City council approves plan to repair, maintain current underground utilities

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Henning City Council has slammed the breaks on an expansive downtown road and utility project proposed for the summer of 2025. The move came approximately five years after the city council agreed to partner with MnDOT to complete an underground utility and road project through the heart of downtown Henning. 

During a special city council meeting last Monday night, the Henning City Council approved an alternate plan to the Highway 108 underground utility and surface project. 

As part of the original project the city was going to redo Highway 108 through Henning, including the curb and gutter, sidewalks, storm and sanitary sewer, street lighting and several other items through town. MnDOT was also going to narrow the driving surface, widen the sidewalks and place several bump outs into the driving surface. 

The total cost for the city’s portion of the project was $2.1 million, which would be offset by a variety of low interest loans and grants. The city would also be responsible for relocating city-owned utilities in the road right of way, which was not included in the $2.1 million figure.

A second option presented last week would have simply rehabbed the existing underground pipes with a special lining through the existing pipe, but several unpopular aspects of the project like narrowing of the driving surface would still be included in the project. That cost would be more expensive at $2.8 million, but would also be eligible for loan interest loans and grants. 

A third option included simply making spot repairs to the underground pipes, some of which dates back to the 1930s and allow MnDOT to replace the bituminous pavement, while also completing spot repairs as necessary to the storm sewer, curb and gutter. The city could still need to replace some of the utilities and storm drains, but MnDOT has yet to inform the city council about the extent of those repairs. 

The cost of the third project was not known at the time of the meeting, but was expected to be a fraction of the cost of any of the previous projects and would allow the driving surface of the road and sidewalks to stay the same as they are today in town.

Henning Mayor Robert Johnson said there were a number of questions that need to be resolved before the city can make a decision, like will the city need to narrow the driving surface if MnDOT makes the sidewalks ADA compliant and how many storm drains will need to be replaced with the third option. Unfortunately, the city council had to make a decision on the project without all of the answers from state officials. 

“The unfortunate thing about this is there are so many unanswered questions about this it is going to be hard to make a decision tonight,” said Johnson. 

Sam Ruppert, of Apex Engineering, agreed with the mayor that MnDOT wanted an answer, but the city didn’t have enough information at the time of the meeting to make an informed decision.

“The hard part with all of this is you need more information from them to make a decision. Well, they basically keep telling us ‘well make a decision,’” he said. 

At the crux of the issue last week was weighing the risk of having the sewer lines fail, compared to not being able to afford to complete the project and being unhappy with several aspects of the project as a whole. 

Henning Public Utilities Supervisor Ted Strand said there are some repairs to the old sanitary sewer that can be made, but the pipe itself is in good shape. He said the water line was replaced with a PVC pipe in 2001. He said some of the cracks in the sewer pipe may have been there for a number of years and can be repaired over time, as opposed to replacing the whole system. 

“This is me and where I am at today, we reviewed the tape of our whole system. There is nothing that is earth shaking in our clay pipe,” said Strand of a recent televise that was completed of the underground utilities. “I think we are in good shape for 12-15 years so we can save some money. Legitimately we don’t have the cash to do the work. We can take and budget for the project over the next few years.”

Ruppert agreed with Strand that the sewer line is not a major concern of failing right now and could be repaired over time.

“It’s not in that terrible of condition. The cracking is not overly significant,” said Ruppert. “For the most part the cracking that is in this pipe is not of a major concern as it sits right now.”

Johnson and Strand said the city can continue to televise the pipes every few years to watch for future cracks in the pipe and ensure they are addressed on a regular basis as part of routine maintenance. Even if the city were to replace the entire sewer line with a new system, Johnson said there is no guarantee that repairs won’t be needed in the near future. 

“You can put a brand new water main in and in a year down the line that might burst,” said Johnson. “There is no guarantee on any of this.”

Henning city councilman Jesse Hermanson said there will be quite a few people in town that will be happy to not have the road narrowed and sidewalks expanded, even if that means the city will need to wait to complete the expansive utility project until a later date. 

Johnson agreed that he would like to see the sidewalks stay the same width as they are today.

“I’d like to see the sidewalks the same way they are. Lets get them fixed so they are ADA compliant and that takes away a lot of potential hazards as a trip hazard,” said Johnson.

He said the city can then start putting money away to pay for a more expansive project in 12-15 years.

City councilman Travis Nelson and city councilman Mallory Loock agreed that the city should hold off on the project until a later date, and simply make necessary repairs right now.

While the city can hold off on the utility project and opt for a simple mill and overlay of the bituminous surface as soon as 2026, Ruppert said the risk the city will run by doing that option would be if all of the sewer lines fail. If that was the case the city could be on the hook for the entire cost of the project with no help from MnDOT. 

“If something happens and you need to replace the system you are not just looking at the price that is right there. If something happens and it is outside of the window of time frame that MnDOT is going to come through and do all of their work the city is now going to have to pay for all surface improvements,” said Ruppert.

When asked by Strand how likely it would be that the whole system will go down in the next 12-15 years, Ruppert simply said “not very likely.”

He said the other risk the city runs is that the costs will likely go up and Henning has already been approved for grant funding and low interest loans. He said the city might get approved for this funding in the future as well, but that is not a guarantee. 

“If something happens 10 years from now, it fails and we need to replace the whole system, we can’t say what funding will be available at that time,” said Ruppert. “The point is we know there is funding available now.”

During the meeting, Johnson said MnDOT has already indicated they are planning to reallocate the money set aside for reconstructing Highway 108 from Ottertail to Henning and are planning to utilize that money to work on Interstate 94 from Alexandria to Moorhead. He said the impression he got from MnDOT was if Henning turned down the Highway 108 project in town its funding would also go towards the Interstate 94 project. 

What was originally proposed as a way to revitalize and beautify the downtown area, the downtown road project has lost favor with some on the city council in recent years, as well as the community, due to MnDOT requirements concerning changing the width of the sidewalks, requirements for relocating utilities in the road right-of-way and a lack of overall information from state officials concerning the project. 

The project was also marred by an overall lack of clarity on the project from MnDOT as several city council and city employees have expressed a frustration with state officials concerning last minute changes or information about what the city would be agreeing to as part of the expansive project. 

The straw that seemed to break the back of the project came last fall when MnDOT informed the city that it would need to relocate all of the city utilities in the road right-of-way to meet new standards of separation both horizontally and vertically from one another. This change would need to fully be funded by the city and was estimated to cost between $350,000-500,000. Before delaying the project a year after the information came to light, MnDOT gave the City of Henning until just April 1 to complete the work, something the Henning Public Utility staff said would not be feasible due to the frost in the ground.

As a result, the city had already delayed the project from the summer of 2024 to the summer of 2025. Now the entire project has been put on hold and Johnson said MnDOT could return to Henning as soon as 2026 to simply overlay the road with a new layer of bituminous.