(Okoboji)– A public hearing on a major project to upsize water mains on the north side of Okoboji drew no opposition at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
City Administrator Dennis Daly says the project is intended to improve fire flows, with the volume currently going to hydrants in those areas being quite low.
The project is coming with a hefty price tag, though. Daly says preliminary estimates put it at 1.7 million dollars.
The project will be funded by a loan through a state revolving fund. That money will be paid back through water revenues. That means Okoboji residents, who will see their rates go up in the first quarter of 2008 to help pay for a separate project at the Central Water Plant, will see an even bigger jump later in the year to fund the water main project. Daly says rates will nearly double…with the minimum usage rate going from 24-dollars a quarter to 45-dollars. He says the additional hike will likely come in July.
In other business, the council Tuesday approved the appointment of Les Marousek to a vacancy on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission that expires August 15th of this year.
