County to commence cleanup efforts at former Mill Pump property

It will cost the county an estimated $30,000 to clean up the former Mill Pump property on U.S Highway 281 in New Rockford, that’s according to Sarah Smith Warren, who the county commission hired to work with them on the project. She gave a complete update on what’s ahead at the Eddy County Commission’s regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 1.

There are four key focus areas Smith Warren identified:

1) Fuel tanks: The three fuel tanks buried underground need to be emptied and removed. There are approximately 200 gallons in each tank (a mixture of water and fuel). Smith Warren recently learned that there are no hazardous gas waste disposal firms in the state. One out-of-state firm submitted a proposal to remove the waste for $4,700; Smith Warren said she would research other alternatives. Then dry ice must be placed in the empty tanks for at least one hour to knock out the gases before they can be removed from the ground. Once removed, the tanks cannot be reused for any purpose, so she is researching disposal options as well. Smith Warren estimates the cost of the hazardous waste disposal and tank removal/disposal at $10,000.

2) Asbestos abatement: On Aug. 25 an asbestos assessment was completed for the convenience store structure on the property using Brownfields grant funds. The report noted that asbestos was present in some of the floor and ceiling tile, and approximately 560 sq. ft. needs to be abated. Smith Warren will share the report with asbestos abatement contractors and seek cost proposals. The estimated cost of the asbestos abatement is $6,000.

3) Site Environmental Assessment- The county seeks a “responsibility exemption” for the property from the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality. According to the agency’s website, http://www.deq.nd.gov, “an owner or operator of a site or property that qualifies for a letter of no further remediation or no further action and who complies with the conditions required by the Department of Environmental Quality will have a partial or complete exemption from responsibility for remediation or further action on a contaminated property or at a contaminated site.” This is key to redevelopment at the site, which is the ultimate desire of the county. In order to receive a responsibility exemption, the county must have an environmental assessment conducted at the site. This assessment involves soil boring and testing to determine the extent of soil contamination present near the underground storage tanks and dispenser pumps at the site. Smith Warren said the county can move forward with the assessment before removing the tanks and presented a proposal from Blacktrail Environmental, Inc. of Bismarck. The company bid $12,380 for the assessment, noting that the county could expect the final assessment report in four to six weeks. The site work would be completed within two to three weeks of accepting the proposal, followed by 10 days of lab analysis and another week to finalize the report. The county commission accepted the proposal. Once the assessment is complete, Smith Warren will finish and file the application for responsibility exemption.

4) Property Development- Upon receipt of the responsibility exemption, the county can then sell the property. Both the county and purchaser must agree to certain conditions imposed in the exemption, which will be outlined prior to sale.

All costs incurred by the county will be added to the price of the property once the process is complete and the site is approved to sell.

Road Superintendent Todd Weber told the commission that officials in Superior, Rosefield and New Rockford townships have requested to have clay added to township roads. The road crew successfully repaired a mile stretch on the county road to Gavilon elevator just recently. Weber rented a water truck to use for those projects, as it takes just the right amount of water to properly set the clay.

New Rockford and Sheyenne will soon be receiving a healthy sum of money from the county, made possible by the CARES Act. The county recently received more than $133,000 to defray the costs incurred by local law enforcement during the pandemic. The funds were approved by North Dakota’s Emergency Commission last month, and were drawn from coronavirus relief funds the state received from the CARES Act passed by Congress in March.

Auditor Patty Williams received a letter from the North Dakota Association of Counties Executive Director Terry Traynor. He advised that counties who contract with cities for law enforcement presence share the funds they received with the cities paying for those services. He added that many counties are allocating the available funds based on the percentage of the county’s law enforcement budget funded by each city.

Eddy County’s 2020 sheriff’s budget totals $345,968. The City of New Rockford pays 42.85% of that cost, and Sheyenne contributes 7.88%. Using those percentages, Williams calculated that New Rockford would receive 42.85% of the CARES act payment, or $57,070.45. Sheyenne would receive $10,495.10.

“I don’t like to give money away, but I think it’s the right thing to do,” Commissioner Neal Rud said. The commission approved the disbursement. As such the county will retain the remaining $65,621.03.

In other money matters, Eddy County Treasurer Kathy Anderson reported that two certificates of deposit (CDs) at Bank Forward were coming due, totaling $516,600 and $512,500 respectively. Since the interest rates are low right now (one half of one percent), the commission decided to transfer the funds to their Money Market account at Bank Forward until CD rates improve.

The commission also approved conditional use permits and property tax incentives for two business projects in the county. As previously published in the “Transcript,” North American Bison, LLC plans to build a $4 million addition to their facility south of New Rockford. Per the agreement, the company will pay payments in lieu of taxes totaling $6,478.63 per year for five years, a savings of $43,760 in property taxes per year.

Kim Johnson, owner/operator of Kim’s Septic Service south of New Rockford, received property tax incentives for the shop he’s building to house his pumper truck and other equipment he uses for the business. He will also pay payments in lieu of property taxes, $387.20 per year for five years. He will save $820 per year in property taxes on the $75,000 structure.

In their final action, the commission decided to continue meeting just once per month, on the first Tuesday. The next regular meeting will be held Oct. 6 at 8 a.m., with a joint commission meeting to approve the Lake Region District Health Unit’s 2021 budget scheduled for 8:30 a.m. via teleconference. The November meeting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 17 in conjunction with the delinquent tax sale.