By a show of hands Tuesday night, more than 50 residents agreed the city's wastewater disposal should be linked with Spanish Fork's treatment facility. Only two hands went up in support of a city-owned lagoon system.
After months of wavering between a new lagoon wastewater system or hooking up with Spanish Fork, Mayor Richard Maxfield and the City Council presented the last round of pros and cons of each system in the first of two public hearings before the City Council's final vote.The city's previous administration initially looked at building a lagoon system with the hopes that some of the water could be used for irrigation purposes. For more than three months, they vacillated between building the lagoons or contracting with Spanish Fork's treatment plant.
After looking at the possibilities and listening to residents, city officials are now leaning toward contracting with Spanish Fork.
"Spanish Fork is a natural for us," said Maxfield. "And Spanish Fork will benefit from the money we'll bring to it."
Councilman Walter Walser, who also served on the previous council, presented the pros and cons of each system.
With a lagoon system, Walser said, it was anticipated that not only would the city have ownership of the plant, but the city might also be able to reclaim the water to help with a pressurized irrigation system.
However, it would force residents to pay higher energy costs, and there would be higher operation and maintenance costs than with Spanish Fork's system. It is also unsure whether water from the lagoons could be reusable by Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Walser said the advantage of contracting with Spanish Fork is placing trenches and using gravity to let the flow run down hill to the treatment plant instead of having to pump water up to lagoon sites in Mapleton.
It would also be easier to get environmental impact studies, costs would be lower and Spanish Fork already has trained employees. The biggest disadvantage in linking with Spanish Fork, according to Walser, would be not having control of the treatment plant and coming up with a detailed working contract.
While Mapleton weighs the issues, Spanish Fork officials continue to maintain the same attitude they have had all along.
"Our position is the same as it has been for the past year," said Spanish Fork City Manager David Oyler. "Spanish Fork City has agreed with Mapleton. If they are willing to pay their fair share, we would allow them to purchase into our treatment-plant facility."
Oyler also said the treatment plant has more than adequate space to accommodate both cities now and in future years at its current growth rate. The agreement would most likely resemble current solid waste disposal and energy agreements.
"The cost to service more than one community goes down for both communities when you join together," Oyler said. "The cost of service is better when you have more than one community joining together."
Maxfield said the next step will be for both city attorneys to develop a working contract to be presented at the last public hearing on the issue at 7 p.m., Wednesday, June 1, at the Mapleton Memorial Building (across from the city buildings).