Bemidji’s Reasons for Resolution to Reenter Northern Township Wastewater Talks

Last week, Northern Township issued a notice of intent to incorporate to become a city. The Bemidji City Council responded to that notice by approving a resolution preparing the council to file a petition for annexation if Northern Township continues their path of incorporation.

Bemidji mayor Jorge Prince says the announcement from Northern Township was certainly surprising to the Bemidji City Council.

“I would have thought that there might have been a referendum of citizens of Northern Township prior to something like that happening, but that wasn’t the case,” he said.

Following the announcement, the City of Bemidji unanimously passed a resolution at its next meeting asking Northern Township to rescind that notice of intent to become a city. The city will also re-enter negotiations for the wastewater treatment facility that Northern Township has been planning on building for a number of years.

“We’re all on the same team in regards of wanting what’s best for Lake Bemidji,” Prince stated. “I think we all recognize it’s our number one natural asset in our region; we want to protect it, we want to do right by it. You have to think about what really makes the most sense, and when I think about having two plants in the same region performing the same function, that just doesn’t make any sense.”

Prince stressed the importance of being environmentally friendly towards Lake Bemidji and for the special personnel it takes to run the types of facilities needed for a city.

“I mean, you double the environmental risk that’s associated with both plants, you’re looking at a waste of financial resources because federal dollars would be used to build that other plant,” he said. “There’s also a bonding request, which would be additional taxpayer dollars, to fund it, to do something we already have.”

Prince also noted that the city’s treatment facility is only operating at 60% of its capacity.

“If we were to put pipe in the ground, we could do right now what Northern Township’s proposing to do in several years with the resources that already exist,” said Prince. “So when I think about what’s best for our community, what’s best for our lake, I have a hard time believing that it’s not the City of Bemidji providing those services.”

Ultimately, Prince is hoping the resolution passed by the Bemidji City Council will lead to more conversations between the city and township about the best way to proceed going forward.

“Not on behalf of the township, not on behalf of the city, but on behalf of the overall community at large,” he said. “Our resolution was really designed to protect the rights of the city in any boundary assessment type of hearing, but ultimately, what we really want is to get people around the table and see if we can solve this.”

Northern Township and the City of Bemidji have negotiated this topic several times over the years with no resolution being reached during those discussions.