.
“It’s unusual, but sometimes circumstances happen, and everyone up here is human and they can get sick, and they’re also entitled to take time for vacation, too, as is the case with one of our commissioners tonight,” he said.
MEMBRANE TRAINS
Commissioners at the future meeting will consider a $5,924,200 agreement with Veolia Water Technologies & Solutions to replace all eight membrane trains at the wastewater treatment plant. The current trains are nearing the end of their useful lives, and the manufacturer no longer makes the model the plant uses.
The city would also pay Jacobs, the contractor operating the plant, $1,180,460.81 to help install the first membrane train. That would push the first-year cost to $1,930,985.81, of which five neighboring townships that own capacity at the plant would pay around $869,000.
Membrane trains are a major component of the wastewater treatment plant, using tubes with tiny perforations to filter germs and organic matter from partially treated sewage. The outflow then passes through an ultraviolet disinfection system before flowing into Boardman Lake.
Traverse City replaced all eight membranes starting in 2014, with then-city Manager Marty Colburn negotiating a fixed price for 2017 onward after commissioners questioned rising membrane costs.
Replacement membranes will use a different aeration technique to scour solids from the tiny perforations and keep the membranes clear. That plus more energy-efficient blowers should cut the plant’s energy usage by nearly a third.
The new membrane trains also will have greater surface area for filtering water, requiring fewer cassettes per train to treat the same amount of water. And they’ll have a longer expected life — 15 to 20 years compared to 10 to 15 for current membrane trains.
Commissioners on Monday were also set to consider a contract with Voltus, a company that pays large electricity users for reducing or redirecting power consumption when demand on the regional energy grid threatens to outstrip supply.
For switching to backup generators at both the wastewater and drinking water plants for up to four hours per request, and up to 16 requests a year, the company could pay the city up to $57,000 annually.