It is not the kind of thing normally listed in rental notices, but the city of Seward now has a $2.02 million 24-month rental agreement with Aqua Aerobic Systems, Inc., for a temporary wastewater treatment system as it works toward replacing its existing treatment plant.
The temporary system is required by Nebraska Department of Water, Energy and Environment to service the DARI LLC dairy processing plant’s wastewater before the Wastewater Treatment Plant Facility Improvement Project is completed.
The unit will actually be built to the specifications the city needs for a site on South Second Street starting in 2026 and ending in 2027, but when the city is done with the temporary facility, it will be returned.
“You would have to have a perfect buyer to sell this equipment,” said Colin Marcusen of SEH, the company assisting with wastewater plans.
It would require nearly exact capacity flows from the Seward system.
“It is probably just cleaner to do a rental,” Marcusen said
DARI is expected to begin utilizing wastewater treatment in addition to its own pre-release treatment in 2027, which precedes the time at which the city expects to switch to its new wastewater system.
Marcusen told council members that seven of the eight change orders presented for the wastewater treatment plant design and bidding services are related to design changes needed for the DARI facility.
Those include changes to accommodate automated sampling, the interim treatment plan, adding a chemical room to increase treatment capacity, geotechnical testing and work on the Second Street lifting station.
The council approved the $630,209 change order package.
Also at the meeting, Seward City Administrator Greg Butcher reported on the Seward Economic Development Plan.
He said the city’s review committee looks at the actions of the economic development review board related to revenues and allocations made with funds generated by LB840-authorized sales tax.
As of the review committee’s Feb. 11 meeting, he said, the program has a balance of $384,666 and sales tax revenues are coming in around $12,000 per month.
The city program is receiving pre-payments on the loan debt undertaken by the Sixth Street Cafe project that did not happen, the distribution of $64,000 to Bottle Rocket Brewing for refinancing is still pending, and the city is in good position to collect on the Polytech/ Hexagon loan now in default based on the sale of assets, Butcher said.
The group approved one new application for a downtown project.
The report also included a public hearing, at which no one spoke.
In other action, the council:
• Heard Butcher report that he will meet with Seward Public School leadership and Nebraska Department of Transportation representatives to discuss safety issues along Highway 15 near Seward High School and as far north as Waverly Road.
• Approved a $43,793 change order for the Worthman Boulevard watermain phase III project with Van Kirk Bros. Contracting, which City Engineer Mike Oneby said involved running watermain lines under railroad tracks.
• Accepted Police Chief Brian Peters’ annual report on the Seward Police Department’s activities and noted that Seward ranks 21st among the state’s cities in population but has the fifth lowest crime rate at 11.6 incidents per 1,000 residents.
• Approved revisions to the cemetery fees and policies related to urn and vault charges and overtime pay requirements.
• Approved designation of a list of surplus items that may be sold.
• Reappointed Ryne Seaman to the Community Redevelopment Authority for a five-year term.
• Reappointed Ann Underwood and Trish Johnson to the LB840 Sales Tax Application Review Board for three-year terms.
• Reappointed Councilmember Megan Kahler to the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership Board for a three-year term.
