Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
The city will be searching for a new tenant to farm its sewer lagoons.
DAVENPORT – A few hundred yards north of the baseball fields off McInnis Road on the northeast side of town lie four sewer lagoons on premises the city uses as spray irrigation for sewer lagoon water. The lagoons are staggered in elevation. Chemicals are put in the top lagoon, and the water flows from one to the other. The roughly 75-acre area now needs a new farmer to partner with the city through a public contract to maintain and farm the land in exchange for the ability to grow, store and sell non-human-consumable crops or feed.
From July 1, 2000 through Dec. 31, 2020, that land was farmed by Creston rancher Dave Hubbard, according to city records. Hubbard informed the city he wasn't interested in farming the land any longer after losses suffered in the September Whitney Road Fire, so the city, which is the landlord of the area, needs a new tenant.
The water/sewer/garbage committee convened shortly before council's Jan. 13 meeting and weighed two farm lease options: Continue the previous system where the city received one-third of the crop and Hubbard received two-thirds with an equivalent cost-covering process, or change the agreement to a fixed rate where the farmer bids a lump sum of at least $12,000 a year to pay to the city, and the farmer then receives the rest of the crop/profit while also covering the rest of the costs.
The committee decided upon the latter choice, and it will go to city council for final approval Jan. 27.
For example, if a farmer paid the city an agreed $12,000 in a lump sum, and made $100,000, that farmer would profit $88,000, city clerk David Leath shared. However, if the farmer only made $4,000 from the crop, he would be at an $8,000 loss.
"Three of the last six years, we've gotten $15,000 off three cuttings of hay," Leath said. "Since it's a public deal, anybody will be able to bid on it."
Council will vote Jan. 27 on the terms in the farming lease. If approved, the lease will go out for bid through advertisement, before possible tenants are interviewed and brought to council for a selection.
Leath estimated the bidding process would take three weeks to a month.
"If that doesn't work, then we'll have to re-work it, because we have to do this," Leath said. "It's part of our wastewater system."
The Department of Ecology requires the city to go through this process.
The primary use of the land will continue to be for the city to discharge that water for maintaining systems. The agricultural use by the farmer is the secondary use.
The farmer would have some flexibility on what to do with the land, provided they understood its primary use. Hubbard used it to grow alfalfa irrigated by the lagoon's water that he took home to feed his livestock, providing him savings on feed.
"The reason you grow alfalfa is because it takes up the most water and absorbs the most nitrates, which is the bad stuff left over," Leath said. "That alfalfa is cut and fed to cows."
The land could be used to grow alfalfa or other feed ranchers and taken home to nourish the tenant's own livestock, or sold to other ranchers or farmers looking to buy feed. It can't be used to farm food for human consumption due to the nitrates and chemicals.
"Generally, the people that farm it are ranchers, not farmers," Leath said.
In short, the farmer or rancher would have the option to use the hay themselves, or sell it for attempted profit, provided they don't grow human food and pay the city their lump share.
Other council news
During its regular meeting, council passed Resolution 2021-01, increasing the garbage fees by 2% in accordance with a contractual obligation with Sunshine. The resolution also reduced the commercial licenses fees for the airport, due to a construction project limiting commercial sprayer's abilities to use the airport.
Mayor Brad Sweet reported Rural Resources and the EDC have a small amount of money to assist anyone who has lost their job due to COVID-19, but the qualifications were rather specific, he said. He also shared that the city's audit report is complete, with no findings for the city.
"We're set for three years," Sweet said.
Sweet also shared that the city is looking to set the council committees for this year and asked councilmembers to inform the city whether they'd like to remain on the same committee or try a new committee.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
Reader Comments(0)