The county Board of Public Works (BPW) received its first official look at
plans for a private sewer system for part of the Village of Empire last
week, and shared both praise and concerns about the project.

On Tuesday, July 3, project engineer Brett Gourdie of Gourdie Fraser and
Associates of Traverse City and village clerk Pat Zoyhofski attended the
board meeting to introduce the proposed project and answer questions.

The Empire Village Council approved submitting an application to the State
Revolving Fund program for a loan through the program¹s Strategic Water
Quality Initiatives Fund. Gourdie has been hired by a group of private
citizens to design a wastewater treatment facility and sewer system that
would service 87 Residential Equivalent Units (REU). He recommended a system
that combines a traditional septic tank system for each parcel with a packed
bed filter wastewater treatment system, which has a base cost of $994,790.

Only local governments may apply for funding through the revolving fund, so
the private citizens group asked the council to act as the fiduciary agent.
Gourdie said the initiative has about $60 million available and so far only
a few communities have applied. The initiative was set up to either repair
or replace existing septic systems. One of the approved ways of replacing a
septic system is setting up a community sewer system.

If the state approves the loan from the revolving fund, the council will
have to decide to whether accept the funds. If that happens, there will be
several public hearings scheduled since the citizens group plans has
indicated it will seek a special assessment district to pay back the loan
through a bond. To receive a good bond rating, the village will ask the
county to be the governmental body requesting the bond. The BPW would next
review the bond request, receive input from bond attorneys, and make a
recommendation to the county Board of Commissioners on whether to move
forward with the bond request.

A decision to accept the loan funding could come as soon at the August
village council meeting.

BPW chair Lee A. Bowen said at this point his primary concern was making
sure the county has the full faith and credit of the village for repaying
the bond, once that point is reached.

Since the project is being done by a private group, property owners within
the proposed sewer district and special assessment district area will be
able to opt out, an issue of concern for Bowen. He said after the meeting
that he is unsure what will happen if not enough people decide to be part of
the district.

BPW member Glen M. Noonan said he is also concerned about having the village
be financially responsible for a project that only serves part of the
village.

All three BPW members said they like what they see as far as the
organization and the layout of the sewer pipes and the wastewater treatment
facility is concerned.

The BPW also heard an update from Northport Village Administrator Greg King
and Village Council trustee Barbara VonVoigtlander on the Village of
Northport/Leelanau Township joint sewer system. King said construction on
the $13.3 million project should start sometime this week on the wastewater
treatment facility. VonVoigtlander said the village would be purchasing the
land for the facility from Jim Levy for $610,000, with the deal scheduled to
close on Friday, July 6.

Leelanau Township supervisor James Neve originally planned to attend the BPW
meeting Tuesday, but later scheduled a special Township Board meeting to
finalize securing seven easements on private property for the township¹s
portion of the sewer system.

The village and township have established a joint utilities authority that
will oversee the building of the system and its operations when it is
complete. Work on laying pipe for the system is expected to start later this
month.