Jorn said progress is being made on the city audit report that needs to be submitted to the state and that he expects the auditors to be in town to complete field work. It is expected the audit will be completed sometime in August.
In a related note, Jorn said that because the audit has not been submitted, the city highway allocation funds are currently being withheld. The funds will be released once the audit report is filed with the state.
The Council later approved submitting a preapplication for a $4 million grant with the money to be used to aid water service customers in paying for their portion of replacing water service lines.
The EPA in mandating complete removal and replacement of lead and galvanized water lines and it is recommended customers replace their portion of the service to their properties as well. 60% of the grant funds may be forgiven with the 40% reimbursement passes on to water customers.
Jorn also provided an update on the status of the $5 million grant for a new electrical substation. Some additional information has been submitted which is currently being reviewed.
An application for around $5.6 million for a five year project to replace gas lines in the community has also been submitted. The total cost of the project is not yet known.
The Council also approved making a change of software for utility billing, general ledger and payroll which should be less costly than what the city is paying for current software services.
