Council accepts $21,000 DNR planning grant to update phosphorus implementation plan

The City Council voted to accept a $21,000 planning grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to develop a more detailed phosphorus implementation plan related to total maximum daily load (TMDL) requirements for the Wisconsin River. The grant is a 50/50 award; the city will contribute $10,500 from the stormwater utility.

Joe Eichstead, City Engineer, said the application was submitted nearly a year earlier and followed the city's annual stormwater permit report and the DNR's review. Eichstead said the DNR found the city's general implementation plan insufficiently detailed for phosphorus limits and that the grant funds will pay for consultant work to produce a more thorough implementation plan.

Eichstead said the city would solicit consulting firms and use the $21,000 budgeted scope to complete the plan. When asked by Michael Timm who would create the plan, Eichstead said the city would hire a consultant and noted a prior consultant had done related analysis and an earlier general implementation plan.

The chair moved to accept the grant and Michael Timm seconded; the council voted in favor and accepted the grant. Financing for the city's $10,500 match was noted as stormwater utility funds.

Council materials referenced the Wisconsin DNR Urban Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Abatement and Stormwater Management Grant Program as the funding source. The council did not record any amendments or conditions to the acceptance during the meeting.