The City of St. Ignace is close to closing an agreement with St. Ignace Township to turn over ownership of the township’s water system to the city. Township trustees feel owning and maintaining the new system will be too great an expense.

At a regular city council meeting Tuesday, September 6, the Council agreed to accept its Utilities Committee recommendation to accept ownership of the township water main, which will begin to be installed Monday, September 19. City attorney Prentiss M. (Moie) Brown, Jr. said the official agreement, however, should point out that the township’s sewage system is still owned by the township.

Last winter, the township installed a new sewer line that connects to the city system. Township residents have been able to hook up to the system since this spring. The city is not interested in securing ownership of the township’s sewage system being that it has debt, said City Manager Gary Heckman.

Ownership of the new township water main, however, which will extend from North Airport Road to Kewadin Casino, already is paid for by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, at an estimated cost of $2 million.

The new addition will add more than $35,000 to the city’s coffers and 120 customers to the city system, including the tribal reservation, which includes Kewadin Casino and restaurant, a residential area of 60 homes, and, soon, a casino hotel.

The township handed over the water main in Evergreen Shores to the city 1981, at the urging of the U.S. Economic Development Authority (now the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development), which said the township could not afford the personnel and other expenses to maintain it. That agreement helped the city obtain federal funding for its water system and to repair the Evergreen Shores water tank.

The agreement for the new water main addition, said Mr. Heckman, is slightly different, as the city has an operating agreement with the township this time.

The agreement is good for the city, he told Council, because it becomes sole owner of the water main.

The city’s water tank on West Road in Evergreen Shores will be disassembled and rebuilt into another holding tank that will stand 30 feet taller than the existing one, said City Department of Public Works Director Les Therrian, to accommodate the additional customers.

Township Residents Face New Sewage Ready-to-serve Fee

Beginning January 1, 2006, St. Ignace Township residents along the sewer line will be charged a ready-to-serve fee for the township’s sewer system, even if they are not connected. Residents will receive a monthly bill for $18.50 that, Township Supervisor Dale Nelson said, will help pay off the debt owed for installation of the sewer.

The township received a $649,000 loan and a $1.767 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development to complete the project.

The $649,000 comes from the sale of bonds the township issues and was purchased by Rural Development in February. The township will repay them at 4.5 percent interest over 40 years, beginning with a payment of $6,000 in 2006 and ending with a payment of $34,000 in 2044.

Also, 2006 connection permits to the township’s sewer system will be raised from $320 to $530 after January 1, 2006.

Mr. Therrian said of the 120 customers in St. Ignace Township, 20 are tied in as of Thursday, September 8, leaving 100 more yet to connect. Twelve of those 120 customers are commercial.