Embarrassment of city's water treatment plant

We see a "plug" for a solar power co-op thing with our current City of Morris water bills. These bills are higher now because of the new water treatment plant. Regrettably I am writing once again re. the plant and its confusing ramifications. 

I would rather be writing an update on MACA sports. We have of course experienced a hiatus from sports. That whole world stopped spinning, in my mind, just before the state boys basketball tournament was scheduled to begin last spring. I was all set to write about Jackson County Central. I had a good info source available for the Huskies who made their climb with a win over the Minnewaska Area Lakers. I regularly write about the Lakers. My late father was a graduate of Glenwood High School. I am currently a customer of Glenwood State Bank where my late uncle was once president. 

 

A clown car, yes

So now I'm thinking about the City of Morris which unfortunately I found to be rather a clown car of confusion. It is not funny. Water quality matters are not cut and dried. All I had hoped for was some responsible course on how to proceed. I ran into contradictions. This I was not prepared for. 

Kevin Wohlers (kmrs-kkok)

I told Councilman Kevin Wohlers that "water softener" was simply on a list of "things to do" for me re. the household. Get the proper advice and information and proceed. When you are dealing with an entity like city government, you would like to think you don't have to watch your back. I was not aware I was stepping into a situation that had controversy or contentiousness. But it surely did. 

When government gets involved in anything, it should make the particulars totally clear to everyone. What is the background? What is the reasoning? How might a prudent homeowner proceed? So, take the necessary actions and move on with life, move on to other matters on the "list." Ah, not so fast. 

A little over a year ago I purchased a new softener based on advice from a private enterprise. The City of Morris had steered people to getting consultation from private enterprises. I wish I could have dealt with my normal plumbing and heating company. That would be Mohr's who I did in fact call at the very start. I have an established relationship with those people and they are very capable with what they do. But it is not a water quality company. So I had to cast about elsewhere. 

I felt rushed into this by a new law passed by the city council and reported very prominently on the front page of the Morris newspaper. It was thumbs-down on "old" or non-adjustable softeners. All I knew about our existing softener, a Kinetico, was that I put in salt when the level got low. It was evidently non-adjustable. 

Last January I got the letter from the City of Morris to all water patrons. Under "subject" we read the word "requirements." And I guess that means we're required to do something. It's a government entity or an entity related to government, so the word "requirements" must be respected. That's what "requirement" means - you have to do something, like fasten your seat belt or you'll get a citation as the Morris mayor reportedly recently did. So our City of Morris police are doing their job. I got one seat belt ticket and after that got a warning. Seems an odd sequence. 

My physician told me in my Medicare wellness check that older people - ahem, yours truly - can have an issue with compliance because of course we've been behind the wheel most of our lives with no such requirement. 

 

"Needs" to be done

And now we face "requirements" with water softeners, according to the January (2020) city letter. Requirements! The letter reads "the use of systems that can't be adjustable to the new hardness level needs to be discontinued." So, just like having to wear your seat belt, right? The seat belt law first came into being with actual assurance that it would never be a "primary offense." You'd get pulled over for something else and then get cited. Promises, promises. If you drive unbelted now, you can imagine the "Dragnet" theme song playing as you see the lights of a squad car in your rear view mirror. 

So contrary to impressions, the Morris police don't spend all their time in Don's Cafe. They cannot at present due to the shutdown - maybe that's why they might seem out and around more. I was accosted by a cop when I was just walking home one day last April. 

So are the "water softener enforcers" coming around? It would be a logical thought based on the city talking about "requirements." But wait, the city manager appeared to sound baffled when he was quoted on the radio station website about community perceptions. He accused us all of rumor mongering. To suggest that townspeople are susceptible to rumor-sharing is an insult. City officials should not use such language. But here we go with quotes from the city manager: "We don't have a plan right now to go into every property and inspect every water softener." 

On this and other occasions, the city has been pretty loose in referring to "water softener companies" even though these are profit-driven systems. 

 

An alternative

Attention Kevin Wohlers and others: the city might have considered contracting an individual with water quality business credentials, who would be on call to go and get people's softeners. It would require some tax dollars, but the many water customers of Morris would be relieved of a special cost. 

Just as practical as the old "spring clean-up," right? I remember when Rae Yost at the paper wrote an editorial suggesting the program, and I wonder if she knew we once had it. It was super in theory. Jim Morrison told me about a problem in connection to it: people would put stuff out, then the collectors would come along and say "oh, we don't take that." I asked Jim "what about calling the city office?" Jim said "they don't know." Yes, there is much the city people do not know. 

City Mgr. Blaine Hill (kmrs-kkok)

I am irate at reading the last paragraph of the radio website article. It says the city manager recommends softener adjustment "as you'll save money on both salt and water usage." I have spent $1500 on a new softener and now I have higher water bills. 

I have told friends that the $1500 is what I would have given to my church for the year. I withheld that. We aren't having in-person services anyway. If you resent the ELCA-affiliated First Lutheran church for political reasons, you're happy it was denied some money. Maybe you're one of those with your pom poms out for Good Shepherd Church. And of course you all are Trump voters. 

Again we see the big blue Trump-Pence sign on display out by Greeley Plumbing in such a high-profile place. What is the message that this community is sending with this sign? That Morris is a town of losers? I haven't heard a peep about how 2021 is Morris' Sesquicentennial year. It's mind-boggling. 

I suppose I could have the "water quality company" come to my home again. But would you be enthused about that if you were me? My new "softener" appears not to have used any salt at all over 12 months.

Original drawing of the Morris plant (U of M)

The letter from the city said the new city water is five grains of hardness. However, this past fall a very well-placed source - believe me, the best credentials - told me the state directed the city to adjust to where the water is 7-10 grains. My source told me the original goal was 2-5 grains. Then the city settled on five grains, according to legend, and that's why the city letter stated five grains. 

The higher number, the less good the water is. The background I obtained is that water that is too good or too pure cannot be allowed to go through lead pipes. "Flint Michigan had a water treatment plant," my source informed me. 

If Morris residents made decisions on the basis of five grains, as per the city's letter, might they now be in position to take legal action? 

The city's letter said "you may want to upgrade to a new system. You may want to discontinue the use of a water softener system completely. You may want to bypass your system. All these options are available to you and have in fact already been done by various customers." 

I had no basis, personally, for really knowing how to proceed. So I ended up having to call a water quality company. And they said I needed a new softener. And the device appears to have done nothing. 

I wish the city could have shared more direct, authoritative instructions. Would it be prudent for me to go softener-less? The letter implies it is. But it is far from a clear statement. 

The city loves to tell us how we can be relieved of handling sacks of salt. I didn't think it was a big deal at all. The confusion and frustration I have felt over the past year in connection to this, has been worse. Far, far worse. And my church has suffered for it. But maybe you're glad about that if you're a chest-thumping Republican, as most Morris area people appear to be. My ELCA church includes people with "progressive" attitudes. We're communists, I guess. 

 

A misrepresentation, maybe?

This is significant: the letter from the city says the new plant came about "because of a mandate from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to reduce the salt discharge from our sewer ponds into the Pomme de Terre River." 

A mandate! I'm not so sure about that. Shortly before our current shutdown began, one day when I was dining at Don's Cafe where most likely some police officers were present, guns in holsters, I was seated across from Donny Wohlers, well-known and civic-minded person, brother of Kevin. Donny said that at one point in the process, our City Manager Blaine Hill was presented with a piece of paper where he could have checked a box for "we don't need this." "This" was the treatment plant. Donny doesn't tell tall tales. The Wohlers family is salt of the earth. 

My source who shared the Flint MI quote with me really tried distilling the whole matter: "Sometimes I think we make things too complicated." Amen and hallelujah. 

 

City has lost credibility

So now the City of Morris is broaching the topic of solar energy, with a note on our water bills about a new co-op where the city is partner. So the question arises, if us citizens are first required to wear seat belts, then to discard "old softeners," might the day come when we're "required" to install solar panels? It is not outlandish. And I'm sure those suckers are expensive. 

I really hate to say this, but we might have to elect more Republicans. They are the laissez-faire anti-regulation party. But the Republicans will have to flush the Trump family down the toilet first. 

Would I be interested in a solar energy co-op in which the City of Morris is a participant? Right now I wouldn't trust the City of Morris any further than I can throw a piano. The city cops are fine if they're just kept in Don's Cafe. Keep guns in holsters please.

 

My podcast for Jan. 5

I continue with my theme of music at East Side Park. Today I tell about the earlier bandstand at the park, before the Killoran stage came into being. Yes, there was a previous one. I also share some general history of the park. The Great Northern Railroad helped out. Here is the permalink:

https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/A-previous-bandstand-at-park-eojhml

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com