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Cedar Rapids utilities director updates Marion on $320 million wastewater upgrade, new billing agreement
Summary
Cedar Rapids utilities director Mike Adroy Husman told Marion City Council the wastewater plant’s Contract Two upgrades are under construction, costs have been value‑engineered to roughly $320 million, and a new interlocal billing agreement (a 20‑year framework) will go to Marion council April 9 with a planned July 1 effective date.
Mike Adroy Husman, utilities director for the City of Cedar Rapids, told the Marion City Council at its March 3 work session that major upgrades to Cedar Rapids’ wastewater treatment complex are underway and that the cities have nearly finished negotiating a new interlocal billing agreement.
Husman said the so‑called Contract Two work — primarily solids handling and new digesters using an AGS system — was bid in 2024, broke ground Nov. 1, 2024 and is on a roughly four‑year schedule. The original contract price was about $348 million; through value engineering, Husman said the figure has been reduced to about $320 million. He described the new solids‑handling building and digesters as designed to produce renewable natural gas from captured biogas.
The presentation also covered a revised 28E interlocal agreement (referred to in the presentation as a ‘‘2080’’ agreement). Husman said the new agreement will base invoicing on daily flow measurements and established wastewater parameters (total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand and total kjeldahl nitrogen; total phosphorus could be added if discharge limits are adopted). Under the draft, Marion’s population allowance would increase to 61,000 through 2042, reflecting a 20‑year planning horizon.
Husman said Cedar Rapids will provide Marion access to meter data and that the agreement includes an addendum on meter locations and data sharing to improve predictability. "Cedar Rapids actually gives us Marion access to their meters. We can pull the data at any time," he told the council.
City staff recommended bringing the final agreement and an accompanying ordinance amendment to Marion City Council on April 9, followed by the required public hearing and a final reading; staff indicated the agreement is expected to take effect July 1. Husman said the change will make annual rate planning more transparent and allow Marion to budget with greater predictability than the prior, flow‑and‑weather‑sensitive formula.
What’s next: staff said Marion’s attorney is completing final legal review and that the agreement and the ordinance change (to create a "group six" classification for joining communities) will be presented together for council action in April. The council’s public Q&A focused on parameters that affect billing and on ensuring meter comparability and data access.
No formal council action on the agreement was recorded in the work session; staff indicated a formal agenda item and required hearing will appear before the council on the announced dates.
