Assistant City Manager Mark Warren and Henderson Water Reclamation Facility Director Tom Spain spoke to the Henderson City Council last night regarding a resolution to present a plan to the state’s Environmental Management Commission for a Special Order of Consent.
The Special Order of Consent outlines a time frame to the state for the repair of areas of concern, especially the Sandy Creek Basin, which is the location of repetitive sewage overflows.
The last major rainfall saw an overflow in the Sandy Creek Basin for which the City could potentially face a fine from the state. The granting of a Special Order of Consent would halt such fines while repairs take place. It would also allow the sewage plant to continue to operate at its current permitted capacity and, if accepted without modifications, also allow the addition of 235,000 gallons of sewage during the lifetime of the agreement.
Spain estimated that this would be significantly more than would be needed to accommodate growth for the lifetime of the special order.
The alternative, as Warren and Spain revealed during the course of their presentation to the Council, is a moratorium on growth imposed by the state. The threat of a moratorium was issued in a letter from the North Carolina Division of Water Quality on November 15 of last year.
According to Spain, the only way to avoid the moratorium is to apply for and receive the special order.
Henderson Mayor Clem Seifert asked Warren if the City was currently under any other moratoriums from the state. Warren informed him that it was not, but elaborated that the City had emerged from a moratorium at the water plant approximately two and one-half years ago for toxicity.
Council member Elissa Yount vigorously expressed concern that she was seeing the letter that threatened a moratorium for the first time during the Council meeting. She then asked Spain to explain the reason for the various deadlines outlined in the special order.
Spain replied that the state will not approve the special order without “realistic” deadlines. He said that the state had originally wanted the City to award contracts to do the necessary repair work. He went on to say that the City can do the work with a contractor, and that he did not know if the City could do the work itself.
Council member and FAIR Committee chair Lynn Harper asked about the budget implications of the resolution, especially if Henderson does not receive a Clean Water Trust Fund grant of $428,960 for which it has applied.
Seifert replied that her inquiry was the “million dollar question”. He said that if the state says you have to fix it, you have to fix it.
“They don’t care where the money comes from,” Seifert said.
Harper asked if the work could be completed by December of 2008, the target completion date specified in the special order to be submitted to the state.
City Manager Jerry Moss asserted that it was possible. Spain affirmed Moss’ opinion, but qualified it by stating that it could only be done if infiltration and inflow staff is not doing other things.
Infilitration and inflow is believed to be responsible for the overflow problem.
Yount stated that she argued with the Council having to vote on the resolution without knowing the implications. Spain replied that the council was welcome to take the risk. He commented that there could be another heavy rainfall.
The debate then turned to whether or not an affirmative vote by the Council would be final. City Attorney John Zollicoffer offered the legal opinion that the council “can’t not sign [the resolution] once you sign the resolution”. He recalled that a past moratorium has hurt Henderson “when North Carolina was growing all around us”.
Harper noted that the City had been under the threat of a moratorium since November 15, “we just didn’t know it”. She said she was trying to figure out if the dates could be stretched out so that the work could be done in-house.
Moss stated that there was no threat if the plan presented in the special order was followed. He also said that Warren and Spain “went to work immediately” upon receiving the November 15 letter from the state.
City Council member Garry Daeke asked what would happen if it was learned through investigation that millions of dollars worth of work was needed. He asked if the state would give “leeway”. Spain replied that in the case that Daeke had outlined, the special order could be renegotiated.
The Council decided to add a paragraph to the resolution to the effect of asking the state to help should the sewer problems prove extensive.
Spain cautioned the Council that if a completion date is not met that there has to be “a really good reason” and that negotiations with the state have to take place ahead of time. He also cautioned that after the special order is approved by the state that it must go before the Environmental Management Commission for a public hearing.
The resolution passed unanimously.