The Seminole City Council will convene for a special meeting next Tuesday to once again talk about how to fund the new wastewater treatment facility.

Four years ago, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) contacted Seminole with a Notice of Violation regarding ongoing deficiencies at the current facility.

“We knew we would need to start the process of building a new one. The current one was built more than 80 years ago,” said Public Works Director Bryant Baker. “It has had two remodels, but that did not address underlying issues from 1940s technology.”

Seminole made plans, brought on an engineer and estimated that a new plant would cost $21 million in 2020.

“When the construction was bid in 2021, the amounts post-COVID came in at $46 million, more than double our original estimate,” Baker stated.

“The city council had prepared for a $21 million hit to our budget, and although we would need to tighten up our bootstraps, it was a number we were comfortable with,” said City Manager Steve Saxon. “But $46 million is way out of our comfort zone, and we have lost countless hours of sleep coming up with ways to pay for this plant.”

Over the last two months, the city council has watched a presentation of methods that could be used to pay for the plant, or a mix of methods to come up with $782,118 per year to offset the loans acquired through USDA.

“The council and staff take pride in the fact we can balance our budget each year. But when granting agencies look at our numbers, they perceive we can manage our funding and offered loan dollars instead of grant dollars. It is a fine line to walk. We want to be good stewards with city funds and still show the need for federal dollars,” Saxon continued.

Saxon has shown several scenarios in slides that compile all known funding sources to come up with the loan payments. A video is available online at www. seminole-oklahoma.net/ city-council. The QR code included in this article will also link you to the video. (See graphic on page 3 for an overview of options).

The meeting will take place Tuesday, May 6 in the Goldie Barnett Conference Room of the Seminole Public Library and is open to the public.