Council defends keeping wastewater plant, weighs operator pay and hears call to honor donor at recreation center

Lowell City Council members on the same meeting discussed recent work on the city's wastewater treatment plant and fielded public pleas on two community items: naming the Lowell Recreation Center to honor a longtime donor and whether to raise the plant operator's pay.

Several council members said preliminary design work and new information support the council’s earlier decision to retain and upgrade the wastewater treatment plant rather than turn operations over to an outside provider. Committee member (S9) told fellow council members, "it was a right decision for the city," after reviewing recent engineering information.

During the public-comment portion, a resident urged the council to preserve donor recognition at the Lowell Recreation Center and to consider boosting the salary of sewer plant operator Dan Daugherty. The speaker recalled that Joe R. Hudson donated land and paid for the building and said the facility should retain Hudson's name. On operator pay the resident recommended increasing pay "from $60,000 a year to $72,000 a year," arguing the operator does critical work and often pays for fuel and an engineer out of personal funds.

Council members agreed the request for a salary increase requires more information before a formal vote. One councilor (S9) asked staff and the mayor to gather the operator's hours, duties and comparable market data, then return the figures to the council for formal consideration.

Council also discussed municipal process issues including stormwater regulation: a council member asked whether the city will adopt the state stormwater rules or draft a local ordinance. Staff said members had not yet been sent the materials and that the council could consider adopting the state ordinance or drafting local language.

The meeting also included routine announcements — a clock repair scheduled for Oct. 21, completion of the recreation center roof and timeline notes for upcoming public-works design estimates — and the council asked staff to advertise a vacancy on the planning board for at least 30 days.

Next steps: staff will compile market and payroll data for the sewer-plant operator pay question, advertise the planning-board vacancy, and publish ordinance updates and budget accounting adjustments as noted by finance staff.