Eggs and Issues Gets Underway With Local Topics

Oskaloosa Mayor Dave Krutzfeldt (left) and Mahaska County Supervisor Willie Van Weelden (right) represented local government during the January 13th edition of Eggs and Issues.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The annual Eggs and Issues political forum hosted by the Oskaloosa Area Chamber and Development Group is easily one of the best public forums in the state, bringing decision makers and voters to table over a cup of coffee.

Oskaloosa Mayor Dave Krtuzfeldt and Mahaska County Supervisor Willie Van Weelden were on the hot seat, moderated by former state senator Tom Rielly.

Krutzfeldt was the first to update the crowd about what has been happening, in this case, with the city of Oskaloosa.

Krutzfeldt talked about some of the projects the city has focused on during the past year, including infrastructures such as sanitary and stormwater sewer systems, rental inspection. He also discussed changes for the community in the upcoming year, including the redesign of South D near A Ave.

Van Weelden spoke about the county efforts with secondary roads, wind turbines, and that oil is now flowing through the pipeline.

Roads for the upcoming year include roads near Peoria (G5T), T65 near the South Skunk River up to the Lacey blacktop.

Another road in the near future to see repair is G71 south of Oskaloosa. “We’ve got some road building going on,” said Van Weelden.

The valuation of county property is now just over 1 billion dollars in total. The total increase to the county budget from those utilities into the county coffers is unknown at this time.

Since no one from the audience stood up to ask a question, Rielly asked Krutzfeldt about the water and sewer rates, and some information as to why they have risen. “What is driving this,” asked Rielly.

Krutzfeldt said that three years ago, the Iowa DNR contacted the city of Oskaloosa as part of the EPA mandate to remove nutrients from the waters feeding into the Gulf of Mexico. The reason being is that the nutrients were causing dead zones in the gulf.

“We got our notification a few years ago,” said Krutzfeldt of the hefty regulations, which then sparked a review of the stormwater and sanitary sewer systems to prevent inflow and infiltration [INI] from one system to the other.

The 100-year-old system was found to have deficiencies, allowing the influx of rainwater into the sanitary system. Rainstorms would cause the treatment plant to overflow causing a trigger from the DNR.

Krutzfeldt said the mandate came down for the council to revamp both their storm and sanitary sewer systems, which also includes updating the treatment facilities, all of which will end up costing the citizens of Oskaloosa more than 30 million dollars.

The only way to pay for those mandates from the state and federal government is to raise the rates.

Krutzfeldt said the council worked on a plan for incremental increases to the rates to help the ratepayers be better prepared. “We wanted to raise those rates in such a way that people could make adjustments in their own budgets and feel comfortable with that, knowing that we had more to go.”

Krutzfeldt said the last increase was the last of the big ones. “Is there anybody happy about this? No. When you hear people talking about we need to do something about the water quality in Iowa. Bear in mind that that’s your checkbook they’re talking about.”

“In the end, sooner or later we were going to be replacing all of this infrastructure. 100 years old, that’s plenty of time for something to last. We still have some clay tile that’s doing just fine with over 100 years in it, but if you treat it right, it does fine. But the point is, sooner or later this was going to come around,” said Krutzfeldt.

“So 100 years ago, people were paying big bucks to get this infrastructure in the ground, now it’s our turn to come back around and do it again. Build it in such a way that it’s more durable,” added Krutzfeldt.

Krutzfelt outlined what steps are being taken along the way to help curb costs for Oskaloosa residents, including petitioning the delay of ultraviolet treatment, saving a million dollars to the ratepayers. “So we were able to differ a million dollars of expense right now and be able to spend it later when it’s a little more prudent.”

That ultraviolet light will be part of the updated treatment plant when it’s finished upgrading the treatment plant.

Krutzfeldt said that the city council is aware, “through their own pocketbook, that this has an impact on everybody in the community. We apologize. We try to communicate it, but on the other hand, we’re backed up against the wall.”

An update was also given by Krutzfeldt on the upcoming recreation center and child development center.

Krutzfeldt said that the regional airport project is progressing ahead, and answered a question from Fred Bridges about the sale of the land at the current airport near Fremont.

Also touched on was the potential of a second wave of the facade improvement project that’s been underway in the Oskaloosa downtown the past year. The second phase would cover the west and south sides of the square.

The next Eggs and Issues is scheduled for January 27th, 2018 at 8:30 am inside Smokey Row and will feature Rep. Guy Vander Linden and Sen. Ken Rozenboom.