Public Works
The Public Works department is responsible for providing many services to the community. Some of these services include:
- Street surface maintenance
- Street sign maintenance
- Snow removal
- Water service
- Sanitary sewer service
- Storm sewer service
Elder Dr - Hwy 210 Intersection
Cypress - Excelsior Upgrade Project Documents
Fats, Oil and Grease (FOG) Control Program
The City of Baxter operates a sanitary sewer collection system that receives wastewater from residences, commercial facilities and industries within the city limits of Baxter. This wastewater is pumped to the Brainerd Wastewater Treatment Plant (BWWTP) for removal of significant share of the contaminants before discharging the treated water to the Mississippi River.
Baxter City Code 8-2-16, “Regulation of Fats, Oils and Grease” regulates the discharge of fats, oils and grease (FOG) into the sanitary sewer system by food service establishments (FSE). FSE’s generate thousands of pounds of cooking oil, grease and food wastes each day in Baxter. Experience has shown that if this waste is not managed properly, it can result in several problems for the City sewer system and the wastewater treatment plant. The FOG will clog sewers resulting in sewer blockage and backups. Once at the wastewater treatment plant, the food wastes impart a significant load on the wastewater treatment processes, resulting in increased costs for treatment of the wastewater and decreased capacity for other users. The food wastes in the wastewater also contain significant pollutants that can impact the water quality in the Mississippi River.
Reduction of the grease and food waste discharges to the sewer will result in improved efficiency of the wastewater plant operations and, ultimately, a reduction of organics and nutrients entering the Mississippi River, which will help to protect and preserve our natural environment. Listed below are some PDF documents with more information about FOG. If you have any questions about FOG, please contact Bob Baumann at 454-5114 or Trevor Walter at 454-5115, or email publicworks@ci.baxter.mn.us.
Storm Water Utility Information
In 2006, the City of Baxter implemented a Storm Water Utility program as a method of financing storm water management activities with dedicated funds. Each developed property in the City pays a monthly fee based on the amount of runoff it contributes. For commercial properties, this fee is determined by the amount of impervious surface on the property.
Impervious Surface definition under the city ordinance 8-4-3 is as follows:“IMPERVIOUS SURFACE”. A hard surface area that either prevents or retards the entry of water into the soil. Examples of impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to: roofs, storage areas, walkways, sidewalks, patios, driveways, parking lots, concrete paving, bituminous/asphalt paving, gravel roads or parking areas, and other packed earthen materials.”
When the Storm Water Utility was created, the amount of impervious surface coverage on a property was initially calculated from Crow Wing County Tax Assessor records. While this information provided a starting point, the Assessor records are accurate for calculating valuation and property tax, not necessarily impervious coverage. Because of this, in 2007 the City performed an audit of all commercial properties in Baxter to determine the actual amount of impervious surface on each parcel. These updated impervious surface values were generated by a combination of three methods; high-resolution aerial photography, Computer Aided Design (CAD) site drawings and field verification.
Starting with the March 2008 billing, Storm Water fees will be calculated with the updated impervious surface square footage values from the recent audit, and the new rate of $0.0105 per square foot of impervious surface per year. If you have any questions regarding how these new values were determined, methods used to measure the amount of impervious surface, or to request a printout of your site depicting impervious surface area, please contact the Public Works Department by phone at 218-454-5115, or by email at publicworks@ci.baxter.mn.us
Drinking Water Reports
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