The Negaunee City Council met for its monthly meeting on Thursday evening, which included the approval of trying an additional sewer clean-out method. (Journal photo by Abby LaForest)

NEGAUNEE — The Negaunee City Council voted to use Alpha Tunnel Vision to figure out how to best proceed with a sewer clean-out at Lowenstein’s Antique Marketplace on Thursday evening.

The building, located at 334 Iron St., is reportedly having a malfunctioning sewer line, with the owner of the building reporting that he thinks it’s related to the work on Iron Street during Negaunee’s Streetscape Project.

“Based on our investigation, we’re not convinced that that’s the case…a lot of effort has been spent on trying to historically develop the maps as well for the laterals there, and it’s just not evident from the historical data,” said Jeremy Pickens, the city’s attorney, on Thursday night.

Pickens explained that the city has tried to conduct a dye test and use a tracking chip within the building’s pipe systems to see where the sewage is going, but neither test has come up with results that have been useful so far.

“Rather than tear up Iron Street to figure out whether he’s right or not, he’s agreed (to) ‘Hey, let’s camera this with Tunnel Vision. Let’s see where the real issue is after we sucked all the sewage and water out of this pipe, and it’s agreed that if it’s my problem, I’ll reimburse you guys for it,” said Pickens.

“They have apartments there and they have some businesses there. They’re generating roughly 6,000 gallons of sewer a month. So, if you think about that, it’s about 72,000 gallons of sewer going somewhere (that’s) not in the sewer system and not in the storm drain system,” said Negaunee City Manager Nate Heffron. “That is a significant amount of sewage for environmental factors and also undermining factors, which could be a street, other city utilities, or including his building or neighboring buildings. We really want to get to the crux of this.”

Pickens said that it’s “kind of a public health and safety issue,” and they should figure out where the sewage is going so they can put a stop to it and fix the problem. Heffron included that if a vote was decided at Thursday night’s meeting, the board will be able to get back with the Lowenstein owner’s attorney and the city hopes be able to hire a plumbing company as early as next week.

The city council voted to approve using Alpha Tunnel Vision in the building’s sewage line and not exceed a cost of $4,000 while doing so. There are no announcements related to public or environmental health as of right now.

More information about Negaunee City Council meetings can be found online at cityofnegaunee.com/city-council.

Abby LaForest can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 548. Her email address is alaforest@miningjournal.net.