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River Falls council adopts 2025 MS4 stormwater annual report after staff presentation
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Summary
The River Falls City Council voted by voice to adopt the city's 2025 MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) annual report after a presentation by engineering technician Tyler Galvey that summarized inspections, repairs and modeling work and answered council questions about grants, adopt‑a‑pond numbers and university coordination.
Tyler Galvey, identified in the meeting as the city’s engineering technician, presented River Falls’ 2025 MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) annual report and the council adopted the report by voice vote.
Galvey explained the MS4 program’s purpose and compliance requirements, saying, “MS4 stands for municipal separate storm sewer system,” and walked the council through 2025 activity and inspection metrics. He reported that staff performed 61 construction‑site inspections, inspected 40 outfalls, reviewed 73 stormwater ponds, inspected 415 storm sewer structures and completed 14 repairs. He also told the council the city recorded “0 illicit discharges reported to the DNR” in 2025. Galvey said the city completed a DNR audit of its MS4 program and has used an Urban Nonpoint Source grant to update citywide stormwater modeling to estimate phosphorus and total suspended solids removal; he said a final modeling report will be completed in the coming months.
Council members pressed staff on funding and program details. One council member asked whether proactive planning or MS4 compliance makes the city eligible for additional state grants for erosion control and difficult site planning; Galvey said he was not aware of a direct state “reward” program for proactive planning but described how thorough site‑plan review, comments to developers and regular inspections help achieve compliance. A council member raised conflicting numbers in the report about the adopt‑a‑pond program; Galvey responded that 84 ponds are considered adoptable and that roughly 11–12 of those are currently adopted. Another question asked whether issues on the UW River Falls campus revert to the city; Galvey said the university uses the city as a partner under a long‑term arrangement and that specifics depend on the existing agreement with the university.
A staff member (Scott) and council members also discussed the practical limits of available state funding and the risk that cities that are more proactive may face higher expectations from regulators when statewide comparisons are made. Scott observed that basin and watershed planning are helpful but that funding opportunities are limited.
Following the presentation and questions, a council member moved to adopt the 2025 MS4 annual report. The mayor called for a voice vote; council members answered “Aye” and the mayor declared the motion adopted.
The council’s action completes the city’s internal step of finalizing the MS4 annual report and adopting the report for submission; Galvey said the city expected to finalize and submit the annual report by the end of the week and to receive the final modeling results in the coming months.
