Water, sewer in state of emergency

Director of Public Works Simon Wiley told aldermen at the Sept. 9 city council meeting that the sewer plant had a sanitary overflow and tests from Leatherwood Creek were not good. Wiley said he believed that although Public Works tried to control the effluent, there might be a secondary leak.

Zane Lewis of McClelland Engineering said that rate study results were taking longer than anticipated and probably wouldn’t be ready until November at the earliest or January at the latest. While assessing the system, Lewis said that almost all of it was installed around the mid-‘90s and had gone beyond “useful life.”

Lewis said council should anticipate failure on every piece of infrastructure related to sewer and water. He said the much bigger issue currently was e.coli levels in Leatherwood Creek, and his assessment was pointing to $140 to $150 million to rebuild the sewer and water infrastructure, so a rate increase for 50 percent needed to be instigated as quickly as possible.

He recommended upping water and sewer rates by 25 percent this year and another 25 percent starting next year for all citizens on city sewer and water. Lewis recommended a 30-year overhaul of the system at a cost of $5,000,000 a year. He said water and sewer should fund themselves through charges to the citizens.

Alderman Terry McClung asked about grants, and Lewis said two had been applied for, but the government hadn’t let them know if they would receive money, and that a rate increase would be first.

Lewis said that currently the city has some of the lowest rates in the state and customers had to accept that there would be rate increases to meet city needs. Alderman Autumn Slane asked about water quality and Lewis responded that this was concerning as they didn’t know the cause. He said that one of the last functioning critical tanks might be the culprit, and if it was, he suggested tearing it down and building a new tank in or closer to the main building of the plant.

Lewis warned that it would be better to “get ahead of the situation” than being reactive which could cost an additional $150 million to what he had already proposed, adding that it was a “miracle” the whole system hadn’t already failed.

McClung conceded that he saw no choice but to call for implementation of a 25 percent rate increase this month, Avanzino seconded, and all voted in agreement.

City Finance Director Michael Akins said there are 1736 water meters, 1590 that are on the new automatic reader system, 146 new meters that still need work, and 76 older meters that will just be kept manual for now.

Akins responded to Lewis’ dire predictions saying he wasn’t sure why the rate study, which should be fairly straight forward, was taking so long, and that he thought that they would have to raise rates, but he wanted council to be cautious and numbers suggested by Lewis didn’t have to be enacted overnight.

“We need to see where we’re going, then we’ll figure out how to get there,” Akins said. Mayor Butch Berry concurred adding, “We don’t have to eat the whole elephant” and they should do the 25 percent increase now, but they didn’t need to do the whole 50 percent all at once. Council will draft the rate increase to be voted on in a future meeting.

Akins encouraged council to agree to an $84,000 change to the budget in order to update all computer systems for city hall, police, fire, and transit by putting them all on the same Pinnacle system. He proposed a one dollar an hour raise to all city employees for the rest of the year, before next year’s raise. He assured aldermen that once this budget’s changes were approved and the document “cleaned up” he would start focusing on drawing up next year’s budget.

Akins said a backhoe had been ordered for Public Works that was budgeted for, and that deposits for July and August were above what they were this time last year.

CAPC talk

Avanzino asked what would happen to the budget if the City Advertising and Promotion Commission were dissolved in the upcoming election. Akins said the city would have to project a forecast for the budget for three-to-four years, but even then, it would be difficult to determine the impact caused by the commission’s loss.

He added that defeat of the CAPC would most likely lead to a loss of tourists and revenue essential for the city. There were questions about who would be responsible for the Aud, and who or what would fill the void left by the CAPC, but Berry shut down speculation.   

Entertainment District ordinance gets second reading

Berry announced that there are still vacancies in Planning, Parks, and the HDC that need volunteers. Melinda Large said during public comments that she was against the permanent entertainment district, saying she lived in “The Pines” behind the proposed area. She said that this was one of the last truly residential zones in town and that many of her neighbors were concerned about noise and mayhem they might face.

Large said that the current noise ordinance is rarely enforced, whether because there weren’t enough officers or because of a tendency to be lenient to tourists, and she asked why citizens’ rights were never considered as important as tourists’ rights.

Avanzino claimed he only voted for what the majority of his constituents wanted, unless there was an emergency, and that he had heard most people were for the district. Alderman Susane Gruning said it wouldn’t affect the areas where people lived, that if there were noise issues citizens could call the authorities for enforcement.

During voting on the reading of the of the ordinance, alderman Harry Meyer spoke in opposition, reiterating that he heard from people in the neighborhood that they were against it, and that he had already witnessed infractions during car shows, with people bringing in coolers.

He said he didn’t believe it would help tourism or help property owners get people to rent their shops. Gruning said this was an opportunity to increase revenue for the city’s infrastructure. It was put through a second reading with only Meyer voting against it. The third reading will be Sept. 23.

Wrapping it up

Council assigned Ord. 2358 to vacate portions of Dolores Ave., and it was voted through. Resolution 871 was assigned to the amended 2024 budget, and a move for a resolution to support the CAPC will be discussed at the next meeting.

Alderman Steve Holifield said there would be a CAPC workshop on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. before the meeting at six.