By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
After meeting behind closed doors recently, Whitewater’s elected decision-makers have agreed to pay a company for its review of the city’s biodigester facility.
The Common Council on Aug. 16 agreed to pay $60,000 to Trane, a La Crosse-based company specializing in heating and air conditioning services and systems, for its review of the city’s biodigester facility within the wastewater treatment plant.
The decision to pay the invoice came after about 15 minutes of deliberations in closed session. Municipal officials did not disclose why they had to meet with legal counsel, outside of regular open session, before paying the company.
The council’s agenda described the closed session meeting as a “negotiation of invoice for Trane biogas feasibility study.” A document in the council packet, on Trane letterhead, contained the $60,000 invoice.
The city’s relationship with Trane for this particular project goes back two-and-a-half years. In early 2014, the council issued the company a contract in the hopes of moving forward on a plan to turn waste matter into a potentially profitable enterprise.
Trane at the time was issued a contract capped at $70,000. The company’s responsibilities included an audit of the existing facility and offering up recommendations of how the biodigester could be used to consume industrial waste from municipalities and industrial companies throughout Southeastern Wisconsin.
Speaking to the plausibility of the biodigester, Tim Reel, the city’s wastewater treatment division superintendent, said the methane gas created from the digesting process can be used to create energy.
The process, in turn, reduces the city’s reliance on gas and electricity from traditional sources, including local utility We Energies.
