City, school district discuss next steps of Prior Lake sewage spill

Prior Lake American

On July 23, maintenance workers at Hidden Oaks Middle School on Fish Point Road in Prior Lake emptied the school’s pool into the sanitary sewer line for yearly routine maintenance.

The line, which was under construction, overflowed and caused raw sewage to flood into four Prior Lake homes.

That much is known. The unknown is how to ensure the problem doesn’t happen again — a matter that is being discussed by the Prior Lake City Council and the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District.

Communications Director Kristi Mussman previously said in a statement that there is no agreement or ordinance that requires the city be notified when the district is draining the pools.

“In the past PLSAS has made a courtesy call to the city prior to draining the pool but that has not been a requirement from the city,” Mussman said. “This summer, that courtesy notification did not take place.”

The Prior Lake City Council voted during its regular meeting on Sept. 17 to create a written agreement with the district to determine a protocol for how the city should be notified when the district is draining the pools.

The Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board and district staff discussed the council vote and next steps during a study session on Monday.

“This is what (the council) wants,” Superintendent Teri Staloch said. “They sent us a request of what they would like us to consider ... we need to look at that as a team and see if we would counter or have different agreements that protect the district more.”

Staloch said the debate at the moment is whether the district would let the city know when the pools are being drained or if the city would let the district know if the pools are unable to be drained.

“I am cautious about entering into a written agreement specific to the pool because I think it starts us down a path of having lots of written agreements for lots of courtesy partnerships in the way we’ve operated,” Staloch said.

Board member Mary Frantz said the city should be notified each time the district drains the pool in order for the city to monitor water flow in the lines.

“It doesn’t matter who, the point is we need to fix it and move forward,” Frantz said. “I’d like to maintain a good relationship with the city and not do the finger pointing back and forth. We just need to figure it out and move on from there and hopefully it gets resolved for both the homeowners, as well as our relationship with the city.”

Staloch said the district’s legal counsel is reviewing the possibility of a written agreement and that a draft would come before the board for approval if there were to be an agreement.

Prior Lake resident Matt Burnhaugh, who owns one of the homes that was flooded with sewage, spoke to the board during the study session.

“Everything we’ve had to do up to this point, we’ve had to fight and claw in ways you can’t imagine,” Burnhaugh said at the meeting. “You are here to serve the community and that has absolutely not happened. ... You need some better way going forward of dealing with residents you’ve affected.”

Burnhaugh said previously that the contractor working on the city’s construction project had hired another company specializing in water damage to start work on the homes but that had stopped after a few days.

He said an adjustor from the district’s insurance company had taken pictures of the home on Aug. 14, but hasn’t heard anything since.

Staloch said the district’s insurance company is still working to resolve the issue.