City reports sewer system operating; council agrees to pursue an impact-fee study

Perry's wastewater supervisor presented the city's annual sewer survey, telling the council the system is being cleaned and inspected to meet state requirements and that no significant backups occurred over the last year.

"Essentially, over the last year, we didn't have any backups that needed to be taken care of," the presenter said, noting the system is cleaned on a cycle so one-third is serviced each year to meet the state's three-year requirement. The presenter added Perry has approximately "37 miles of pipe," with older trunk sections of concrete and newer sections mostly plastic; he also described lining technologies that allow sectional repairs without full excavation.

Council members pressed on system age, capital planning and whether a capital-replacement reserve or a 2% set-aside would be appropriate. Staff recommended an updated impact-fee/operations study (the last is listed as 2006), and said the plan is to seek grant funding to offset study costs and then invite Willard to participate once the scope and price are known. Staff also described the reporting process for the shared sewer plant: Perry compiles the collection-system sections, Willard provides its portion, the plant operator does the plant section and the financials are combined before submission to the state.