|
The focus was on city infrastructure and
public works and related Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
issues at the most recent meeting of the DeLeon City Council,
Thursday, June 21.
Council members Howard Gifford, Norma
Locke, Roy Dale Freeman and Gayle Stroud were present, with Benny
Morris absent due to illness. There were no citizen’s presentations.
Mayor Danny Owen, Karen Wilkerson, city secretary, and Rob Duncan,
public works administrator, also participated.
Prior to the TCEQ discussion, several
individuals spoke to the council requesting permission to have a
tractor pull on the American Legion property of the Festival grounds.
Jack Abbe spoke on behalf of the group,
the Texas Truck and Tractor Puller’s Association, noting that they
agreed to run the modified “noisy stuff” early in the evening and had
volunteered to give half the gate receipts to the DeLeon Boy Scouts,
as well as letting the DeLeon Livestock Association have the
concession.
Council members voted to approve the
pull, and Mayor Owen noted that it was good to see something that
would bring people into town.
“And I do appreciate you letting us know
about this, and letting us have some input,” Owen said.
Scott Hay, an engineer for Hibbs and
Todd, spoke to the council next.
“What we really wanted to do tonight, was
to have a kind of council workshop session,” he said, “to get you all
up to speed on the issues with TCEQ and what is proposed to bring us
back in compliance.”
Hay spoke first about the waste water
treatment plant, beginning with when the city was notified, in March,
that the plant was in violation.
“You had basically a deadline of 60 days
to be in compliance with the effluent limits,” Hay said, “and that was
not achievable. So we began negotiations with TCEQ that would propose
an agenda that would bring you back in compliance permanently. Our
hope was, it would kind of ‘call the dogs off.’ It didn’t accomplish
exactly what we wanted, in that we were hoping to have them accept the
agenda we had proposed. There was a schedule that went clear through
2010, constructing a new waste water treatment plant.”
Hay said the TCEQ would not accept that
plan “as is.”
“What they did accept, was progress
towards that schedule,” he said, “with six month extensions granted,
based on your progress towards those goals. That’s where we stand in
regards to that, drafting the agreed order to state those terms. The
last we heard from TCEQ, they anticipated about four months before
that agreement order is ready and you receive it for signatures.
Obviously, we’ll take a close look at it when it does arrive. They
don’t exactly move fast, and in this case, that’s to your favor.”
“Did they give an idea of the total time
they’re going to allow,” Councilman Gifford asked, “is it 2010?”
“Yes, they accepted that as a schedule, but they weren’t going to just
grant it from the beginning,” Hay said. “They were going to grant it
on a six month basis, based on what you’re doing to reach the goals.
You hired our firm to do the preliminary engineering report and
analyze the options for the waste water treatment plant improvement.”
Hay said that the plant had been in
non-compliance for a number of years -- off and on.
“We’ve tried all inexpensive things,” he
said, “or relatively inexpensive. It’s just an old plant, that we’ve
band-aided for a lot of years, and it’s time to actually do some major
changes to bring you -- once and for all -- into compliance.”
Mayor Danny Owen shared a little
background on the situation with the newer council members at one
point.
“Before we received our penalty, we
thought we had a plan negotiated to do irrigation,” Owen said. “We had
a man who was willing to do this, as far as allowing us to irrigate
out of the pond on to his property.” He went on to say that several
obstacles had caused that arrangement to be abandoned.
Scott Hay invited Scott Hibbs, also of
Hibbs and Todd, to “line out the options” for bringing the plant into
TCEQ compliance.
“The least expensive option would
probably be using some semblance of the pond system that’s there, with
an irrigation only treatment plant,” Hibbs said. “That would require
you to acquire a long-term lease agreement with a landowner for
irrigation. The biggest problem I see with that, is that only one of
your three ponds is certified, with a proper liner. Basically,
two-thirds of your treatment plant -- the way it is -- doesn’t meet
the TCEQ standard.”
Hibbs said that the cost of “rehabbing
those ponds” would obviously be a determining factor in whether that
option were the least expensive, and that other variables were also a
concern.
“But with all the things involved,
there’s also a little more liability,” Hibbs said, “because you’ve got
another entity you’re going to be dealing with -- unless you purchase
the land. And if you purchase the land, then that will be a cost as
well.”
The least costly option, according to
Hibbs, might be a, “pond system that you irrigate.”
“But with that least costly option comes
some other headaches,” he added. “If you have someone that’s taking
the water, they have to consistently take it.”
“Are there any restrictions on what can
be done with that water?” Councilman Freeman asked.
“There are,” Hibbs said, “depending on
the level of treatment you take it to. It depends on what crops are
grown, and how quickly they get into the food chain. Most people who
irrigate, do it on hay.”
Hibbs also discussed mechanical treatment
plants.
“Basically, what a mechanical treatment
plant does,” Hibbs said, “is take the footprint of those ponds down to
a very small size. Because we’re introducing air into, usually,
concrete basins so that the biology that treats the waste water can
work a lot faster.”
Hibbs said that, generally, with a
mechanical plant, you discharge to a receiving stream.
“It’s a lot simpler,” he said, “and
requires only periodic operator intervention -- mainly running tests
and making sure that everything is still functioning.”
A third option, a hybrid system, was also
discussed.
“The hybrids we’ve worked with,” Hibbs
said, “they put in a mechanical plant, but still irrigate with it.
They have discharge permits. That keeps
them from having to have the massive storage ponds. You just have a
small storage pond.”
Hay said at one point that odors are more
easily controlled with a mechanical system.
Hibbs noted he wanted City Council input
before proceeding much further, and that he would like to have some of
the council members accompany him to look at waste water plants in
other cities.
Vince Viaille, of First Southwest Company
in Lubbock, presented the council with a spread sheet outlining
several financing options for the expected $2 million funding
necessary to bring the plant into compliance. The one that Viaille and
Hibbs seemed to favor involved DeLeon pursuing a grant for a
“disadvantaged community.”
“What that means is that DeLeon would be
designated a disadvantaged community and the Texas Water Development
Board would give you zero percent interest loan,” Viaille said. A
general discussion between all parties revealed that regardless of
financing, it’s going to cost DeLeon citizens -- either through taxes
or utility rates. Even with the disadvantaged community rating, the
city sewer rate would increase by $7.94 per month -- something that
many on the council -- and Wilkerson -- had problems with. Wilkerson
also expressed concern that the city was already obligated financially
for the new park project.
Eventually, Councilman Gifford summed it
up.
“The situation we’ve got, is that this is
going to have to be done, one way or another,” Gifford said.
“We’ve got to find the wisest way to get
the money, and the best system for the city to make the most use of
that money. Because it’s going to be a burden on the citizens, one way
or another.”
“Yes, either way we go, if we continue to
get penalties (or make improvements), we’re spending tax payer money,”
Mayor Owen said. “We’re behind the eight ball any direction we go.”
The first step?
“What’s the first step?” Mayor Owen
asked. “The first phase in the allocation process won’t occur until
December or January,” Viaille said, “as far as the water board is
concerned. Now these guys (Hibbs and Hay), have to get to work and
figure out what it is you all want, so we can get the cost numbers for
the improvements, whatever those improvements may be. When we have
that dollar amount, probably in December or January, then these
gentlemen will file the IUP (Intended Use Plan) with the water board.
That’s what kicks off the formal process with the water board.”
Storage Compliance
TCEQ compliance for water was the next
item up for discussion.
“You were cited for both water capacity
requirements and storage requirements,” Hay said. “We were able to
accomplish the alternative capacity requirement, which reduced your
capacity requirements to meet standards with what you have. So that
went away. You still have storage capacity issues, which we initially
told TCEQ we were going to solve by putting your ground storage tank
back in service. That was going to require re-coating it, and bringing
it up to standards -- as far as hatches and vents and things. The
bigger issue, is that because of how you’re set up, you can’t just put
the tank back in service -- we’re going to have to do pumping
improvements to use that tank. So that makes that option a lot more
expensive.”
At that point, Scott Hibbs said he had
some good news and explained that he’d talked to people at the Upper
Leon Municipal Water District about them allowing DeLeon to store
water there, and that things looked promising.
“We need to get a game plan together to
present to them,” Hibbs said, “and then you (Owen), and Rob (Duncan)
and I need to sit down with them.”
Other business
Scott Hay also briefly discussed the
street seal coating cooperative the city participates in, noting that
work is set to commence on several streets August 13.
During a discussion regarding progress at
the new park, Wilkerson noted that council members will have to decide
on an official name for the project, which will be placed on a brass
plaque and affixed to one of the park structures. The plaque is a
requirement for Texas Parks and Wildlife funded projects. |
