Does this pass YOUR smell test? Not that the septic tanks smell, ...

For the full item, read it at ABC Newspapers, here. This starting excerpt of the Eric Hagan report:

Ham Lake bringing in another consultant for neighborhood septic study

GOVERNMENT, NEWS | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 10:37 AM BY ERIC HAGEN |

by Eric HagenStaff Writer

With a community assessment report (CAR) on the Comfort Resort and Hiawatha Beach neighborhoods completed, the Ham Lake City Council wants to get to the point of finding a solution that will meet the sewage treatment needs of this area for many years to come.

Mayor Mike Van Kirk asked the council Monday night to bring on Mike Jungbauer as a consultant to finding these solutions. Jungbauer is a Republican state senator for District 48, which does not include Ham Lake. Jungbauer lives in East Bethel and he is principal of Infinite Hydrologic Solutions.

The council will ask Jungbauer to discuss potential options at the next council meeting on Monday, Nov. 21. Council meetings start at 6 p.m. at Ham Lake City Hall, 15544 Central Ave. N.E.

Van Kirk said the purpose for bringing in Jungbauer is to quickly move the process along for finding affordable solutions for the neighborhood. He was concerned about the cost estimates for some of the sewer system options outlined in the CAR and it sounds like to him that Jungbauer has alternative options.

“We need to come up with solutions,” Van Kirk told the Anoka County Union after Monday night’s council meeting. “I don’t want three months of community meetings talking about solutions that won’t happen.”

Van Kirk clarified that the CAR would still be a very useful document. There was a spreadsheet contained with the study that gave potential options for each property to come into compliance with current state laws on septic and well systems.

The city of Ham Lake paid Ellingson Companies $19,600, according to Finance Director Sharon Kutzke. Of this amount, $9,000 was for the CAR and $10,600 was for pumping 53 septic tanks at a cost of $200 per tank.

The Anoka County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (ACHRA) authorized reimbursement of the city’s expenses for this study, said City Administrator Doris Nivala.

The CAR, conducted by Ellingson Companies of West Concord, began in the spring of 2010. One of the biggest problems the company and the city ran into was property owners were not quick to allow access to their property for the study even though the city promised a free septic system pumping during the study phase.

[...]

Again, ABC Newspapers' full report is at this link.

For the curious, that business was filed quite recently, and in less than a month of filing it reportedly is working the hustings within north metro.

And the registered address for this adventure -- 21000 West Hwy 7, Excelsior, MN 55331 --- where's that, who's there? It's the Lake Minnetonka area, NOT north metro. Trying Google search and Google maps gives a "21000 Hwy 7" return, but not a "21000 West Hwy 7" one. And what's Michael Jungbauer's ties to that address? A mail drop? The lawyer's address? A key shareholder? Call Ghostbusters?

Despite all that, my main question: Will Landform as a Ham Lake consultancy be next?