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NEWPORT – The Newport City Council approved a $308,500 wastewater and sewer plan Monday increasing the loan amount to $2.4 million. The amendment modified the overall goal description by adding to the scope of the work, adding to wastewater treatment plant and collection system improvements.
The loan is 50/50 with half forgivable. The total cost of the project is unknown at the time of this story. The city council will be meeting with the project’s engineers next meeting to approve the design phase of the project.
City Clerk Nickole North said the project would likely come in phases over the course of five years.
Newport expects to average an annual growth rate of 2.5% over the 20-year planning period. Oldtown Idaho’s growth rate is also expected to average 2.5%.
Newport’s sewer collection system receives sewer flow from Oldtown on Union Avenue, north of Walnut Street or Highway 2.
J-U-B ENGINEERS, Inc. (J-U-B) and City of Newport staff performed a visual inspection of the collection system, on March 3, 2022, to locate readily identifiable sources of inflow and infiltration. This date corresponds to a rain on snow event and several partially submerged manhole lids were observed.
The existing system indicates there are no hydraulic bottlenecks in the existing system with existing flows. Instead, existing deficiencies relate to the aging infrastructure nearing the end of its useful life. This is seen in inflow and infiltration into the collection system and inspection results.
A hydraulic analysis of the existing system has been performed using anticipated future flows. The evaluation indicates system deficiencies that will need to be corrected by the city to facilitate anticipated future development.
The areas of concentration include: * System expansion projects – Required to serve new areas within the Urban Growth Area (UGA) * Development driven capacity projects – Required to address anticipated insufficient hydraulic capacity of existing pipes under future flows from anticipated new development * Inflow-infiltration (I/I) mitigation projects – Required to reduce I/I currently conveyed by the collection system to the wastewater treatment plant and to provide additional hydraulic capacity for sewer flows * Effluent loading projects – Required to reduce maintenance intensive issues with wastewater quality in the collection system * Lift station operational improvements – Improve daily operation of the lift stations and provide more tools to troubleshoot future problems should they arise Oldtown uses the treatment plant and will pay 30% of that portion of the treatment upgrade. They have been invited to the next council meeting.
The next council meeting the engineer will go over everything and numbers should be finalized and results of the rate study should be discussed.
The Newport School Resource Officer Todd Aannerud, on loan from the Newport Police Department, has resigned and retired to Alaska. The police chief and city administrator will be having talks with the school district as to his replacement.
City Clerk and Treasurer Nickole North reported the quarterly financial shape of the city. Increases were apparent from cash and investments, sales tax, property tax, and delinquent accounts.
An increase of $270,388 for the city’s cash and investment accounts went up from $4.5 million to $4.8 million from March 2023 to June 2024.
Sales tax increased a total of $10,778 from last year’s $153,867 to today’s $164,645.
Property tax revenue also increased $110,418 from 2023’s $177,687 to $288,105.
The quarterly financial statement reported an increase from 11 to 14 delinquent accounts or from $7,620 to $16,103, however as of May, four of these are off with liens filed, eight have since paid their past due. A pre-lien letter has been sent on one. There are two current payment plans. One is in effect and one is in the process of being finalized.
