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There
are wastewater fortunes to be made in Monroe County
If the sewer project
on Stock Island has shown Monroe County residents anything, it's that
the county commission -- and county staff -- should quit posing as
wastewater experts and turn the task of sewering the Florida Keys over
to people who know what they are doing.
It's hard to conceive
how a project could be any more screwed up -- and the chain reaction of
blunders, apparently fueled by greed and incompetence, is only beginning
to surface. It would be comical if it weren't so costly.
Property owners on the
island started asking questions when they learned that connecting to
this publicly financed private utility's system was going to cost them
much more than initially indicated. Only then did it become apparent
that the system was configured differently than residents and the county
commission were led to believe.
During a subsequent
series of very public meetings conducted by three different
commissioners whose very public concern ranges from credibly sincere to
laughable, a scenario emerged involving the two-plan shuffle and the man
behind the curtain.
The increased cost to
some property owners -- primarily, but not exclusively, trailer parks --
stemmed from the fact they were now being told they must purchase and
install on their property equipment that was not part of the sewage
system that previously was pitched to the county commission. That was
the trailhead of a journey back to July 2002, when the man behind the
curtain -- County Administrator Jim Roberts -- told county commissioners
that the plans they were about to approve contained only a minor change:
The date on the plans was changed from May 16 to May 30.
In a scene reminiscent
of a Monty Python skit, the plans apparently fell from the sky into
Roberts' arms minutes before the meeting; he says he can't remember who
handed them to him. He admitted to Commissioner Dixie Spehar that he had
not personally reviewed the plans, but he assured the commission that
the state Department of Environmental Protection had reviewed and
approved the plans when they issued a permit for the project.
It turned out the May
30, 2002, plans were significantly different from the previous version,
which actually was dated May 21, 2002. In fact, a review of the May 21
plans by the county's wastewater consultant, CH2MHill, had indicated
months earlier that the wastewater collection system designed by Key
West Resort Utilities would not have worked. The plan had to be changed.
But who knew? Apparently not the county commission or the citizens of
Stock Island.
It is still unclear
which set of plans DEP approved for the permit, and whether changes were
submitted to the state for approval.
Oddly enough, the
analysis from CH2MHill was directed to Growth Management Director Tim
McGarry, rather than County Engineer David Koppel in the Public Works
Department. Koppel seems to have been strangely out of the loop on this
project. It seems the point person on the wastewater project was county
Director of Marine Resources George Garrett, who is neither an engineer
nor a wastewater expert.
So why didn't word of
this little problem -- the utility's design for a taxpayer-subsidized
sewer system was flawed to the point it would not work -- make it to the
county administrator? Or did it?
Other interesting
complaints are emerging. Rather than run service lines to residential
property lines, Key West Resort Utilities placed vacuum collection pits
under roads and then repaved the roads. Some residents must now hire
contractors to dig up the repaved roads, run pipes across county
property to the collection pits, then patch the repaved roads. Then they
are required to pay a percentage of the labor and materials costs to the
utility.
One business was
forced to pay for the installation of a 1,100-foot service line on
county property. Others say the utility demanded they be given permanent
easements on private property. (The utility says it has since relented
on the easements.)
Commissioner Sonny
McCoy is doing his best to sweep this mess under the carpet before the
full magnitude of mistakes makes headlines. In a workshop meeting
Wednesday, McCoy is expected to propose a plan to throw money (financial
assistance) at the property owners who are complaining the loudest.
While the cost to
residents must be addressed, taxpayers deserve -- and should demand -- a
full accounting of the events behind this debacle.
Setting things right
on Stock Island likely will cost county taxpayers a couple million more,
but that is nothing in the big picture. With an anticipated price tag of
about $500 million to sewer the Florida Keys, there are some substantial
fortunes to be made by those in the wastewater business. And some of the
folks who stand to make those fortunes have been getting pretty chummy
with elected officials.
For instance, Nocif
Espat, the president of a wastewater equipment company named Randazza
Enterprises, has been Commissioner Murray Nelson's shadow for several
years now. At one point, Nelson proposed to the commission that the
county use Espat's treatment systems in all of its sewer projects. The
commissioner, whose proposal was met with laughter, apparently was
unaware that public projects must go out to competitive bids.
Then again, requests
for bids can be written in ways that ensure contracts go to certain
bidders. There have been rumblings for some time that Espat has been
promised the contract to bring the Stock Island treatment plant up to
advanced wastewater standards mandated by the state before 2010. Only
time will tell.
So what can be done to
prevent back-room deals that, at taxpayer expense, provide lavish
lifestyles and worry-free retirements to wastewater vendors and their
friends in government? Commissioner George Neugent -- one of two
commissioners calling for a closer look into the Stock Island project --
suggests taking wastewater treatment out of the hands of county
government, which has clearly demonstrated its incompetence in this
area, and placing it in the hands of a state agency that provides as
much oversight as possible.
It is doubtful that a
state agency could get away with the things that have been alleged on
Stock Island. State projects require much public input -- not always a
pleasant thing in the Keys -- and every document and e-mail is open to
public scrutiny. And board members, appointed by the governor, don't
have campaign funds to fret over.
Of course, such a
solution comes with the baggage of bureaucracy. We've seen the painfully
slow progress of projects under the direction of the Florida Keys
Aqueduct Authority. But the agency certainly has provided critical
oversight -- to a degree that regularly has drawn the ire of
Commissioner Nelson. Nelson is now teed off because his proposal to put
a Randazza sewer plant on Conch Key has drawn scrutiny from FKAA
engineers.
It can be argued that
FKAA has the infrastructure and expertise to get the job done, and there
are advantages of a countywide public utility -- standardized monthly
sewer bills is one.
And since there is
little chance the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will agree to
oversee Keys wastewater projects, I'm more inclined to trust my tax
dollar to the bureaucracy than the bubbas.
Tom Tuell is
editor of The Citizen. His column appears on Saturdays. He can be
reached at:
ttuell@keysnews.com
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