BEATRICE – The City of Beatrice has reached agreement on how much a private entity will pay for long-term monitoring of an environmental clean-up site…..a former coal gas manufacturing facility that decades ago, operated on the banks of the Big Blue River.

The agreement has Centel Corporation paying the city a total of $700,000 for the company’s share of long-term site monitoring and maintenance expenses.  Those expenses are roughly estimated to total around two-to-three thousand dollars annually, through the year 2050.

The city’s initial agreement to share monitoring expense was reached in 2004.  The money from the settlement with Centel will be placed in a separate account, with that money and interest to be used only for the monitoring and maintenance.  Some general maintenance of the site has been done and some drainage work will be needed.

Also Monday night, the Beatrice City Council approved an application for a Brownfield Assessment grant through the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.  The city is trying to obtain financial help for an environmental assessment of the former Dempster Manufacturing plant property, at 711 South 6th Street.