2010-07-08 / Front Page

Chandler to mull resolution on plant

A second clarifer like this one at Chandler’s wastewater treatment plant is needed to boost capacity and for safety considerations, officials say. Paul Bryant Photo A second clarifer like this one at Chandler’s wastewater treatment plant is needed to boost capacity and for safety considerations, officials say. Paul Bryant Photo CHANDLER — A resolution authorizing the sale of certificates of obligation could be approved here on July 13 to pay for at least $900,000 in improvements at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

“There’s going to be a lot of discussion in that meeting,” city administrator Jim Moffeit said. “We work with a group of Fort Worth attorneys on this because it’s such a specialized thing.”

Certificates of obligation are bonds issued without voter approval. Although it could ultimately cost Chandler $2.7 million to upgrade portions of its wastewater treatment plant, the most pressing needs at the site are likely to require as little as $900,000.

City officials were still weighing their options for fi- nancing the work following a June meeting, but Moffeit said a vote could come as early as this month on how to pay for the bonds.

City Council member Gene Giger did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment.

The plant off Noonday Road operates with clarifier, oxidation ditch, screener, chlorine-contact chamber and drying bed. The city wants to add a second clarifier so that one can continue to run while work is performed on the other.

The single clarifier runs 24 hours a day, making it impossible for workers to perform maintenance on it.

The plant, the city’s second treatment facility, was built in the 1980s. It relies primarily on gravity-force sewer mains to deliver waste.

In areas where that is not possible, five lift stations pump waste to the plant.

Once waste water is treated through a four-step process, the clean water is redistributed into Lake Palestine.

The plant is permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to treat 500,000 gallons of waste water per day.

Chandler could use certificates of obligation or other revenue sources to finance the project.

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