PAGING THROUGH H
THE TRIBUNE-P HONOGRAPH PUBLISHED IN ABBOTSFORD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1970
Colby council hears plans for well, plant
The Colby city council, in a meeting Tuesday night, discussed plans to develop a new well for water supply before next summer, repairs at the water treatment plant and construction of a new sewage disposal plant.
Representatives of two concerns discussed their methods of locating a municipal water supply. The council set a special meeting for Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 8 p.m. to make a decision to hire one of the firms. The problem with the water supply and the treatment plan have come from a complete change and breakdown of the chemical composition of the water being obtained from the No. 2 well, located near the water treatment plant, according to Keith Glasshof of Owen Ayres and Associates, Eau Claire, the city’s engineering firm.
He explained that the calcium and magnesium in the water obtained from the well has increased to a point where it is no longer practical to treat the water. It has resulted in a high degree of mineral deposits at the new treatment plant, particularly within pipes. Because of the deposits, a portion of the plant is not being used at present. However, he has outlined methods by which the deposits can be dissolved, and this is being tried now by the city plant operators.
Water from the well remains unusable as a practical municipal water supply. It can be used in an emergency for a short time, but use on a long time basis is impractical because of the treatment problems, Glasshof said.
THE TRIBUNE-P HONOGRAPH PUBLISHED IN ABBOTSFORD WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1990
Assessment issue coming to a head
Mayor Duane Grube this week urged Abbotsford aldermen to have a solution to the Kreklau-Schilling assessment issues ready for a council vote at the March 5 meeting. Speaking at the Feb. 5 council meeting, Grube said the city’s choices are few in the Kreklau situation, and he suggested the council may have to take over the lots, which have come to have a market value less than what Kreklau owes the city on them.
A lengthy discussion during last week’s Special Assessment and Personnel Committees meeting produced no solution to the problem, which has been gaining momentum since the two builders developed residential land in the city at the end of the 1970s. The bills are for city-installed sanitary sewer lines.
Except for two years (1984 and 1988) Erv and Doris Schilling have the interest for special assessments on their nine lots. The council approved 0% interest for 1989 for both them and Kreklau. They now owe $25,019 on an original assessment of $19,216. The estimated market value of their lots is $52,500, and three of those lots were sold in 1989, so the Schilling is not nearly as acute as Larry Kreklau’s.
Kreklau has paid interest and assessments on his lots only as they are sold. The city has annually bought back the charges, and by the end of 1989, Kreklau owed $138,000 (principal plus interest) for 16.5 lots. The fact that the lots are worth an estimated $132,000 is what concerns the aldermen.
