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MAYVILLE - With mounting questions about costs, village leaders have temporarily stopped moving forward with its multi-million dollar water project.
During the Village Board meeting, board members did not approve a resolution that would have authorized spending $526,000 to explore for groundwater outside the village limits.
Trustee Mark Perry said he reached out to Matthew Zarbo with Barton and Loguidice to discuss options for water, but has yet to hear from him.
The village was awarded a $2 million grant two years ago following Mayville's water crisis. Mayor Rick Syper said in the grant's requirements, the village is to look for a new water source.
The grant was awarded after traces of perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) were discovered in all three wells the village was using at the time.
After the chemical was discovered, the village was able to activate a fourth well. It also put filtration systems on one of the contaminated wells. Neither well can supply the village's water system alone, so village officials have been looking for another source.
"At the end of the day, he (Zarbo) truly believes, and the engineering report truly believes, that over the next 20 years, a non-contaminated water source is cheaper than having a GAC (Granular Activated Carbon filtration) system," Syper said.
Perry responded, "He might believe that, I don't. That's his opinion. It doesn't mean I have to agree with it," he said.
Perry said if they have to go outside village limits to find water, which is what the resolution called for, the cost to bring in that water will increase.
Instead, he wants to consider installing another filtration system on one of the two contaminated wells that aren't being used. "I just think we've got a pretty good producing well that will clear up quite quickly, at a (heck) of a lot less money and a lot of the work we can do ourselves," Perry said.
Neither Trustees Dan Roush nor Janel Webb commented on the resolution, but neither were willing to introduce it for a vote. Trustee Bill Ward was not in attendance.
Syper said without a vote, the resolution "dies."
After the meeting, Syper said he will invite Barton and Loguidice to a future meeting to discuss options.
A special meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at the village hall.
He added that he still believes it would be cheaper in the long run to find a new uncontaminated water well than to build another filtration system, because the filters are so costly and there isn't a timeline on how long they will last.
In June, it was estimated that Mayville's water project would cost around $9.4 million to complete.