Print
Share page with AddThis

2022/03/07 - Mayor's Column: New Sewer Plant Expansion

 

­“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH
­­­                                                    

Over the last five years we have been able to successfully decrease the City of O’Fallon’s property tax rate to its lowest point in the last 35 years. We have also been able to reduce our city debt by over $24 million.

We have also put a concerted effort into maintaining and upgrading our city infrastructure and city facilities.  In the 2022 - 2023 Fiscal Year (May 1, 2022 – April 30, 2023), we are going to make some significant investments in our infrastructure.

The largest item, we have been working on for over three years. This is an upgrade and expansion to our city-owned sewer plant.  These upgrades will have our plant in compliance with new IEPA requirements, reduce operating cost, and expand our capacity to accommodate for future growth.

Here is some information on what we will gain with the expansion:

  1. It will have a design to handle a 140% increase from our current daily average flow. It will be able to treat 8.5 million gallons per day and at peak surge, be able to accommodate 14.6 million gallons per day.  
  2. It will reduce our operation costs of the plant by about $200,000 per year.
  3. It is designed to handle O’Fallon’s growth for the next 20 years.
  4. It will allow us to achieve the new and more stringent phosphorus restrictions by the IEPA

The anticipated cost is about $12 million. We have been approved due to our good financial rating for an IEPA loan for 20 years at an interest rate of 1.1%. 

We will be going out for bids shortly on this major new improvement.  It is just one more way that we want to keep looking forward and preparing our city for the future.

On a separate note, on March 16th we will have my 18th Town Hall Meeting at City Hall at 6:30 PM. We will cover the New City 2040 Master Plan and the new ward map for the City’s seven wards.

This Town Hall will be open to the public and aired on Zoom. I hope to see you there in-person (or virtually)!

As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open.