City working on odor problem

Nevada Daily Mail

Carrie Mason, Rosemary Larson and Janice and Gary Almquist have a problem. Their neighborhood stinks. Literally.

For the last 18 months or so Mason told the Nevada City Council during its Tuesday night meeting that she and her neighbors along Highland Avenue, east of Washington Street have been unable to sit outside on their decks much of the time due to the odor of sewage that permeates the air.

Mason said she is a runner and she has noticed the smell from the area of the Jehovah's Witness Church on Washington Street north to Hardin and east along Highland Avenue.

City Manager JD Kehrman said that the city has been working with an engineering consultant on the city's industrial user permitting process for Nutri-Flo, located at 3000 Industrial Parkway, that is discharging material into the city sewers. The company is located outside the Nevada city limits and did not need go through city's zoning process to locate there.

The odor problem first became known when the Missouri Welding Institute and the Missouri Northern Pecan Growers complained about the problem. Missouri Northern Pecan Growers eventually moved its facility because of concerns the pecans that were processed at its facility in the industrial park would absorb the odor and make them unusable.

Since then the company was issued a user permit for the sewers and as of Tuesday afternoon, Kehrman said a Notice of Violation has been sent to the company that it will have to respond to.

He said that he hoped to have more information for the group by the next city council meeting on July 19.

In other business the council:

* Voted 5-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance listing unused city property as surplus so it can be disposed of. Items include: a 1984 GMC Brigadier dump truck, 1973 grader, 1987 Hatfield 16-foot utility trailer, 1995 Case skid steer, 1998 Dodge 2500 truck, 1996 John Deere GT275 mower and a 2007 John Deere F935 mower.

* Voted 5-0, to pass on first reading a special ordinance amending the city's organizational chart and table of organization to allow the Police Department to hire two additional full-time police clerks to monitor prisoners and provide administrative support.