McMinnville officials will be considering a measure Tuesday night at 7 p.m. that would rename the city’s sludge press building the “City of McMinnville Lively-Moore Biosolids Processing Facility.”
William “Bill” S. Lively Jr. and Glen W. Moore Jr. served as alderman for many years and worked to upgrade the city’s treatment facilities with a sludge press, also known as a compacting system.
Moore, who served from 1988 to 2000, says he would be honored by the recognition.
“I was a little surprised about it, but I’m honored,” he said. “After all these years, I’m surprised anyone remembered us. When you are an alderman, you plant a seed and hope it grows. Sometimes it does. I’m honored they remembered us after all these years.”
The city’s sludge press was installed in 2008. Sludge, meaning the city’s sewage, is pressed to remove the water and then treated to remove bacteria through a three-stage process that removes the water and uses lime to kill bacteria.
Prior to the sludge press, the liquid product would be taken by large trucks to nurseries and spread out, bacteria and all. By using the sludge press and processing what remains with lime, the product is safe for humans and animals and can be hauled by nursery owners themselves.
Giving Lively and Moore credit for their efforts was a recommendation by Water and Sewer Committee members Aldermen Billy Wood, chairman, Jimmy Bonner and Ken Smith.
In spearheading the suggestion, Wood said Lively and Moore tried to keep the city ahead of changing Environmental Protection Agency guidelines and “spent a decade trying to get a compacting system built at the wastewater treatment plant. I would like to ask the board to honor those men by naming the building after them.”
Moore says he and Lively understood the importance of the upgrade but couldn’t get the measure before the full board.
“You know how budget discussion works,” Moore said. “We would put the facility in the budget and it would get cut. We would put it back in the budget the following year and it would be cut again. We were both happy to see the city install a compacting system.”
Before the building can be named for the former aldermen, the change must pass one vote before the full board.