SANDPOINT — The City Council voted unanimously to pursue a $130 million bond to fully renovate Sandpoint’s wastewater treatment plant at Wednesday’s meeting.

The bond will be on the ballot for the election Nov. 4 and be enough to fund a modern renovation of the treatment plant, bringing it up to the standards required by the Clean Water Act. The council voted for the full project amount over a $80 million bond that would have seen the city take a phased approach to the improvements. 

"We are here because we’ve kicked the can, over and over, and over again,” Councilor Justin Dick said. “The community does understand that this is something that needs to be taken care of ... understanding that this phased approach, albeit palatable, could cost us way more money than the $130 [million] with this bond initiative.” 

According to the staff report, the project will be funded through a combination of phased utility rate increases, a bond, low-interest loans and state and federal grants. With the full amount bond, utility rate increases could reach approximately 106%, according to the staff report. 

Public Works Director Holly Ellis said at the meeting that the city will continue to pursue state and federal grants to alleviate the cost on Sandpoint residents. Mayor Jeremy Grimm said that the city ranked third in Idaho in State Revolving Fund funding, from the Idaho Department of Enviornmental Quality, qualifying them for a $38 million loan and $3 million in loan forgiveness. 

"We really haven’t kicked off what we would consider design,” Ellis said. “That $130 million has 40% contingency built in, there’s 40% of unknowns, so the hope is that we go for grants and that we can also design and value engineer opportunities to get the price of this project down.” 

Ellis said that the design process has not started because the city needs to go to the grant agencies with a bond in hand. According to Danielle Quade, a lawyer hired by Sandpoint to work on the bond process, the city does not have to spend the full amount of the $130 million, but it does allow them to borrow up to that limit. 

The decision by the council comes after the city collected feedback from residents with a survey over the last three weeks. Over 920 residents completed the survey, with 83% responding that they understand the high importance of renovating the plant, but only 11% said they are very confident the city will manage the project responsibly. 

During deliberation, the council quickly came to a consensus on the full amount, wanting to avoid having to possibly come back to ask for a second bond and the possibility of old parts failing with the phased approach. Councilor Joel Aispuro called the situation a “lose, lose” for the city council, but noted the importance of modernizing the plant. 

"We go for the full $130 million, and we look greedy, we go for the $80 million and we have to go back and look like the government is capable,” Aispuro said. “It’s a tough call either way, 11% trust from the citizens, hey, we’re in North Idaho that’s pretty good, I’ll take that.” 

The engineer on the project, Kyle Meschko of Keller Associates, said that the phased project might have bought the city 10 years at the most. He added that there are too many unknowns to estimate the cost of the second phase of the improvements at this time. 

"Virtually this project touches nearly every facility inside the fence of the treatment plant,” Meschko said of the full amount bond project. “It looks to improve that, and plan for the future with growth, as well as improve operations and success with permit compliance.” 

The council emphasized during deliberation that educating the public on the city’s plans and potential consequences of the plant failing was going to be key to the success of the bond.  

Earlier in the meeting, Grimm said he could see a future with the phased approach where an old part, that wasn’t replaced, breaks and raw sewage leaks into the Pend Oreille River. 

"The equity in their homes will go down, like rock bottom, if we push the systems off and we have massive fails,” Council President Deb Ruehle said.  

Portman Square Group, the firm hired by Sandpoint to help with public relations, has a plan for the education beginning with a frequently-asked-questions website, press releases and social media posts coming out in early September. Multiple open houses hosted by the city are set to be held in late September and October. 

"A lot of us live here because of the quality of water and what we have,” Councilor Pam Duquette said. “If we do not do the whole thing and something goes wrong ... I just think the outcome of that is totally unacceptable and hopefully a lot of people realize that.”