Henning council to move forward with two projects
News | Published on December 9, 2025 at 12:56pm EST | Author: henningmaster
0By Chad Koenen
Publisher
The City of Henning has moved forward with a pair of construction projects for 2026, while holding back on a third project to take a closer look at its budget and whether the city can afford another expansive road project next year.
During its regularly scheduled meeting last week, the Henning City Council approved moving forward with a water tower rehabilitation project that is eligible for an 80/20 grant to low interest loan funding package through the PFA. The project is estimated to cost $650,000 of which $520,000 would be funded through a grant, while the remaining $130,000 would be funded through a low interest loan.
Sam Ruther, of Apex Engineering, said the project will make necessary repairs to the water tower and will also allow the city to come up with a new paint/graphic design for the Henning water tower. If the city were to move forward with the project, he suggested the council and community come up with a design it would like to see on the water tower in the early stages of planning, rather than waiting so the design can be finalized early on.
In addition to the water tower project, the city approved moving forward with lead service line replacements that were identified during the public and private inspection of service laterals in 2024 and 2025. The inspection process was a mandate from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule that requires community water systems to complete an inventory of all service connections. All lead or galvanized service lines are expected to be replaced by 2033.
The city has identified 31 known lead or galvanized service laterals in the city that will need to be replaced at an estimated cost of $975,000. In order to help with the cost of replacing the service laterals, the city has received a grant that will cover up to $1 million to replace lead and galvanized pipes in the community.
“So there should be no cost to the city not even loan costs from what er are hearing right now,” said Ruther.
Ruther went on to estimate the city still has another 50 service laterals that are unknown at this time, but the city will continue to try to make contact and see if the service laterals in question are lead or galvanized. If some of those lines are determined to not be in compliance with the new EPA rules the city will need to replace those as well, which could lead to an additional cost to property owners or the city if the replacement project goes over the $1 million cap for the grant.
The city council held off on a third project being proposed by Apex Engineering that would cost anywhere from $9 million to just under $11 million for utility and surface improvements in the community. The project would include a wide area of residential areas in the community that has not already had underground utilities or the streets recently reconstructed. The cost of the project would be $9 million of which $6.5 million would be eligible for a grant, $1.6 million would be eligible for a low interest loan through PFA and $810,000 would be funded through a non-PFA loan.
A second part of the project would cost $1.975 million that would cover Jensen St and Balmoral Avenue, but would be 100 percent the city’s cost and would likely need to be bonded for outside of PFA funding.
Due to the cost and scope of the project the city council held off on proceeding with the project last week.
In other news
• Approved setting a special city council meeting for Monday, Dec. 15 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the city budget and 2026 tax levy.
• Heard the ice skating rink will not be put up this year due to the uneven ground at the hollow due to the wastewater treatment plant project.
• Approved allowing Trinity Center to apply for a $20,000 grant to help pay for its utilities, provide some events and activities, as well as install a handicap lift chair. There would be no cost to the city if the facility was approved for the grant.
• Discussed a grant proposal from Bollig Engineering concerning proposed project at the airport that would repair and pave the east parking drive, the helicopter pad and overlay. The grant would cover 90 percent of the design and bidding phase of the project, which would come out to approximately $3,500 for the city. An additional grant would be needed for the actual project. After hearing concerns from councilwoman Jessica Strege of the low cost of rental for hanger space at the airport, as well as the cost of completing the project should the city proceed, the council said it will discuss the project with pilots and see what other airports in the region charge for hanger space to potentially help offset the cost of projects at the airport.
• Approved keeping a second full-time police officer in the city budget, but will take down the advertisement due to a lack of qualified applicants at this time. The council said it will gather data on the amount of calls the Henning Police Department responds to each month to determine if a second full-time officer is needed in the future, or if 40 hours a week of police coverage from the police department will suffice at this time.
• Held the annual truth in taxation meeting in which 14 people were in attendance. The city council approved a 15 percent preliminary tax levy, which comes on the heels of a 20 percent increase in the tax levy in each of the past two years. Several people spoke at the meeting against having such a large increase in the tax levy once again. The council has scheduled a special meeting for later this month to finalize the 2026 tax levy and has stated they hope to decrease the tax levy from the original 15 percent before it is finalized.
• Held a nuisance abatement hearing concerning a home owned by Scott Naddy. According to the city’s attorney office there are seven nuisance violations on the property, some of which are due to excess vehicles on the property. The hearing was a chance for Naddy to respond to the alleged violations. The hearing did not address an alleged setback violation for a cement pad of which a portion is reportedly over his property line with his neighbor. Due to questions regarding the setback, which is in the court system, the council did not act on the nuisance abatement and will gather more information to discuss further at a later time.