City-contracted engineer to attend Pelican town board meeting to address well issue

In the approximately six weeks since the Rhinelander Common Council chose Town &Country Engineering to provide engineering and design services for the city’s proposed new well, questions have been raised as to its potential impact on neighboring areas.

During the public comment portion of the council’s April 28 meeting, three residents of the Town of Pelican expressed concerns about potential drawdowns of private wells and nearby lakes, if the well project moves forward. Because the council and the city’s administrative team do not respond to questions during public comment, per a longstanding city policy, the speakers’ questions went unanswered during the meeting. However, the Star Journal posed the same questions to city administrator Patrick Reagan after the meeting. 

First, Reagan stressed that city officials have met with officials from the Town of Pelican and Nicolet College and will “continue to actively communicate with both entities throughout the entirety of this project.” 

Second, there will be opportunities for further public/citizen input in the weeks and months to come. One such opportunity is scheduled for Monday, May 5. According to Pelican town chairman Nick Scholtes, Mark Barden of Town&Country Engineering is scheduled to attend  a town board meeting  scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday to provide an overview of the city’s plans. The meeting will be held at the Pelican Town Hall, according to an agenda posted on the town's website. 

In an April 30 phone interview, Scholtes told the Star Journal he is anxious to hear more about the project. He stated town officials did not become aware of the city’s plans until news of the well design vote hit the media. 

Scholtes also said he anticipates the city will hold a public informational meeting on the project at Nicolet College in the near future. A date and time for that meeting had not yet been announced.

A concern mentioned by the Pelican residents who spoke during the April 28 council meeting was the potential for drawdowns of area lakes and private wells.

According to the city administrator, the engineers working on the project have advised they do not anticipate or expect any lake drawdowns.  He also  clarified that Town of Pelican residents will not be forced to use the water that comes from the  well.

Another point of clarification: The proposed well site is in Pelican township not the City of Rhinelander. The information packet distributed with the agenda for the council’s March 24 meeting, where the alderpersons officially selected Town&Country to provide design and engineering services, included a memorandum from Town & Country describing the proposed well location as “on the south side of the city near College Drive on the Nicolet campus.”

The Town of Pelican was not mentioned in the documentation or during the meeting nor did the city disclose the exact address of the location in question. Thus, in an April 2 story, the Star Journal, quoting the memorandum, described the location of the proposed well as “on the south side of the city…” It has since been clarified that the proposed site is in the Town of Pelican. In addition, all parties involved have also clarified that there is no agreement at this time between Nicolet College and the City of Rhinelander to purchase, rent or lease land for this project.

According to Nicolet public information officer Jenna Allen, the college is “investigating the legal, environmental, and financial implications of the project to determine if and/or how we would enter into an agreement.”

Reagan also disputed a contention made by one of the Pelican residents that there are inaccuracies in the  well site investigation report.

“As far as inaccuracies in the well site investigation report, MSA was the engineering firm that we used for these test wells and this report – MSA has many, many years of experience in performing these types of studies, so I trust their vast engineering experience regarding this report and its accuracy,” Reagan said. “Furthermore, Town and Country Engineering, our engineers for the design of this proposed well, have reviewed this document and have not alerted me to any inaccuracies or errors contained in the well site investigation report. As I am not an engineer myself, I must rely on the expertise of the engineering firms involved.”

The city has been dealing with water issues since 2019 when two of its wells (Nos. 7&8) were taken offline due to PFAS contamination. Those two wells remain offline.

The city currently has five wells, three water towers and a reservoir with booster pumps, according to an overview of the water system compiled by wastewater foreman Curt Johnson.

“The water system does have capacity issues, especially in the summer months,” Johnson wrote. “We have industries that use city water for cooling, car washes, lawn irrigation, two new hotels have opened, a possible splash pad in the future, population growth, tourism, and hydrant flushing.”