Status of WWTP "Upgrade?" Who Knows?
Morro Bay and the Cayucos Sanitary District (MB/CSD) cancelled six of their joint meetings in spring and summer. It was just when they were at the peak of their deliberations over how and where to build a new wastewater treatment plant under their Joint Powers Agreement (JPA), and public interest was likely the highest it has been over the past three plus years.
So it was eye-catching and noteworthy when the JPA partners scheduled to scheduled a discussion of a "STATUS REPORT ON UPGRADE PROJECT AS OF SEPTEMBER 1, 2012" at its September 13 meeting in Morro Bay. Some took it to mean that the Morro Bay and Cayucos staffs were planning to recap what had been missed at those six cancelled meetings.
Morro Bay pubic services director Rob Livick started off with the item, B-1, by saying that WWTP (wastewater treatment plant project) manager Dennis Delzeit was unable to attend the meeting because he was in the process of returning from meetings with members of the California Coastal Commission about when the MB/CSD and Commission staffs could meet to discuss their disagreements over the WWTP and when the Commission might consider the project again.
The Commission cancelled its scheduled consideration of the project on August 9 after MB/CSD found deep and serious fault with the Commission staff's report rejecting the "upgrade project," which MB/CSD had proposed being rebuilt at its present site on the shores of Estero Bay. The Commission staff decided it should meet with the MB/CSD staffs to try to resolve their differences before the Commission scheduled reconsideration of the project.
Livick said Delzeit has been seeking that meeting with the Commission staff by emails and phone calls on a weekly basis. But no meeting has been scheduled yet.
That "concludes my summary of the project manager's activities," Livick said.
Council member Noah Smukler asked if Delzeit's reports are on the WWTP website, and Livick said they are. Are they reports to the Council, Smukler asked, and Livick answered yes.
Livick didn't provide directions to where the Delzeit reports were located but after some searching, the key one, dated Sept. 13, 2012, and dated entitled Status Report on Upgrade Project as of September 1, 2012, was found at Morro Bay Civic Plus.
The report added little to what Livick had reported. But it did provide some billing data:
Dudek engineers, invoiced, $429,742.
MWH (Montgomery Watson Harza), billed amount, $472,490 (no invoiced amount).
Susan McCabe (MB/CSD lobbyist on the WWTP), billed amount, $117,969 (no invoiced amount).
Delzeit (as WWTP project manager), billed amount, $182,884 (no invoiced amount).
CSD board member Michael Foster asked whether "we get any reports from Susan McCabe (the MB/CSD lobbyist seeking to convince the Commission and its staff that the new WWTP should be located where the old one is currently situated)"? Livick said, "No written reports."
"Does she answer to anybody?" Foster asked.
She is doing everything required of her in her contract, Livick said.
Is she required to give any status reports of the negotiations over the WWTP? Foster asked.
"I don't have her contract with me so I can't say what it states," Livick said.
Morro Bay mayor Bill Yates asked, "How often do you communicate with Susan?"
Livick said it is probably on a weekly basis on average. She basically lets us know what is expected to happen at the next Commission meeting, he said.
So what is the status of the "upgrade project"(the topic of the agenda item)? Well, the Coastal Commission staff has rejected the upgrade and that "status" still remains unchanged, but it wasn't even mentioned at the JPA meeting on September 13.
