SPRING VALLEY — The Spring Valley Village Board heard an update on DNR water testing requirements, fielded a bad debt Medicaid cost and altered the Street Use Permit Ordinance during an eventful March 4 meeting.

Public Works Supervisor Steven Kirby said the village has its draft permit for the Wastewater Treatment Plan that is two years behind schedule.

“There are some things in there that I am fighting with the DNR about to try and save us some money, things that are pointless,” Kirby said. “We’re going to formulate a letter to send to them to get this stuff in writing. They’re having us test for a whole bunch of stuff that we just frankly don’t need to spend money on.”

Kirby said they are fighting about $20,000 over the course of a five-year permit. He outlined the testing he found unnecessary.

“For the last seven years, we’ve tested for copper in our water and hardness. They’ve taken our limit for copper away… but they’re still making us test for it. They’re calling it monitoring, but we could be five times what our old limit is, and they can’t give us a fine. They can’t even tell us we’re doing anything wrong,” Kirby said. “So, why are we continuing to test for this? We’ve shown that we’re below the threshold you want us at.”

The other test is for PFAs in the sludge. Kirby said they have no source of PFAs, and the DNR has stated that, so why would they continue to test for it.

“If you want us to test for it once to prove that we don’t have it, fine, but why are we doing it for four more years,” Kirby said.

Kirby is in the process of seeking comments from residents and business owners to share with the DNR.

“The more people we can get to submit those comments, the more the DNR will have a chance of listening to us,” Kirby said.

The village recently upped sewer rates, and Kirby said this testing will essentially wipe out the increase that kept the village on pace with costs.

“The DNR has to kind of get their act together a little bit and have firm rules for everybody. You just can’t make it up as you go along,” Board Trustee Matt Huepfel said. “We are for clean water, we want clean water, but we can’t be at the whim of whoever happens to be our person.”

Kirby said this area has much stricter permits than those he has looked at in other areas of the state.

Medicaid Debt Payment

The board heard a report from the Spring Valley Health and Rehabilitation Center sub-committee, leaving the board with a choice. With a Medicaid contract taking effect Jan. 2, there is some uncollectable and unbillable debt spanning May to December 2025.

“Because that’s now outside of the Medicaid, because Medicaid didn’t get us going until Jan. 2, we stand to lose that $39,760 in bad debt,” Village Administrator Luann Emerson said. “We could ask Medicaid to go back and certify us to a previous date before May so that we can then bill that… The problem is that Medicaid won’t go back to May of 2025 or even to the first of 2025, they would have to go all the way back to July of 2019. If that happens, there is a chance that they will recall all of that funding, which is $200,000 a month and comes to about $15 million that we would stand to lose if we did that.”

Emerson said the choice comes down to taking a $39,000 hit or taking a chance on re-billing in hopes that the funding is not pulled. There is an $8,000 allowance for bad debt built up that would decrease the hit.

The board unanimously approved avoiding the risk and taking on the $31,000 of bad debt.

Street Use Permit Ordinance

The board approved a revamped Street Use Ordinance, revising and clarifying many permit requirements. Street Use Permits can now go into effect no earlier than noon with the exceptions of Dam Days and the Car Show. There can also no longer be partial street block closures, as the entirety of the block is required to be closed off.

The $50 fee to have Public Works close the street is being increased to $100 and will be reassessed at the end of the year. The board determined that while they do not want to scare business owners and organizations away from hosting events, it takes two Public Works employees an hour to close and an hour to reopen the streets, so the village needs to at least come close to recovering that time cost.

After approval of the ordinance, the board approved a pair of Street Use Permits. The Spillway’s Gun Bingo, which was tabled in February to land on an exact time, was approved for noon-5 p.m. June 13. There will be no guns on site for the event. A Street Use Permit was also approved for the Half Fast Brewery/Heroes Oktoberfest event Oct. 10.

Other business

• Emerson announced that she will be officially retiring Jan. 8 after 11 years in the role. Emerson said the village should start looking for someone to fill the position as soon as possible to have the maximum amount of time to train them in.
• The board discussed a new Public Works building construction and considered the Spring Valley School District’s annexation request of the new bus garage property from the Town of Gilman to Spring Valley during closed session, but no formal motion was made upon reconvening. The board did direct Public Works to explore costs of putting up a new building and the cost of moving Public Works to another location.
• A sign permit for a billboard advertisement at the front lot of the industrial park was tabled to April for further information.
• Police Chief Dulcie Lilly thanked Elmwood Police Chief Darren Ekholm and the Elmwood Police Department for assisting the village while Lilly took on a big case.