City is paid to remove degraded diesel fuel from old hospital
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Requirements by the Iowa Department of Natural Regulations (DNR) made the City of Marshalltown take action on the old downtown hospital property on Thursday.
Assistant Director of Housing & Community Development Clayton Ender said the state notified the city in August to remove the underground diesel fuel tanks. Since the court case between the city and former property owner CD Marshalltown pertaining to ownership is being appealed, Ender said they have been advised not to make any big changes to the site. The city was not able to fully remove the tanks and asked the DNR if they could just remove the fuel. The state department was willing to accept fuel removal and gave the city until early September to get the job done.
"The DNR tried to get the former owner to remove the tanks and were unsuccessful," he said. "[We have the title], so it was our responsibility."
If the city had not removed the fuel before the deadline, Ender said they would have gotten fines from the DNR.
So, the city went out for bid and received three. The chosen bid was from EcoWaste Management in Des Moines. Not only would the city save money with EcoWaste, but the business actually offered $1,500 to do the job.
"The city made $1,500. I was surprised," Ender said with a laugh.
The reason a company was willing to pay the city was some of the diesel was still good, but much of it was degraded. He said the company will be able to use the fuel after putting it through specific processes.
"It sounds like they have a use for degraded diesel fuel, but the city would not," Ender said.
EcoWaste tankers were parked on the former hospital property and a preliminary estimate of 14,320 gallons of fuel were removed. Since the diesel was degraded, it would not amount to the average statewide cost of $6.19 per gallon. The exact value was not known to Ender as he said the city only had a certain amount of time to get the job done.
"We did not have the time to find the value," he said. "We were under the clock by the DNR to get it done or face fines."
If the court case determining ownership of the property by the city is upheld by the state judicial system, the city will then be able to remove the tanks.
The Marshall County Court determined the city would retain ownership in June after they took owner CD Marshalltown and Scott Covalt to court over neglect. Covalt appealed the decision in July. Ender added the latest estimate on getting a decision on the appeal should be sometime in May.
While the legal limbo means the city cannot make big changes to the site, crews have been maintaining the property through landscaping and doing their best to make it secure. Unfortunately, people are still breaking in.
"We put up boards and metal and people still rip it off," he said. "We and the police department are monitoring and arrests have been made for trespassing. But if they are not caught in the act, that is tough. Fortunately, the people who are getting in are not the average person on the street. They have to put in effort. We have at least made it secure from a public safety perspective. A kid is not going to have access to the building."
Ender said city staff have also been conducting preliminary work such as looking into financing and grants to demolish the property and get it ready for reuse.
"We have to find a way to pay for it," he said. "We are also working with the Chamber to do a study on potential reuse. The preliminary work has to be done regardless of the court case, and it takes a lot of time. So, I don't know if the appeal is a delay, because we need to do this work anyway."
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.