Bemidji rejects Northern Township's request to join forces in wastewater

BEMIDJI — The Bemidji City Council denied Northern Township’s request to connect to the city’s wastewater treatment plant following a months-long boundary dispute between the two local governments.

In February, a judge approved Northern Township’s petition to become its own city, while rejecting Bemidji’s petition to annex properties around Lake Bemidji. The same administrative law judge rejected Bemidji’s request to reconsider parts of the decision following the connection request.

Northern Township received numerous grants to install sewer services around the lake, and its plan throughout the boundary trial was to build a new wastewater treatment facility to connect homes and businesses that currently rely on septic tanks.

In its Monday, March 16, meeting, the Bemidji City Council reaffirmed the city policy of “no connection without annexation."

Mayor Jorge Prince commented on the many neighborhoods around Bemidji — such as Birchmont Drive north of the Bemidji State University campus — that were annexed to connect to services over the years.

Changing the policies for Northern Township could open the city up to some legal consequences, Prince said, such as neighborhoods detaching from Bemidji.

“When you look at some of the folks on Birchmont, why were they annexed? Because they were provided city water and sewer. If the Council changed its policy, if I were with them, I'd feel cheated," he said.

“And if I was bordering another city or township, boy, I'd sure start talking about detachment and say, ‘I want the same deal that you're giving to these other folks,’ which would be a very reasonable thing.”

He also noted that a new wastewater treatment facility was core to Northern Township’s legal arguments in the dispute.

“We were told in court that the township needed to incorporate so that it could issue the bonds it needed to service the debt for the plant it was going to build," Prince said. “That was a key argument for why they needed to be a city. So why would I take that away from them?”

The decision was not unanimous, with the most senior member of the Council — Emelie Rivera — voting against reaffirming the city’s policies, which she said are not applied consistently and are outdated.

“If we go to reaffirm it, then I expect, then, on all alley paving projects, the total cost shall be charged as special assessments to the benefit of properties going forward, because that's our policy,” she said. “We currently don't.”

Rivera further said that while she does not believe the city should start assessing properties for alley paving projects, the Council should consider reviewing and revising its current policies.

Construction on a wastewater treatment plant on the north side of Lake Bemidji could begin as soon as this summer, with Northern’s first phase of underground infrastructure expected to be installed at the same time as a road construction project on the Birchmont Beach Road.