HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/20/1989Thursday, April 20, 1989
The Board of County Commissioners of Indian River County,
Florida, met in Special Session with the Vero Beach City Council
at the City Council Chambers, 1053 20th Place, Vero Beach,
Florida, on Thursday, April 20, 1989, at 9:00 o'clock A.M.
Present were Gary C. Wheeler, Chairman; Carolyn K. Eggert, Vice
Chairman; Richard N. Bird; Margaret C. Bowman; and Don C.
Scurlock, Jr. Also present were James E. Chandler, County
Administrator; Charles P. Vitunac, Attorney to the Board of
County Commissioners; and Virginia Hargreaves, Deputy Clerk.
Present from the City of Vero Beach were Mayor Kenneth
Macht, Vice Mayor Vernon Krause, Councilwoman Molly Beard, and
Councilmen Kevin Doty and Michael Wodtke. Also present were City
Manager John Little, City Attorney Terrence O'Brien, and Finance
Director Thomas Nason.
Mayor Macht called the meeting to order and announced that
it was a one item meeting to discuss the subject of water and
sewer utility service - plant capacities and service boundaries,
and he asked City Manager Little to start out the discussion.
City Manager Little displayed a thick folder containing
agreements that have been signed since 1973-74 with the Hospital
with Raimar, and many various entities. He did believe things
now are stabilizing rapidly regarding water and sewer in the
county so that these agreement are outdated and no longer apply,
and staff feels there is a need to get rid of all of them and
have a master agreement. Mr. Little advised that the City has
had engineers working on a boundary agreement for 3 or 4 years,
but he felt nothing will get done without a joint meeting of the
City and County. He believed staff has done a good job under a
short time frame to try to come up with an agreement to replace
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all these agreements and draw territory maps and talk about how
we can shift wastewater treatment capacity back and forth to our
mutual benefit, and particularly assist the county in some
interim problems associated with growth. Mr. Little wished to
know if everyone wished to take up the agreement or the
boundaries first.
Administrator Chandler stated that he had hoped to have the
map and agreement out to the
Commissioners considerably prior to
the meeting, but was only about to accomplish this late yesterday
afternoon and he apologized for that. -
County Utilities Director Pinto and City Director Goff
passed out maps showing the proposed boundary lines, as follows:
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2
Director Pinto commented that staff has been working on the
squaring off of territories and it is not a simple situation of
just drawing a line because there are a lot of people involved
and a lot now receiving utility service from the City who should
be in the county and vice versa. They did not want to be too
arbitrary, and did the best they could to look at all the
individual situations. The only two areas where they got into
deep discussion was near the Hospital and out off of 43rd Avenue
where the City is now servicing a little development in there
with water. He believed they ended up the squaring off by being
able to switch all customers, except for two wastewater customers
and one water customer where it just didn't make sense for the
county to go over and service them for the small amount of flow
involved.
Director Pinto then referred to the old boundary line shown
on the map near 36th Street and noted that the Hospital itself
had been taken out by special agreement and put into the City
area. Everything to the south of the new line there can be much
more easily and cost effectively serviced by the City and
everything to the north can be served better by the county,
except for the Hospital. Because of the special agreement
between the Hospital and the City and the County, it was believed
it would be best for everyone to leave that with the City. The
Hospital will be a City customer, and the City will bill them;
however, in the agreement they have arranged that the County will
treat the wastewater for the City because we have just sewered
that whole area. In turn, all we are saying is that whatever we
treat here (200,000 gpd +), we pick up like capacity in the City
treatment plant.
City Manager Little advised that the City's position on the
Hospital sewer and water service was that we have a binding
agreement. However, if the Hospital. Board at some point in time
wants to be a County customer and feels it is to their advantage
to do so, the City will agree to set aside the Tri -partite
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agreement and change the boundary map so that they then would go
into the County. It didn't seem worthwhile having a legal fight
over that issue when we have a good agreement now.
Director Pinto really felt the way it works out is much
better for everyone and serves everyone's purpose. He noted that
off of 43rd Avenue, they just carved out the areas the County can
readily serve with a minor amount of construction. Ryanwood is
already on the County system, and behind there it is much more
cost effective for the City to service that area - everything
west of that and on the opposite side of Route 60, the County
will pick up because it will be easier for us to get lines in.
He noted that when staff looked at this, they really didn't pay a
lot of attention to the boundary lines of the City and County,
but just what would be best for each utility and for the
customers on the systems, and he believed it works out well. It
is understood that when we finally agree on these boundary lines,
there has to be some construction done to connect and cut off
from the City to the County system, and there will probably be a
couple hundred thousand dollars worth of construction required to
facilitate what we need to do.
City Manager Little stressed also that there is only one map
and one line and that line is both water and wastewater so that
no one is saddled with trying to serve a wastewater only
customer.
Director Pinto explained the County plans, noting that we
have water on 43rd Avenue and water on King's Highway, and we
have taken water down King's Highway to North Gifford Road,
actually all the way to Bent Pine Utilities and then over into
Grand Harbor. At some point in time there will be a line that
will run south on the Boulevard from Grand Harbor all through the
City and back to connect into our Oslo line so that our system
will be totally looped. We will have interconnecting lines
throughout the City and on the Beach so that if either entity
runs into any major problem, we can divert water. It would be
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easy to wholesale water back and forth the way this is to be set
up. Wastewater is not tied together like that right now, but
Director Pinto believed as time goes on, we will be looking
closer and closer at doing that.
City Manager Little also commented that some day as things
change, what staff has done from a technical standpoint would
make it easy to have a water and sewer authority.
Director Pinto advised that there is room in the agreement
so that if there is some isolated special condition, by agreement
of the City and County, we can service each other's customers.
That summarizes the proposed boundary line, and what this leads
to is the wastewater and what the county is looking for in the
south part of the county.
Commissioner Bird left the meeting at 9:15 o'clock A.M.
Director Pinto noted that it is very obvious the County is
going to have to do something on its own to accommodate growth
in the south of the county. He advised that we have sent notice
to GDC that we want to pursue purchase of their treatment
facility, and if that does not come about, we will be building a
treatment plant right near them. We also have hired the firm of
Post, Buckley to do a countywide master plan on reuse of
effluent. The first phase would be the south county, and
Director Pinto believed we all have the same problem there.
There is concern about the City's effluent going into the river,
and we certainly don't want to go into the river. He knew the
City has done some work on looking at reuse of their effluent,
and he believed at some point in time there can be interconnec-
tions for reuse of that effluent. All the irrigation we get out
of the use of that effluent, we lessen what is taken out of the
drinking aquifer. We are in the permitting stages for a major
force main to run from the City plant south on the Boulevard and
on U.S.I; it is designed ultimately to turn the flow completely
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around and take all County flow from the City plant to a South
County plant. Because of that line, we will have the ability to
push flow back and forth. We have a long way to go, but the
County will be pursuing a south county plant as soon as we can.
City Manager Little commented that one of the things that
led to this meeting was that it was felt it was very necessary to
present to the Council and Commission the realities about the
capacity available in the City's wastewater treatment plant.
The City has had a study done by Lloyd & Associates, which
indicates the City's plant is reaching capacity, as stated in the
following letter:
s"a LLOYD -8c ASSOCIATES, INC.
o► ENGINEERS. ARCHITECTS. PLANNERS ANO SURVEYORS P16NE-(4O7) 562-4112
0 1835 20TH ST.. P.O. BOX 650369. VERO BEACH. FL 32965.0389 FAX -(407) 778-8836
March 28, 1989
John V. Little,
City Manager
City of Vero Beach
1053 20th Place
Vero Beach, Florida 32960
RE: Sewage Treatment Plant Capacity
Dear Mr. Little:
Pursuant to your request, the following are the results of a
minor study to estimate the year in which the current capacity of
the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant will be reached. This
study was based upon population projections developed by the
University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research
and upon an earlier study done by this firm of future treatment
requirements based on undeveloped acreage inside the sewage
service area.
For the purposes of this study, it was assumed that occupancy for
residential units is 2.2 persons as reported in the 1984 U.S.
Census for the Vero Beach area and sewage production is 185
GPD/residential unit. Population projections beyond the limit of
the University of F1,9rida study (year 2010) are linear extensions
from the period of 2005 to 2010. Industrial and commercial
build -out within the sewage service area was assumed to occur in
the same year as the City's residential build -out (year, 2017).
The total commitment for the 6th Avenue corridor was taken to be
0.600MGD..
The results of this study indicate that sewage plant capacity of
4.5 MGD is reached in the year 1996.
If there are any questions regarding this study, please contact
us.
Very truly yours,
LLOYD & ASSOCIATES, INC.
By
Rober loyd, .E.
President
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Mr. Little continued that all the package treatment plants
on the barrier island have been taken out of service, and the
City is serving the island from the south county line through
John's Island with the exception of Bay Tree; they also are
serving the City and the Hospital. With build -out beginning to
occur in those areas and in the City, we need to talk about where
we are going at the south end of the county. Grove Isle, for
example, wants to sign to hook up at the City treatment plant,
and he has gotten to the point where he is refusing those
applications because the numbers just don't work. Mr. Little
stressed that there are only 400,000 gpd of wastewater treatment
capacity available in the City's treatment plant on a permanent
basis. He felt Director Pinto came up with an excellent idea
when he pointed out that while County needs flow in the North
County wastewater plant, the City certainly doesn't, and this led
to the arrangement that the City would take the Hospital, but
would send the Hospital effluent (about 200,000 gpd) to the
County's north treatment plant for processing; and by the same
token, the City then allow an additional 200,000 gpd, over and
above the 400,000 gpd, to come to the City Plant. There will be
no billing - simply you treat and we treat. This shifting gives
the County flow in the north and frees up capacity in the south
which the County can use, and it doesn't affect the City one way
or the other. There was some talk that in order to make further
capacity available out of the City plant at the south end, we
wondered if the City could come all the way down to lift station
in front of the Presbyterian Church on Royal Palm Boulevard and
divert that flow north to the County plant on an interim basis
and free up more capacity. Staff is looking at that option now.
The tough problem is the interim period of time between now and
1996 when it is hoped to get a plant on line at the south end,
and there are some gpds that could be used on a temporary basis.
City Manager Little stressed that what the City would ask is
that the County move quickly to do whatever is necessary to give
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staff the tools they need to get started very quickly with a
plant in the South County. The City will look at their flow line
monthly and issue a report indicating how close they are getting
to threshholds until it gets to a point where both City and
County staff agree they will have to refuse to sign any more
permits. To use Grove Isle as an example, their consulting
engineer must prepare a DER form showing what the flows are,
where the effluents will be treated, and the ability of the
treatment plant to handle that effluent, etc. In the past that
form was signed by the consultant and then came to the City
Manager for his signature. It now has been decided that both the
County staff and City staff will review this form and sign off on
it before it goes to the City Manager. Director Pinto will keep
a log as will City Utility Director Hillman Goff so they will
know when a threshold is being approached, and when both those
names are on the application, then and then only will the form go
to the City Manager for signature. That is how they propose to
control interim use.
Commissioner Scurlock had a few comments on service areas.
He believed the purpose of this meeting is joint cooperation. He
reviewed the history of the whole situation and the various
agreements over the years when nobody really knew where we wanted
to go. He believed a lot of credit is due for trying to get rid
of all of that and looking to the future, and he felt this is a
very good beginning. This has been done on an engineering and
cost effective basis, not a political basis; and lines have been
drawn. He felt, however, that we need to plant the seed that a
lot more needs to be done. The 1986 Safe Water Drinking Act is a
reality, and it will present significant problems for both the
City and the County, and that also goes over into the wastewater,
which is going to require more extensive treatment. This, of
course, involves substantial expenditure, and all that relates
back to rates. Commissioner Scurlock noted that the County has
made a commitment and has instructed staff to move ahead; the
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County is in the utility business and will be in the future, and
he felt there may be an opportunity in terms of the power agree-
ments City Manager Little has been so successful in negotiating.
He felt what needs to come out of this meeting today is that, in
fact, there are some common areas we can continue to work
together on. For instance, the City is in the process of evalu-
ating their water system and R.O. might make some sense. The
County has a brand new line going up Kings's Highway to Grand
Harbor that has significant excess capacity, possibly even the
capacity to serve 2 million gpd, and he at least would like to
see some exploration of that possibility. He further noted that
even the County is expanding outside its normal service area for
South County waterinto the North County, the idea being to build
up customer base. He felt there are some possibilities here, and
what the County is doing may provide the City an alternative to
get their discharge out of the river, if the City wished to
consider buying capacity from the county.
Commissioner Scurlock stated that he would like to instruct
staff to move ahead and explore those possibilities where it
makes sense and work together. He continued to emphasize the
impact of the new laws and the necessity to work together to
engineer environmentally sound and cost effective answers.
City Manager Little advised that he will instruct staff and
Boyle Engineering to look at purchasing water from the county as
one of the alternatives they are looking into. In order for the
consultant to look at this, however, he did need some answers,
i.e., whether 2 million gpd would be available for a year, two
years, or permanently, and also what it was felt the wholesale
rate would be because they need to make economic comparisons.
Commissioner Scurlock had two areas where he had some ques-
tions regarding the proposed agreement. Under Paragraph 4 it
says "The City shall treat the County in a nondiscriminatory and
fair manner in all matters concerning this agreement, including
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rate setting." He wished to make it clear that when you talk
about nondiscriminatorty manner, it would relate to the cost of
rendering that service. He did not want to have the Commission
sit here 5 years from now and a surcharge is added and we say is
that what it meant.
County Attorney Vitunac noted that the county rate treats
all alike. This would be a wholesale rate.
City Manager Little agreed and stated that the City does not
have a surcharge on wholesale rates; with wholesale, you are just
looking at the cost of delivering a product to a particular
delivery point, whether it is water, sewer, or electric.
Commissioner Scurlock wished to have some more specific
language regarding that, and Attorney Vitunac suggested that we
just add wording stating that this "shall not include any
surcharge."
City Manager Little had no objection to that language being
added to the agreement to preclude that possibility. He noted
that is not the way you do wholesale rates in any event.
Commissioner Scurlock then wished to be clear re the terms
of our indemnification under Paragraph 6. The way he read it is
that our 400,000 gpd allocation, plus the release of 200,000 gpd
from the Hospital District, would equate to a 600,000 gpd
allocation, and he assumed we are indemnifying the City for
anything above that 600,000 gpd. In other words, the notice to
the Commission and staff is that we are assuming liability for
any extension of service beyond that 600,000 gpd on a temporary
basis.
City Manager Little stated that is correct, and further
noted that when Mr. Pinto and Mr. Goff sign off on the DER form
to be submitted to him for signature, they are on the hook for
all of us because they are saying we can submit it to the DER
because by the time this plant needs this capacity, the County
plant will be able to handle it.
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Commissioner Scurlock emphasized that we must set a very
definite policy in terms of committing capacity to anyone as we
do not want anyone claiming we are discriminating.
Director Pinto explained the sign off process, and pointed
out that the only time he and Hillman Goff sign off is for actual
construction of lines. This will only be for those who are ready
to build.
Discussion ensued about the unrealistic flow figures the DER
requires you to work with, and Commissioner Scurlock felt it is
because the DER is concerned about overdevelopment.
Commissioner Scurlock had one other thing he wanted to clear
up. He wanted to be sure there is no question about the County
charging impact fees since there have been some questions raised
about this in the past. He wished to go on record that the
County feels we can defend that impact fee, and he just wanted to
be sure that we aren't at odds with the City about this and that
this agreement doesn't address it in a negative way.
City Manager Little advised that the agreement just says
d
that this is the County's business, and it is the City's official
position that they are not going to get involved in that. The
County is not charging the City; they are charging individuals,
and he believed those individuals have all the rights they need
to protect their own interests.
EFFLUENT DISPOSAL
Mayor Macht asked that the County be made aware of some of
the City's discussion about effluent disposal.
City Manager Little advised that the City is pretty much
aware of what the County is doing regarding their planning in
this area. In regard to the wastewater effluent from the Vero
Beach plant, there has been a lot of social and environmental
pressure to take that out of the river. Several things are
happening around the state - they are getting very sticky as far
as toxicity tests, and they are getting particularly concerned on
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the east coast of Florida where plants are discharging into the
Indian River. They have already taken on Fort Pierce for this
and that has been going on for two years. The City of Vero Beach
has been noticed that they have some toxicity problems. The DER
is saying do something and they want the City to go to deep well
injection. Both the County and the City have looked at putting
effluent into the wetlands, but the DER doesn't want to allow
that.
Considerable discussion followed about the DER's require-
ments for going into existing wetlands being higher than for
creating a new wetland, and the City and County's objections to
deep well injection.
City Manager Little reported on the City's plans for having
an effluent line along A -1-A and making it available for all the
golf courses to use for irrigation. They will not branch off
A -1-A into residential; they will pick up the Moorings Golf
Course, the Riomar Golf Course, then will divert to go to the 52
acre Riverside Park and make the irrigation available to the
Under the Oaks area, then on down to John's Island. Mr. Little
noted that all of the condos located right on A -1-A have separate
irrigations meters, and as soon as they satisfy the golf course
needs, they will take out those meters and disconnect them from
the potable water lines. He believed that they will run out of
supply long before they meet the demand for irrigation water.
In regard to the water system itself, Mr. Little advised
that they are doing a new 10 year study for transmission and
distribution, and the first thing they have to study is what
effect the providing of effluent for irrigation will have on
their potable water demand. They also have to take into
consideration the trading off of service areas and some of the
other alternatives that have been suggested, and if, in fact, by
some miracle they did have a 2 million gpd decrease in demand on
the potable water plant, then possibly they wouldn't need to
build an addition to the plant. They will took at everything to
12
see where they are heading. If they build an adjunct to the Vero
Beach water plant, it would probably be for "peaking" purposes.
They will be required to do something at some point in time to
augment their treatment capacity and probably will have to go to
R.O. and use membranes for treatment.
'Mr. Little advised that as far as staff is concerned, they
are now done with the water and wastewater subject, and as soon
as they get the maps and Attorney Vitunac makes some slight
changes to the agreement, he will put it on the agenda to go to
the Council.
Commissioner Scurlock believed the Board would wish to have
it on their agenda also.
MOTION WAS MADE by Commissioner Scurlock, SECONDED
by Commissioner Eggert, to give conceptual approval
to the proposed agreement with the City re service
areas and water and sewer allocations, with the
changes discussed today to be made, and the agree-
ment then brought back to the Board for final approval.
Mayor Macht noted that he would like to have another joint
meeting with the County in May, and Commissioner Scurlock
commented that he would like to have the Chairman and the Mayor
come up with list of topics to be put on the agenda so we can be
prepared.
Mr. Little wished to bring up the proposed sludge agreement.
He advised that staff feels it has too many blank spots in it;
that there are too many unknowns, and possibly the City should
have their consultants look at what would be involved in putting
a sludge facility on their own site or at least dewatering. He
felt the City and County need to get staff together as soon as
possible to come up with numbers as they are looking at unknown
hauling costs, unknown treatment cost, etc.
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City Utility Director Hillman Goff confirmed that they are
not sure just what the County's intents are on accepting sludge,
whether digested or not.
Director Pinto advised that the County is looking into the
numbers, and we are talking about unstabilized raw sludge.
City Manager Little commented that the City belongs to the
Florida Innovation Group, and one of the things mentioned lately
is that some cities and counties have begun quarterly staff
meetings so they can be aware of each other's problems.
Administrator Chandler confirmed that he wished to cooperate
with the City and keep an open line between the City and County
staff.
COMMISSIONER SCURLOCK CALLED FOR THE QUESTION on
the Motion to give conceptual approval to the
proposed agreement, with the changes to be made,
and brought back to the Board.
IT WAS VOTED ON AND CARRIED 4 to 0 with Commissioner
Bird being absent.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at
10:15 o'clock A.M.
ATTEST:
Clerk
14
1p
Chairman