City Council members, sitting as the Newcastle Public Works Authority, took another step towards the construction of a new wastewater treatment facility. They issued a promissory note not to exceed $40 million to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.
They took this action during their June 12 regular meeting. At that time, they also approved an agreement which provides for paying the financing with revenue bonds.
“This may or may not be what we end up with, but this should cover it,” said Mayor Karl Nail, concerning the total amount.
These approvals were necessary to keep the loan process moving with OWRB, according to Stuart England, with Floyd & Driver, PLLC, bond counsel for the NPWA. England said the OWRB will meet next in July and the NPWA’s approval helps to ensure that a Newcastle loan will be placed on OWRB’s agenda.
“By having this item approved and the companion item on the council agenda approved tonight, if OWRB approves the loan application we’ll be able to move quickly to closing,” England said.
Both items were unanimously approved.
The Newcastle wastewater treatment facility project has been discussed for the last 13 years, and funding is coming from revenues the NPWA receives on a monthly basis, a $1.8 million grant from Indian Health Services, and $2 million which does not have to be paid back from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce’s Oklahoma Business Expansion Incentive Program, administered by the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority.
The City purchased land in 2017 at N.E. 16th Street, just west of Portland Avenue, and they began some engineering work that same year. The 70 acres abutting the west side of the Dolese Plant was purchased for $379,692.
The City’s current wastewater treatment facility was built in approximately 1972, and will be replaced by the new facility. The old facility was built to treat 540,000 gallons per day and last year was at 80% capacity, according to City Manager Kevin Self.
The new facility, expected to be a design from Aero-Mod of Manhattan, Kansas, utilizes aerobic digestion. It is designed to treat 1.5 million gallons per day, and will be expandable.
Self said estimates were done on the Tuesday following the City Council meeting, and the facility itself, came in at approximately $35 million. This is in contrast to estimates a couple of years ago of $21-23 million. For the entire project, the rough estimate was $41 million.
