Athens officials want certificates of obligation money for wastewater, say there won’t be enough for PD

• Wastewater issues estimated to cost City of Athens millions.
• Montgomery, McCain don’t believe there will be enough money from certificates of obligation to build municipal building/police department.
• Officials say they were misinformed about the potential cost of Cain Center repairs.
• Montgomery, McCain want to use certificates of obligation money on wastewater repairs.

By Michael V. Hannigan/HCNow

When the City of Athens found the sewer leak near Coon Creek on Nov. 20, it was dumping an estimated 200,000 gallons of residential and light commercial sewage a day, it was so bad that an environmental law attorney was already getting involved in the problem. City staff were able to get the leak under control quickly and contact the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)

The problem the leak highlighted, however, won’t be as easy to fix.

“While unpleasant and definitely unwanted, these types of leaks are not uncommon in cities,” Managing Director of Public Services Ryan Adams said about the leak. “Aging infrastructure, invasive roots, shifting grounds, and other circumstances will stress the system to the point where leaks will occur. Our best defense is to keep a watchful eye on the condition of our infrastructure through preventative maintenance and replacement.”

Except Athens’ elected officials already know the condition of the water and wastewater infrastructure and it isn’t good.

From the water treatment plant to the water storage tanks, and from pressure issues to its two wastewater treatment plants using the newest fracking lagoon aeration system, the City of Athens has major problems.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to City Hall. Members of the current City Council — particularly Mayor Monte Montgomery and Councilman Edward McCain — have been vocal about water being the city’s top priority.

In the past two-and-a-half years, the City has worked diligently to clean up its water storage tanks, all of which were out of compliance with the TCEQ for peeling paint, severe rust and moderate sediment. Council members have voted hundreds of thousands of dollars to rehab the tanks.

They have also committed hundreds of thousands of dollars more to other water issues such as low-pressure problems, building a computer model of the City’s water system, and making repairs to the wastewater treatment plants.

But the unfortunate truth is these repairs just scratch the surface.

“Now that we are getting our hands around the elevated and ground storage tanks, along with working well with AMWA concerning the water treatment plant, I think the council has wastewater on top of the to-do list,” said Councilman Edward McCain. “There’s not one council person who isn’t fully aware of the current issues and possible future issues.”

In an evaluation of the North Wastewater Treatment Plant this year forced by TCEQ rules, KSA Engineers said the plant needed more than $9 million worth of improvements.

Earlier this month, council members heard a report that both wastewater treatment plants needed repairs and that the cost could reach $19 million, and even though it is early in the process and there could be alternative solutions sought, you can still be sure that the one word that will describe the price tag is “expensive.”

Use Money Already Borrowed

McCain has floated an idea for funding at least the start of the wastewater repairs, but it would require changing course on a plan to move the City’s administrative services to the Cain Center property.

In August 2016, the City announced an agreement with the Cain Center Board for the City to assume control of the facility. In a press release, the City said the plan was to “permanently relocate its administrate services to the Cain Center, including the Police Department and Fire/Rescue Administration. In addition, the City will consider improvements to the recreational uses at the facility, including a complete overhaul of the Cain Center pool.”

In December 2016, the City Council approved issuing certificates of obligation to raise about $12.1 million, $10.5 million of which was earmarked for the Cain Center and police department project.

But McCain no longer thinks that will work.

“The reality is there’s not going to be enough money left to build a municipal center or police headquarters out there,” he said. “No one has come out and said that, but that is what is being said behind the scenes.”

McCain wants to use the certificates of obligation money left over after the Cain Center project on the wastewater repairs, jumpstarting that process.

Mayor Monte Montgomery also thinks there won’t be enough money for the police department and said the “funds not used in the Cain Center remodel should be utilized for the wastewater treatment plant repairs and upgrades.”

“We keep saying that water and wastewater are our priorities. Well, it is time to act like it,” McCain said.

What Happened with Cain Center, Police Department project

There are multiple reasons to doubt the municipal building project will go forward as first envisioned, but officials said the biggest one is that the council was misinformed about the cost of the Cain Center rehab during the planning process.

McCain said the former City Manager Philip Rodriguez gave council members an estimate of $3.5 million to fix the Cain Center, which is the same number Rodriguez gave to Henderson County Now in January 2017.

It is now clear, however, that the Cain Center repairs will cost around double that number.

“I don’t want to believe that we were intentionally misled,” said McCain. “I think that he did not understand the scope of the project and I think it was ambitious of him to think that it would only cost that.”

Montgomery agreed with McCain about problems with the cost estimate.

“The numbers given to the council by previous staff were not a true reflection of the costs that the Cain Center remodel could actually cost,” he said.

No one is sure how much the Cain Center rehab is going to finally cost at this point because details of the project are still being worked out. McCain and Montgomery are on the record as saying they want to cut costs as much as possible through efficiencies, such as using less expensive fixtures.

“I have requested the City Council be involved in regular updates with the design team to make sure we are in agreement that proposed work to be done in the remodel process is absolutely necessary and beneficial to the citizens,” Montgomery said.

But, If the Cain Center comes in around $7 million, that would leave just $3.5 million from the certificates of obligation. That would not be enough to build a quality police department home, McCain says, but plenty to get a jump on the wastewater treatment plant issues. This, he says, gives them ample enough time to get equipment from places like HTTP://WATERCRAFTWA.COM.AU to use to sanitise water, until the plants are up and running.

McCain admitted that the City made a public relations mistake in announcing plans for the Cain Center without more research, but said, “It is important to document how we got to the decisions that we made,” because there were additional factors other than price.

The first was the Cain Center’s poor financial status, which had been the subject of debate for more than a year. In 2015, the City considered pulling funding to the Cain Center but didn’t with the understanding that the board would have a year to get its finances straight. That didn’t happen and another budget showdown was on the horizon.

The other factor was the old Henderson County Memorial Hospital, which had been moldering in Athens for decades. The hospital was demolished in what was an arduous process for the City just a few months before the Cain Center decision was made in 2016.

“We couldn’t have a replay of what we had just fixed,” said McCain. “The Cain Center would have made the old hospital look like a shed.”

So even if there wasn’t a miscalculation on cost, McCain thinks the council would have gone forward with a plan to fix the Cain Center.

“To me, I think we still would have moved forward with a plan,” he said, “it just would not have been this plan.”

McCain said there is still reason for Athens residents to be positive moving forward.

“I’m comfortable with where we are now and what we’re doing out there because I do think it is going to be something the community is going to be really proud of,” he said.

(Follow Michael V. Hannigan on Instagram and Twitter @mvhannigan)