11/19/1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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NOV 191992 BOOK 88 PnF 94 -7 The Chairman called the meeting to order and announced that this is a workshop only. Terry Pinto, Utilities Director, came before the Board to present a Water and Wastewater Overview. After thanking the Board for giving him the opportunity to make this presentation, he indicated that he wanted to give the Board members a history of the County Utilities Department and an understanding of the various components of a utilities system. Director Pinto conveyed his belief that utilities service is the heartbeat of a community and that it is impossible to have growth without a strong utilities system. He reported that today's presentation would give a general overview of water and wastewater service, and future meetings would discuss assessment procedures, solid waste, septage, sludge, and rate charges. Director Pinto noted that in the 70's the County Commission had an extraordinary amount of vision and foresight, having purchased 200 acres of land to meets its landfill requirements. As a result, the County was in a better position to grow twenty years ago than many counties in Florida are in today. The County Commission also recognized that some time in the future, the County would have to get into the utilities business. In order to prepare for it, the County executed franchise agreements whereby the franchises would become part of a regional facility when the County was ready for them. Other counties, such as Sarasota County, are presently in a difficult position because they have to regionalize but the franchises do not speak to what kind of transfer will take place. Those counties are going to have to negotiate a major purchase bond which will far exceed the actual value of the franchises. The IRC County Commission also managed to talk the Farmers Home Administration (FHA) into a $20 million dollar loan commitment in 1978 to build a major reverse osmosis water plant in South County. At that time, the reverse osmosis procedure was very controversial, but the County recognized that a conventional plant would not be able to handle the water problems that were going to occur because of the high water table and agricultural runoff. Between 1980 and 1983, the County was uncertain what direction it wanted to go and was headed for some major mistakes. Consideration was given to purchasing the South Beach utility service franchise. At a cost of $7 million dollars, a river crossing would have to be done to service a maximum of 1,500 customers. Prior to 1982, decisions were being made based on recommendations of the Engineering Department. Although the recommendations made sense from an engineering viewpoint, they did not stand up to a cost - 2 M