Posted on July 10, 2023
With two newly elected members, the Mitchell City Council will decide Wednesday whether to put a $25 million loan application for dredging Lake Mitchell to a public vote.
After the council did not approve the $25 million state loan application on June 20, Mayor Bob Everson is requesting the council to sign off on putting the application to public vote. The city would use the loan to fund a mechanical dredging project that aims to remove phosphorus-rich soft sediment from the lake bottom, which is a key contributor to harmful algae blooms hampering the body of water.
The council’s 4-4 tie on June 20 denied the loan application from moving forward since the mayor couldn’t break the tie vote. The resolution the council will consider during Wednesday’s meeting needs a simple majority to be approved. If approved, Everson is proposing the public vote on the $25 million loan application take place in a September special election.
The interest rate attached to the loan that the council struck down on June 20 was 3.25%, which amounted to roughly $14 million over 30 years. With interest and recommended $500,000 annual alum treatments, the total estimated cost of the proposed dredging project amounts to roughly $53 million.
“We’re trying to get it done before any more interest rate hikes happen,” Everson said of the public vote he’s anticipating.
The resolution to put the lake dredging loan to a vote is not a bond issue that would impact residents’ property taxes like the Mitchell High School athletics facility bond issue that was approved in early June.
Since the council denied the loan application, some community members have shown mixed reactions. Joe Kippes, president of a local nonprofit organization that formed to raise money for dredging, was disappointed with the council’s recent decision.
“I’m disappointed. I think doing nothing is never the answer. We can’t just let this huge asset go,” Kippes said. “If somebody will say no, I’d like to hear what other recommendations they have.”
Dredging supporters have dubbed the lake as one of the city’s biggest assets in dire need of serious improvements after decades of algae woes have plagued the body of water. Opponents say the high price tag of dredging and the phosphorus loads funneling into the lake via the 350,000-acre Firesteel watershed, which drains into the lake, are major obstacles standing in the way of beginning an in-lake solution.
Wednesday’s 6 p.m. meeting will be newly elected council members Mike Bathke and Tim Goldammer’s first meeting. They will be tasked to vote on the $25 million loan application.
The mechanical dredging project would entail a drawdown of the water, which would allow heavy equipment to remove roughly 70% of the sediment from the lake bottom. Barr Engineering, a Minnesota-based firm, recommended the mechanical dredging project as the most effective and cost-friendly option to reduce the high phosphorus levels causing the lake’s harmful algae blooms.
While the council will be made up of two new members, three of the four council members who voted against the loan application at the June 20 meeting will be voting on the resolution to put it to a public vote.
Council members Kevin McCardle, Dan Sabers and John Doescher, who voted against the loan application, will be deciding on the resolution at Wednesday’s meeting, while dredging supporters Marty Barington, Susan Tjarks and Jeff Smith will also be voting. Replacing longtime council member Dan Allen, who voted against the loan application, will be Bathke. Goldammer will be replacing council member Steve Rice, who was among the four council members to approve the loan application at the June 20 meeting.
