These days city officials treat sewage issues like a newborn in
a family with bratty teens. It gets the most attention.
These days city officials treat sewage issues like a newborn in a family with bratty teens. It gets the most attention.
Instead of risking future problems, the Hollister City Council agreed to hire an outside consultant Monday to perform a third party review of the city’s long-term wastewater management plan.
The plan is scheduled for completion Oct. 15, 2005, but engineers and other agencies have questioned certain aspects of the plan.
Hydroscience Engineers, Inc., a Sacramento-based firm, designed the LTWWMP that Council approved Sept. 16. Lloyd Bracewell – Hollister’s former plant operator during the 15-million gallon sewage spill in May – suggested city officials include a more cost-effective alternative.
Bracewell suggested a sequencing batch operator that possesses comparatively low sophistication, high level of flexibility and cost effectiveness to most methods of wastewater treatment, according to an Environmental Protection Agency analysis of wastewater technology.
Council approved Carollo Engineers for the examination, which will include on-site inspection of the current plant, review of the LTWWMP and reviews of alternatives not included in Hollister’s approved plan. The estimated cost of the firm’s work is $15,300.
Mayor Tony LoBue said the city was not merely following Bracewell’s advice, though.
“This isn’t standard procedure,” Lobue said. “But we as the city of Hollister want to make sure we’re exploring all our viable options. We’re not doing what Bracewell’s asking us to do.”
The City Council Wastewater Committee, made up of Council members Tony Bruscia and Pauline Valdivia, previously met with City Manager George Lewis, George Harris of Hydroscience and Bracewell. Lewis called the meeting “not productive,” which hastened the need for the third-party review.
“There seems to be some dispute among other engineers about which system is the best,” Lewis said.
Lewis said the inspection will be a cost-benefit analysis.
“We’ve got to produce something that works in the long-term and is reasonably affordable,” Lewis said. “There are tradeoffs.”
Lewis said the review will not affect certain phases of the LTWWMP and the city will not fall behind schedule. The review only affects water treatment alternatives, not disposal, Lewis said.
Council expressed a hesitancy to move forward without complete assurance.
“We want to make sure we’re doing the right thing, spending the right amount of money and doing the right project,” Bruscia said.
Councilman Brian Conroy agreed.
“Decisions we make today will impact the community for years to come,” he said.
Hollister cannot afford to lose track of deadlines because the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Administrative Civil Liabilities fine imposed against Hollister on Friday holds the city to its deadlines. Any of three completion dates of the LTWWMP missed would each cost the city $200,000.
Council also passed a resolution hiring a consultant – Denise Duffy and Associates, Inc. – to perform an environmental analysis on the first two phases of the LTWWMP. Those include the new headworks and interim treatment system.
The city would prefer to retain Denise Duffy and Associates, Inc. for the final two phases, but would renegotiate another contract for those phases.
Denise Duffy and Associates, Inc. was the only firm to respond to the city’s request for the proposal. Other consultants could not commit to the project because of various schedule conflicts.
Utility Manager Jim Perrine said completing the analysis soon was important because of the cease-and-desist order and ACL fine.
“We need to commence with this activity as soon as possible,” Perrine said.
In other business:
– Council approved a contract for new computer software for an estimated $370,000. The amount budgeted was $405,000, leaving a $35,000 surplus in the General Fund Reserve.
– Council approved a “Final Map and Contract” for improvement of Citation Park with two companies. The park is a six-lot subdivision at the intersection of Flynn Road and San Felipe Road.
– Perrine addressed a sewer spill Saturday at Wiebe Motel. A memo released at the meeting called the spill “generally minor in nature.”
The city attributed the spill, estimated at 300 gallons, to a power failure. Two other similar spills, according to the memo, occurred at the same location this year. The city also credited power failures for the previous spills.
