City regroups after Nicolet officials decline well proposal

It’s back to the drawing board for the City of Rhinelander after Nicolet College officials formally declined the municipality’s request to locate a high-capacity well on the school’s Town of Pelican campus.
Last week, city officials received a letter signed by college president Kate Ferrel and Abbey Dall, chair of the college’s Board of Trustees, reporting the board’s conclusion that “deep concerns” about potential adverse environmental impacts had outweighed the potential benefits of the proposal.
“After careful consideration, Nicolet College respectfully declines the City of Rhinelander’s proposal to install a municipal well on Nicolet College’s campus,” the letter reads. “In close consultation with our legal counsel and a technical expert hired specifically to conduct an evaluation of the proposal, the Nicolet College Board of Trustees discussed in depth the benefits and environmental concerns associated with the project.”
According to the letter, the board based its decision on the following primary conclusions: a high degree of uncertainty about the extent of the impact/drawdown of nearby marshland, private wells, and lakes and the possibility that a more appropriate location for a new city well can be found.
“Installing a well on the College’s property may only provide short-term relief for local water needs,” the letter reads. “The Board encourages the City to evaluate and strongly consider water treatment for contaminants, water conservation planning, and other long-term, more sustainable initiatives.”

Mayor Kris Hanus and city administrator Patrick Reagan called the news “disappointing”. The city’s administrative team will look to the members of the Common Council in determining next steps, they added.
The topic is expected to be discussed during the panel’s July 28 meeting.
According to Hanus, the city’s options include searching for a new well location, exploring potential treatment options for wells Nos.7&8, which have been offline since 2019 due to PFAS contamination, or attempting to continue negotiations with Nicolet.
“It might be worth further discussion,” Hanus said, adding that he had hoped there would be additional dialogue between the parties before a decision was made. He stressed that as a strong proponent of property rights, he fully understands that college leadership has “every right” to do what they want with the school’s property but the city had hoped that an outcome could be found that would benefit everyone.
He also indicated that pressure from neighboring Town of Pelican property owners, many of whom spoke out against the proposal during recent listening sessions, might have had an outsized impact on the school’s trustees.
“Maybe the temperature of the room got too hot,” he theorized.
He also took exception to the board’s statement that installing a well on the campus “may only provide short-term relief for local water needs.”
“I 100 percent disagree with that logic,” he said, noting that he considers potential treatment of the two wells currently offline to be a “Band-Aid.” City officials have previously noted the treatment option would come with a very high price tag and there is the continued uncertainty over what constitutes safe drinking water. Various levels of government have expressed differing opinions as to how much, if any, PFAS can be considered a safe amount.
Hanus also indicated he was interested to know if the board of trustees was unanimous in its decision to decline the city’s proposal.
In addition to the letter, Nicolet officials also sent the city a copy of a 10-page technical memorandum submitted by Dr. Christian Langevin, the hydrogeologist the school commissioned to conduct a peer review of the city’s well site investigation report.
In the memorandum, Langevin notes that it might be necessary to construct two or more high capacity wells at the campus location to achieve the city’s goal of pumping 500 gallons of water per minute.
He also concluded that it would be “reasonable” to expect that a high capacity well at the campus location “will affect wetlands and surface waters near the well.”
“Wetlands adjacent to the pumping well may no longer function as wetlands and water levels in nearby lakes could drop by a foot or more,” he wrote. “Pumping from a new high capacity well (at the site in question) could affect nearby private wells,” he added.