Burr Oak sewer board is moving ahead with modifications to the system

Burr Oak (Courtesy of Beacon software)

The Iowa DNR has notified the Burr Oak Sewer District that its current system is "non-compliant."  The district has been given until June of 2018 to make improvements.

Board member Jim Olson says the district will spend roughly half a million dollars to pump sewage waste to property it is buying along Highway 52.

The board is hoping to finance the project in two ways. 

First of all, it is getting ready to apply for a Community Development Betterment Grant for half of the cost of the project--around $250,000.  On Monday the Winneshiek County Board opened proposals from two companies--Erdman Engineering in Decorah and Fehr-Graham Engineering in West Union--giving their qualifications for being chosen to engineer the project.  Olson says the Burr Oak board has worked with Erdman Engineering in the past and he expects them to continue that relationship.

The board is also contacting Burr Oak residents to see what percentage of the 70 households in the community qualify for low to moderate income status.  In order to apply for the CDBG grant, over half of the community must qualify.

Olson expects the grant application to be filed by the end of 2016, with an announcement possibly coming in May of 2017.

If the Burr Oak Sewer Board gets the grant and proceeds with the project, the rest of the money would come from refinancing the original 1992 bonds that paid for creation of the sewer system.  Those bonds carried an interest rate of over 5 percent, while current bonds are expected to be around 1.8 percent.

If all goes as planned, construction will begin and be finished well before the June 2018 DNR deadline.