Jul. 3—EAST GRAND FORKS — The East Grand Forks City Council approved selling the old wastewater lagoons to the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency during its Tuesday night meeting.

The lagoons, located roughly two miles north of the city along the Red River, haven’t been used in several years to treat waste water. Ever since the East Grand Forks-Grand Forks sewer interconnect in 2018, the lagoons have been drained and used to cultivate hay and alfalfa. The Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, of which East Grand Forks is a member, approached the city about the sale it looks to meet Minnesota’s carbon reduction goals.

“The land doesn’t have much viable purpose from an ag perspective,” City Administrator Reid Huttunen said. “We are hopeful that this is a good option for best and the highest and best use of the property.”

Previous to the interconnect, the lagoons were where the city treated wastewater. The sewage was put into the wastewater and was broken down with a combination of sunlight, wind, exposure to the elements and bacteria. Many areas use this, including Grand Forks as part of its treatment regimen.

The final terms of the agreement haven’t been set and the finalization of the sale is a ways away, but the agreement passed by the council does allow MMPA to begin survey work to investigate renewable energy opportunities it could pursue. The MMPA is an organization of 11 cities across the state and connects 74,000 customers across the state.

The council also approved moving forward with an HVAC upgrade to the city’s senior center building and

changes to the rental agreement with Lutheran Social Services and the coordinator position.

The aging structure needs a new, and more effective, heating and cooling system. The current system is undersized and at the end of its life. The council approved the $148,500 project with Johnson Controls which will make the kitchen in the building more bearable to work in and maintain the commercial kitchen.

Some of the costs of running the building can now be offset by charging Lutheran Social Services rent for the use of the commercial kitchen in the building. The organization uses the senior center to serve meals to senior citizens and the community and last year served 15,177 meals. The city will charge $315 a month for use of the facility.

The council also reclassified the senior center coordinator position from a grade 15 to a grade 12. The base salary of the position has been reduced by $10,046, but per the city’s personnel policy, the current coordinator will not see a reduction of pay. Rather, the position’s current pay is frozen until the salary plan catches up with cost of living adjustments, which will be around 2028, according to the current plan.

In other news, the council:

* Received a welcome from new East Grand Forks School Superintendent Kevin Grover.

Grover started this month after coming from International Falls

and said that he looks forward to working with the city in the future.

* Approved election judges for the upcoming state primary on Aug. 13 and the state general election on Nov. 5.

Early voting for the primary has begun with voting available at City Hall

for city residents or mail ballots available from the Minnesota secretary of state.