Stay or Pay?

Photo by Don Chaddock.

Auburn’s choice to keep its sewer plant local sparks water board warning

The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board’s top official urged the Auburn City Council to reconsider its decision to upgrade its current wastewater facility plant or the city could face unforeseen costly upgrades and fines in the future.

Pamela Creedon, chief executive officer of the water board, addressed the council at their regular meeting on Monday night.

“I’m here to ask you to reconsider going regional,” she said. “I don’t believe you have thought out your decision carefully.”

As part of her agency’s “permitting strategy,” she said communities had to demonstrate that they “exhausted all possible avenues of regionalization for permits to be issued.”

The decision to regionalize, or stay local with wastewater treatment, has been a hot topic for many communities in the foothills and has even resulted in the resignation of two Colfax City Council members.

Colfax’s problems (see related story on this page) and issues were certainly on the minds of the Auburn City Council members.

“I know with our neighbors up I-80, the residents there decided they wouldn’t pay a rate increase,” said Mike Holmes, Auburn’s vice mayor.

Creedon was quick to caution Auburn not to follow Colfax’s lead as their decision has left them with few options.

“If they do not comply with their (cease and desist) order, we will take action,” she said. “There has been talk in Colfax where some of the residents believe we won’t fine them. We are bound by law. We can’t relax the standards.”

She warned Auburn that choosing to stay local to avoid a massive, and unpopular, sewer rate fee increase was a short-term solution with long-term consequences.

“Right now, today, you are looking at a permit that requires (one kind of) treatment, but I don’t know what the future holds,” she said. “You don’t know how many times people come in and say they just built their multi-billion dollar plant and they’ve just received their permits, and now they are outdated and (need) to spend millions more to upgrade it. That happens in small communities that choose to stay local.”

She said Auburn’s proposed rate increase of $80 to $100 per month was worth the investment, with benefits far outweighing the costs.

“People pay for cell phones,” she said. “This is necessary.”

Councilman Kevin Hanley pressed Creedon to explain why small communities in the foothills should pay to go regional when the benefits are realized on a broader scale.

“Water flows down hill and upgrades in Auburn, paid for by Auburn residents, actually benefit the region and even the entire state,” Hanley said. “The burden is put on the small cities in the foothills. What is the water board doing to help fund or provide assistance to the small communities?”

“As a regional board, we are subject to the state water board and state budget allocations,” Creedon said.

Councilmember Bridget Powers expressed concern that Auburn’s deadline to meet new and even stricter water standards, or opt to go regional, was earlier than most of the others in the region.

“We are the ones up against the deadline,” Powers said. “Are Placer County and Lincoln aware of the sense of urgency? We are facing the deadline before anyone else. Lincoln has been unable to provide us with the information necessary to make an informed decision. Can you provide more time so we can work together on a regional plan?”

Creedon said her agency was willing to work with small communities and extensions could be granted based on the merit of the request.

Councilman Bob Snyder, who has acted as the city’s liaison to the water board, said Auburn has a static population and that if costly upgrades were needed to increase water quality in the future, the costs would be spread out among a small group of residents. He asked Creedon if a regional wastewater system would be more affordable for average residents if new standards were imposed in the future.

“Yes,” she said, “because the cost is spread over more ratepayers. Also, a regional plant is better equipped to deal with new standards. The regional plants are not the ones surprised by (new requirements). The smaller communities with their own plants act as though we came out of nowhere.”

In other matters, the City Council: • Denied the appeal of the Planning Commission’s decision to approve the new Hampton Inn and Suites hotel project on Lincoln Way and Russell Road. • Approved City Manager Bob Richardson to contract with KVO Industries, Inc., for the production of interpretive panel signs at the Auburn School Park Preserve (located behind City Hall). The contract amount is not to exceed $20,566.

Auburn Urban Development Authority actions • Approved “potholing” to start phase one of the Streetscape Project to identify location of utility lines in preparation for construction. • Approved financial consultant contract to sell redevelopment bonds for phase one of Streetscape Project.