RAPID CITY - Discussion of a proposed settlement with a local contractor who installed old water pipe at a job site was moved to a closed session at the end of Monday night's council meeting.

Details of the proposed agreement were not available by news deadline.

Rapid Construction is appealing a decision by the city's trenching board to issue a yearlong suspension of Rapid Construction's sewer and water contractor's license because the company installed old pipe at the Crimson Court project in June.

Attorneys for the city and the company have been negotiating a penalty less severe than revoking the license.

Barton Banks, an attorney representing the company, said the pipe was immediately and voluntarily removed by the company after city inspectors called attention to the problem. He said a stop-work order was not issued, and new pipe was installed.

But Rapid Construction appealed the license suspension to the city council, because the company feels a yearlong license suspension is "extremely harsh," Banks said.

Banks said the company is willing to pay the cost of additional inspections over the next year and offered to pay a $10,000 fine as a reasonable penalty to "assure you this will never happen again."

Using old water pipe creates a public health concern as well as questions about the structural integrity of the pipe.

Before deciding to move the issue to closed session, City Attorney Jason Green told the council the city doesn't have enough inspectors to stay on every job site all the time, and the reason Rapid Construction was caught was a city inspector changed his routine.

The council voted 8-2 - with Sam Kooiker and Malcom Chapman voting no - to go into closed session to talk about potential litigation regarding the license appeal.

Trash rates to rise

In other business, the council gave final approval to increases in the garbage collection rate and landfill tipping fees that could mean the typical residential customer's monthly bill will rise about $3 per month.

Residential collection rates will go up 12.7 percent immediately and then be frozen until 2013. Tipping fees, currently $47 per ton, will rise to $50 per ton this year and will increase $2 each year through 2011, when the fee will be $58 per ton.

The combined increase in collection and tipping fees will result in a net 18.2 percent residential collection rate increase, approximately $2.78 per month for the typical residential account.

Part of the reason the tipping fee is increasing is to spread yard waste collection costs among all customers. Previously, collection customers paid for yard-waste disposal, but a person from out of town could dump yard waste at one of the city's collection sites for free.

Rate increases are designed to fix a deficit in the collection part of the city's solid waste operation, which is divided into three budgets: landfill, collection and recycling. The collection budget had been borrowing from the landfill budget to operate.

The increases are effective 20 days after publication of the decision.

Deer licenses approved

Also, the council authorized applying to the state Game, Fish & Parks for 300 deer licenses that will allow sharpshooters to conduct another culling of the deer within city limits over the next couple of months.

An October GF&P survey counted 317 deer on three routes within the city. The city would like to bring the deer number to less than 300 and maintain the population at or below that level.

The GF&P survey does not indicate the total size of the deer herd, only the number counted during the survey. The city doesn't know how many deer stay year-round and how many wander in and out throughout the year.