As city plans a rate increase, Grand Forks’ wastewater fees are middle of the pack among peer cities
A $45 million plan to upgrade Grand Forks sewage plant would mean a series of fee increases for residents. At present, those fees are about near the median rate charged by comparable cities. 7:00 am, May 22, 2021 ×
Tod Matelski, supervisor of Grand Forks s wastewater treatment plant, visits with a guest outside the plant, built in the early 2000s and located near Grand Forks International Airport. The city is planning a series of 3% hikes to residents wastewater bills to pay for $45 million worth of upgrades at the plant over the next six years. Most of that work, Matelski explained, would replace underground pipes and revamp the interiors of the plant s four bioreactors. (Korrie Wenzel/Grand Forks Herald)
an inter-city bridge over the Red River that would cost between an estimated $35 million and $53 million, depending on its location and height, among other factors. City Administrator Todd Feland said the city is presuming the government will stick with a typical 80/20 cost split for those three projects, which would put the city’s total request for all five projects somewhere between $137 million and $155 million.
Across the river, East Grand Forks city staff submitted to Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., a nearly identical request for money for an inter-city bridge. The city did not ask for any further money from the program, but City Council members there also approved a resolution on April 6 that asks for federal bridge money and preemptively OK d city staff to submit a request for it. They’ve also begun, perhaps prematurely,
Ruling goes against a complaint made last year by the Grand Forks Herald. 5:09 pm, Apr. 19, 2021 ×
North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem
North Dakota’s attorney general has found that Grand Forks City Hall officials did not violate the state’s open meeting laws when they met quietly last summer to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the Grand Forks Herald’s assertion to the contrary.
The newspaper in September complained to Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, claiming that the meetings were of a committee of a public entity as defined in North Dakota Century Code. The city claimed they were not public, and Stenehjem ultimately sided with the city.
Grand Forks County is about 50% of the way to herd immunity, but vaccine hesitancy could be a challenge
The number of people in northeastern North Dakota who indicated that they were unwilling to receive a COVID-19 vaccine could shrink the figurative pool of people Grand Forks County public health workers hope to vaccinate to achieve herd immunity. 9:35 pm, Apr. 19, 2021 ×
The large number of people who have said they are skeptical of a COVID-19 vaccine means Grand Forks County is approaching a ceiling of sorts as public health workers seek to achieve herd immunity.
A total of 21,368 county residents have been fully vaccinated as of Friday, April 16, according to data presented to Grand Forks City Council members on Monday. That’s more than halfway to the mark that public health workers believe they need to achieve herd immunity, which would mean the virus, in effect, runs out of room to spread.