Mount Clemens to bill MDOT about $60,000 a year for stormwater treatment

The Mount Clemens City Commission voted to authorize a contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation that allows the city to bill MDOT for stormwater runoff treated at the Mount Clemens wastewater treatment plant.

City staff presented the agreement (MDOT contract no. 16-5407) and said it covers MDOT-owned stormwater collection along Gratiot that routes to the city’s combined sewer system. "The annual amount that will be collected from MDOT is estimated at approximately $60,000 or 1.53% of the expenses for wastewater treatment," city staff said during the presentation.

Commissioners asked whether the agreement included an end date and whether signing the contract would create extra city expense. Commissioner Menser asked, "The first thing I don't see is an ending date to this. Is this into perpetuity?" Staff replied that the contract is a standard form reviewed by the city attorney and that the $60,000 figure was an estimate based on five years of historical costs. Staff said the contract itself does not obligate the city to separate MDOT lines from the combined system; if separation were pursued in the future it would change cost allocations.

Staff added that the contract’s purpose is to allow the city to collect funds to cover treatment already being performed, not to shift liability for maintenance: "This contract is just simply so that we can collect for treating that stormwater," staff said. Commissioners sought clarification on whether MDOT would remain responsible for maintenance and were told the contract does not remove MDOT’s responsibility for their owned infrastructure.

The commission approved the contract by roll-call vote. The city attorney reviewed the agreement, and staff indicated the city may seek retroactive collections back to work started in 2013 if the arrangements support that recovery.

The commission did not set a timetable in the meeting for separating MDOT-owned stormwater from the combined sewer system; staff noted separation is a longer-term engineering and funding matter.