Board interviews manager candidates

SEELEY LAKE – At their Nov. 18 meeting, the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board interviewed two candidates for the District Manager position, heard a presentation on an alternative sewer and voted to fund E-DNA testing on Seeley Lake. A vote to continue funding of a high school water-testing program on Morrell Creek failed.

The Board interviewed David Losee and William (Bill) Decker for the open District Manager position. Both are Seeley Lake residents who live outside of the Sewer District and both said they would not rule out ever investing in property inside the District.

Losee has worked for Pacific Gas and Electric Company and ExxonMobil with experience including project budgets, securing funding and senior management approval. He said he was involved in a proposed sewer project in Woods Bay on Flathead Lake for several years and now that he lives in Seeley Lake he would like to help out here. He said the Woods Bay project faced many of the same obstacles that Seeley is facing.

Losee has been involved in several wastewater projects with most of them dealing with industrial wastewater. He has also dealt with groundwater issues including monitoring and finding the source for hydrocarbon contamination from things like leaking fuel tanks.

Decker has 22 years experience as a water/wastewater operator including eight years as the General Manager of the Sun Prairie Village County Water and Sewer District northwest of Great Falls, Montana.

Decker said he was first interested in the District when he moved here in 2019. While he lives outside of the District, he said he could see the District expanding to include his neighborhood at some point in the future.

Decker said he has been involved as a board member in annexing an area into a municipal sewer district where a collection system was constructed along with extending the municipal water service. His work with the Sun Prairie’s District included overseeing design, funding and constructing a major water improvement project.

The Board plans to have a closed session at their next meeting to discuss the two applicants before making their selection.

Representatives from Orenco Systems gave a presentation on their products. Orenco is based in Sutherland, Oregon and specializes in decentralized sewer solutions from individual homes up to full communities.

Orenco builds liquid-only sewers or septic tank effluent pump (STEP) systems where every house has a tank that treats and separates out the solid waste and then only the liquid effluent is pumped to the treatment plant.

Several advantages to Orenco’s liquid-only sewers over gravity collection systems were presented. These included smaller diameter sewer mains, eliminating lift stations and manholes, less excavation when installing, more compact treatment plant and lower operating and maintenance costs.

Orenco currently has a Level 2 nitrogen reducing system approved in Montana but it is not rated to treat down to the level of the previously designed system for Seeley Lake. However, Orenco’s liquid-only sewer collection system can be connected to any kind of treatment plant that meets the requirements of the discharge permit such as the one presented last month built by SepticNET.

To learn more about Orenco’s products visit http://www.orenco.com

Last summer Clearwater Resource Council (CRC) collected and tested water samples from area lakes for E. Coli in hopes of better understanding how septic systems are impacting water quality. CRC presented a proposal to the Board to continue the testing at two locations on Seeley Lake to see how impacts change with the seasons.

In the proposal, two options were given. The first option continued the testing for eight months using the same parameters of CRC’s summer testing for E. Coli. This first option would cost $2,695.

The second option was for 12 months and included eDNA testing. eDNA testing was proposed because E. Coli lives in both humans and animals so when E. Coli is found it does not necessarily mean the contamination is human caused. The eDNA test will determine if the E. Coli found is from animals or humans. This option costs $5,515.

The Board voted three to one to fund the second option using money that has been saved by not having a manager for the last several months.

The Board then discussed continuing funding for the high school’s student water monitoring program on Morrell Creek that the District has funded since 2015. The vote to continue funding failed. Vice President Pat Goodover and Director Cheri Thompson voted in favor and President Tom Morris and Director Jason Gilpin voted against it.

The Board’s next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 16. The agenda and information on how to participate will be posted on the District’s website seeleysewer.org