The city’s wastewater treatment plant will be receiving a much-needed upgrade soon.
On Monday night, Athens City Council passed an ordinance authorizing the city service-safety director to accept bids and enter into a contract to renovate the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
According to Councilman Kent Butler, D-1st Ward, the plant was built more than 50 years ago and is due for an upgrade.
"We have two buildings from the '50s and '60s that desperately need to be replaced," Butler said.
Butler also said the buildings would have an updated wiring system that would make them more energy efficient, costing the city less money.
"We would get a more favorable rate and it would be more cost-efficient," he said.
Councilwoman Jennifer Cochran, D-At Large, introduced a resolution that would classify single-use plastic bags as an environmental concern. The resolution is an alternative to a measure Cochran had suggested over the summer that would charge a ten cent fee per non-reusable bag at retail stores and other businesses in Athens.
Council also passed an ordinance which will limit the city to a one-year contract with American Electric Power. Councilwoman Chris Fahl, D-4th Ward, said the contract was mainly to hold AEP accountable when the company sends crews to trim trees that intersect with power lines.
Up until now, the city has had a three year contract with the energy company.
“This is a way of keeping AEP on their toes,” Fahl said.
Council also passed ordinances authorizing improvements at the Highland Park playground, suspending metered parking in the Uptown garage for business events and allowing the city’s service-safety director to serve as a third-party health insurance administrator.
Fahl introduced an ordinance authorizing the city to sell its "sludge land" in Canaanville. The land had previously been used to store sludge produced by the wastewater treatment plant.
Mayor Steve Patterson said the Canaanville property had been ruined by the sludge.
“The land can’t take any more,” Patterson said.
