Friday, January 24, 2003

WASA still bobbing on ripples in water plan

By JANET MCGREGOR
snippets@bellsouth.net

The South Fulton Municipal Regional Water and Sewage Authority once again took another step back - albeit a minor one - from its goal in the first meeting of 2003.

The group formed in April 2000 and has slowly made progress toward their goal of providing ample water for the tri-city area of Union City, Palmetto and Fairburn.

While the peripheral, and necessary, functions such as permitting, identifying land, and determining needs have continued, the city representatives have continually jockeyed back and forth over legal and practical matters.

Two main hurdles have troubled the authority. Palmetto Mayor Clark Boddie said that Fairburn "really didn't want to give up its infrastructure to be a wholesale customer" while Union City and Palmetto were in favor of being "everything" from marketing to services.

The second hurdle surfaced when the newly structured intergovernmental agreement was put before the group for final approval on Tuesday.

The authority will need to purchase an older existing wastewater treatment plant from Palmetto to move forward. Environmental limits would require that it be shut down.

Fairburn felt the language in the Intergovernmental Agreement could be interpreted that the wastewater treatment plant would be purchased regardless of the cost.

Engineering firm Keck & Wood will be doing the evaluation, but the language in the agreement said that Palmetto would value the system.

In addition, questions arose as to whether members of the authority would need to garner approval from their respective city councils prior to agreeing to the obligation of funds associated with the purchase.

After much discussion and interpretations from the city's legal counsel, it was determined that the signing of the agreement would be postponed until the next session to allow for an evaluation of the property to be made.

In other areas, the process moved on a steady track. The 404 permitting application was completed for submission to the EPA. 404 refers to section 404 of the Clean Water Act which established a program to regulate the discharge of dredged and fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands.

Applicants must show they have taken steps to "avoid wetland impacts where practicable, minimize potential impacts to wetlands, provided compensation for any remaining, unavoidable impacts through activities to restore or create wetlands."

Fairburn city administrator Jim Williams was appointed to serve on the Authority.

Union City Ralph Moore was re-elected as the chair for the authority. Moore thanked the council for their vote of confidence and talked briefly about the accomplishments of the authority, noting they were "on our way to making history."

Palmetto Mayor Clark Boddie was elected as Vice Chair and newly appointed member Jim Williams was elected as Secretary/Treasurer.

Williams, voicing concerns about potential increases in interest rates, suggested that the bond process be started rather than waiting for the inter-governmental agreement to be completed.

After discussion the authority voted unanimously to reinstitute the bond process which had been previously halted. The process could take anywhere from 90 to 120 days to complete.

A draw of $75,000 was approved to cover costs associated with permitting, engineering and other related needs.

At the end of the meeting members reviewed a video that will be available to the public which will give an overview and explanation of the authority.