Farms Approves $4.5 Million Bond Resolution

The council voted unanimously Monday to approve a bond resolution for $4.5 million worth of .

The upgrades are the first phase of recommendations following the .

The flooding resulted in against the city seeking damages. The in court.

The resolution allows Farms City Manager Shane Reeside to advertise the bonds to get the process started. The advertising is necessary for 45 days before the city is allowed to take out the bonds, he explained Monday to council.

Unless 10 percent or 15,000 registered voters from the Farms sign a petition opposing the resolution, the city will be able to issue the bonds without putting the decision before voters. 

The bonds would be repaid over 20 years.

Given the city's high credit rating, officials anticipate being able to get a low interest rate for the bonds and Reeside said it would cost about $40 per household annually for the first two years and then about $80 per household annually for the remainder of the repayment period. 

The upgrades are one of two major recommendations given to Farms officials by their engineers, Hubbell, Roth & Clark, in their study following the basement flooding experienced in 2011 by inland district residents, who are the only residents within the city still on a combined storm water/raw sewage removal system.

The second recommendation is partial water/sewer separation, which the council agreed they may do but are not yet willing to commit to such a project. They are taking the recommendations one at a time and asked the engineers to draft the upgrade plans keeping in mind they may eventually decide to also complete phase two. 

According to a detailed list provided by Tom Biehl, the executive vice president of Hubbell, Roth & Clark, the upgrades to the pump station that will be covered with the $4.5 million bonds are:

• two generators: one that will serve to back up three pumps and one that will serve as a back up to five pumps, including pumps 7 and 8, which are designated for heavy storms
• switchgear modifications and upgrades
• replacement of all eight pump starters
• wet well lighting replacement, ventilation system, upgrades to bring it up to current code
• refurbish pumps 5 and 6
• replacement of all isolation valves
• remote monitoring of pumps and a programmable logic controller, uninterruptable power supply and revised back-up controls for improved control
• a second air-compressor for the back up controls
• replacement of the roof and windows, both of which will ultimately require the approval of the historical commission because the building is a designated historical location