Reported oil in Spring Creek addressed

By Esther Noe

 

Did someone say oil spill? A post on Facebook regarding oil or fuel flowing in Spring Creek by Memorial Park along with a “strong smell” caused some stir in Hill City last week. 

According to city administrator Brett McMacken, the Hill City Fire Department, a deputy sheriff and the public works team responded Aug. 13. Unfortunately, it was already getting dark and it was difficult to see any oil.

The next morning McMacken met with the deputy and public works director Justin Asher to follow up on the matter and spoke with the emergency manager for Pennington County.

“We went over to the train site because we had checked our storm water inlets and found that there was some oily residue and some smells coming out of our storm water system,” McMacken said. 

Since there are a couple of pipes behind the 1880 Train where the storm drains poor into Spring Creek, McMacken said they wanted to make sure there was not anything actively discharging. Nothing was seen or smelled.

From there, they backtracked through the storm water system to Elm Street where they found what was believed to be the cause. There was a parking place that was noticeably discolored compared to the rest of the street. McMacken said it appeared to be stained by some sort of fuel which would fit with the smell reported. 

“We inspected whatever was on this parking place. Also, you could see where it had traveled into the first storm sewer inlets,” said McMacken. 

After that, they inspected the inlets and put absorption material on the spill itself. It was all cleaned out and the information was relayed back to the county.

McMacken said they think there was a truck parked there Saturday evening that leaked the substance. From here, the substance could have pooled inside the storm water area. However, when following rainstorm events occurred, the substance was flushed out, which is likely what was seen and smelled. 

“We’ll still keep an eye on things, but we’re pretty sure we’ve got our issue that caused it solved,” said McMacken.

This was brought to the council’s attention during the regularly scheduled Hill City Common Council meeting Aug. 14.

Unfortunately, an official meeting could not take place as planned due to a lack of a quorum. Instead, alderman Dale Householder and alderwoman Lori Miner could only listen to community information. 

Anita Lee of Sunset Creek thanked the council for listening to public comment since she had a timely letter from J & J Asphalt Co. to present. 

The letter read, “We have been informed that the City of Hill City and Black Hills Traditions have come to an agreement regarding the second lift of asphalt for the Sunset Creek Project. We understand that the responsibility for paving the second lift of asphalt is now with the City of Hill City and funding has been paid to the city for said road work.

“In January of this year, we provided Black Hills Tradition a bid for this second lift of asphalt on Sunset Creek Estates. I wanted to make you aware that our company will be in the Hill City area in September of this year paving at the 1880 Train and subsequently suggest that we can complete this project at the same time. We are prepared to honor the January pricing.” 

The total given was $295,944.41.

“It is very urgent that we do this in August so we can get this. They’re giving us a special deal because they’re already here,” said Lee. “So if they’ve got their equipment here in Hill City, that saves them a lot of money and it’s saving us a lot of money. So I would sure appreciate your timely consideration on this.”

Connie Sundby asked for an update regarding what was going on at Deegan Drive, stating that the road had been closed down with nothing being done. 

“In my estimation, and a lot of people in the neighborhood, there was a very small Band-Aid put on a very large wound, and it’s not cutting it. We need some further attention to this road,” she said.

McMacken responded saying the road was not entirely closed off but rather reduced to one-way traffic in a section. 

“The reason it’s like that is that it came to our attention that when Golden West contractors put fiber in the ground, they saw cut through one of our culverts that’s underneath the street. So that fiber optic cable is literally in the culvert right now,” said McMacken. 

The road was closed off because there was a hole a third of the way from the edge where you could see the fiber optic cable and they did not want anyone driving on it. 

Due to the different cables running through there, it took a few days to determine whose cable it was. The city coordinated with Golden West but unfortunately its crew only does installation.

McMacken said in the meantime the city is going to clean out the culvert as best as it can. The hole will be refilled with gravel as a temporary fix, and the road will open completely until the repairs can be coordinated. 

In other news, the Hill City Transportation Master Plan is now on the city website. It covers things like streets, sidewalks, walk-ability, traffic, accidents over the past five years and recommendations. 

McMacken recommended that the council bring it as an action item at a future date and make a motion to accept it since it is not yet an official city document. 

The Hill City Common Council meeting was rescheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 22.