The Cassopolis Village Council met Monday night in a workshop meeting to discuss items that will be on the agenda at next month’s regular meeting.

Officials said the village’s interceptor lift station No. 1 is in desperate need of repair or replacement. A recent backup at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church resulted in a $5,000 cleanup bill to the village, which should be covered by insurance. The village has found that the station, as well as many others in the village, has far exceeded its design life.

It may cost up to $300,000 to replace it, but may cost much more overall if not fixed now. Council members say they will probably seek a grant and a low-interest loan to cover the expenses.

Other items discussed were:

• Well house No. 5 is not pumping at full capacity. It could cost as much as $14,000 to fix.

• The village may seek a new realtor for renting out the vacant space on the main floor of the municipal building. The current realtor company, Loux and Hayden, has not been successful at finding a renter in the three years they have held the contract for the space. The contract ends in May. The municipal building will be paid off in 2017, but there is some discussion of selling the building and renting the upstairs space from the new owner to lower costs.

• Jim Bronke will speak about fracking at the next regular board meeting. Fracking, the process of extracting oil and natural gas from soil and rocks using a mixture of 90 percent water, 9.5 percent sand and .5 percent chemicals, is a controversial issue as the chemicals may be detrimental to the environment.

Fracking is exempt from major environmental laws including the safe drinking water act.

• The village will invite the winners of Cassopolis’ MLK essay contest to the next meeting to award them for their efforts and ask them to read their essays.

• Public hearings for the Park and Recreation Plan and ICM Products, Inc. will take place at the next regular meeting.

The next regular Cassopolis Village Council meeting is at 7 p.m. Feb. 9.