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Rost said project engineers and consultants will be on hand during the meetings.
Voters approved a measure in July that allowed the city to seek low-interest loans from the state. Rost said the city will not raise sewer rates to offset construction costs.
"These meetings concern the design and engineering portion of the project," Rost explained. "This has nothing to do with rate increases."
The city will receive low-interest loans to fund upgrades to its Denmark wastewater treatment plant and Highway 47 lift station.
Rost said the city is working through the process to receive the funds and soon will prepare documents for the loan. The step will be to receive permits from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
"When the permits are received the bids go out and hopefully we will see construction in early 2010," he said. "Some equipment already has been bid and is expected to arrive in October.
Upgrades at both the Denmark facility and Highway 47 lift station must be completed due to DNR mandates. The city applied for $5 million in bonds, but is not required to use all of those funds if the projects can be completed at a lesser expense.
Rost said the city learned of possible DNR funding late February and then met with DNR officials. The funds will be assigned to DNR through the Federal Clean Water Act.
The federal government allocated $108 million to fund sewer projects in Missouri. The state will use a portion of those funds for low-interest loans, and a portion for grants.
Now the city is slated to receive only loans but Rost noted that the city could still receive grants to fund the project. The city could move up on the list and receive grants if other projects aren't ready by the time funds are doled out, he said.
"We are anticipating that we will save at least $1.8 million in interest," said Rost.
The city funds wastewater projects through a sales tax passed nearly three years ago specifically for that purpose.
In January, DNR mandated that the city pass an ordinance restricting permits to the Denmark wastewater treatment plant when it reaches 90 percent capacity. The plant is now at about 50 percent capacity.
The Denmark Plant is being designed now and construction will begin later this year. Initially, city officials agreed to double the size of the plant to treat 600,000 gallons of wastewater per day, but were informed that it would be more cost-effective to build it to the capacity of 750,000 gallons per day.
City Engineer Jonathan Zimmermann sought bids for equipment at the plant before it was designed because using this method would cause fewer changes to the project during construction. The plant is being designed around the equipment.
Plans also call for a new sanitizing method at the plant. The Denmark facility is cleaned during the summer with chlorine, a potentially dangerous method. The city is looking at an alternative method for sanitizing the facility that uses ultraviolet (UV) rays. The rays are less harmful to crews working at the facility.
The new lift station will be constructed south of Highway 50 and east of Highway 47. The only wastewater treatment facility in that area is a lagoon at Le Chateau mobile home park, which is at capacity and in the future the city will have to replace the two-cell lagoon.
