Water issues took the stage at Tuesday's Mandan City Commission meeting.

The board approved a $7 million upgrade for the city's water plant residuals facility.

City water plant supervisor GaryZander said the action hires Advanced Engineering to begin the project's design. He expected bids to be opened within a year.

The project will replace the residuals removal process at the water plant. "We collect things out of the water and heavy solids. The EPA says we can't put them back in the river. We have to dispose of them properly," Zander said.

"We remove as much water as we can (from the residuals). Then we take it to the landfill."

Zander and Brett Jochim of Advanced Engineering said that the current dewatering system, a belt press, is nearing the end of its service life. They said repairs are costly.

The current system will be replaced by a more efficient plate and frame press.

A water rate structure is being studied to cover costs of the project.

In another item, commissioners accepted the replatting of Raging Rivers to split it between the Mandan Park District and Raging Rivers Inc.

Commissioner Jerry Serhienko first asked that the item be removed from the consent agenda and discussed openly among the board.

The park district purchased its water park portion for $2.25 million earlier this month.

On Monday, the Mandan Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the new platting be approved.

Mandan Parks and Recreation Director Cole Higlin said the replatting was simply to better define what would be the Mandan Park District's property and what would be kept for Raging Rivers Inc.

Audience member Susan Beehler said the platting favors the seller and not the park district.

She said the park district failed to show a map publicly of what was being purchased. Higlin said the property lines were set to allow Raging Rivers Inc. to sell the remaining to the south.

Commissioners said how the property sold was between the buyer and seller.

"We are dealing with the plat and the plat only. … The park district is the public entity. They agreed to the purchase. They agreed to all the property lines. That's what we have to deal with tonight," Mayor Tim Helbling said.

In a third matter, Sarah Baehurst of the city engineering and planning department gave the annual storm water report in a public hearing.

Baehurst briefed the board about efforts to educate the public about storm water laws, research for suitable wind erosion and control, inspection of high-priority construction runoff sites, post-construction runoff control and inspection of the city underground storage system.