Utility agency needs to respond to just criticism

Exert from ----


Utility agency needs to respond to just criticism Series: EDITORIAL; [STATE Edition]
St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Jul 18, 2005. pg. 2
Abstract (Document Summary)
County Commission chairwoman Vicki Phillips scorched FGUA for being unaccountable to voters (the FGUA board is unelected) and for having a host of what she sees as possible conflicts of interest.

She is right on both counts. Citrus' representative on FGUA's board is County Administrator Richard Wesch, who serves at the pleasure of the commissioners, not voters. And the relationship between FGUA and the directors of the company it pays to run the systems seems entirely too cozy.

At the very least, her suggestion that Wesch be replaced on the FGUA board by someone held accountable to the voters, a county commissioner, should be adopted immediately. There has been a frustrating breakdown in communication between FGUA, the county and the utility customers that must be repaired.

Full Text (739 words)
Copyright Times Publishing Co. Jul 18, 2005

The staffers and board members of the Florida Governmental Utility Authority are used to working out of the public eye, rolling around in the nitty-gritty details of installing and operating water and sewer lines.

In recent days, however, they have raised their heads above the trenches only to catch a bulldozer load of grief from angry customers and county commissioners.

They have come by their criticism the old-fashioned way: They have earned it.

FGUA, a coalition of governments (including Citrus County) that was formed in 2000 to buy privately run utility systems, has been under fire before. The bruises over the 2003 purchase of Florida Water Systems, after a bizarre flirtation with two Panhandle towns that wanted to snap up the sprawling company, are still fresh in many people's minds.

But nothing compares to the reaction FGUA got to its proposal to assess more than 4,000 property owners in Pine Ridge and Citrus Springs between $2,000 and $6,000 to pay for future water line expansions.

The rub was that hundreds of current customers, people who have already paid to be hooked into the system, were to be charged this new assessment. To these homeowners, and to county officials, FGUA's contention that the fees were part of "making growth pay for itself" was an absurd slap in the face.

Thus began a series of public spankings of FGUA's leadership and a headlong retreat from the original proposal.

As it now stands, Pine Ridge property owners have been removed entirely from the equation, as have Citrus Springs property owners who either connected to or applied to be part of the system by June 24 of this year. The size of the Citrus Springs assessments remains unsettled, to be next discussed by the FGUA board Aug. 19.

Those concessions have turned down the heat, but FGUA is still in hot water with Citrus County.

County Commission chairwoman Vicki Phillips scorched FGUA for being unaccountable to voters (the FGUA board is unelected) and for having a host of what she sees as possible conflicts of interest.

She is right on both counts. Citrus' representative on FGUA's board is County Administrator Richard Wesch, who serves at the pleasure of the commissioners, not voters. And the relationship between FGUA and the directors of the company it pays to run the systems seems entirely too cozy.

Of even greater concern is the disconnect between the county and FGUA over the county's oversight role on rates and fees.

When the commissioners in 2003 approved FGUA's purchase of the local Florida Water Services properties, they did so with the understanding that rates would not increase for five years, and the county would have a say in any rate decisions.

But when the county's Water and Wastewater Authority tried to exercise that role in May, FGUA told them to butt out.

FGUA has since abandoned that stance, but the fact that it would forget this vital agreement with the commissioners and try to keep the county out of the rate-setting process is outrageous.

Factor in other puzzlements, such as FGUA proposing to run pipes to an area that might be annexed by a subdivision that already has its own water service while also planning to lay pipelines in the path of the proposed Suncoast Parkway, and there are substantial reasons for the county to wonder if this gang knows what it is doing.

After being hammered by commissioners, a chastened FGUA operations director Charles Sweat acknowledged that his side has made mistakes and must dig itself out of a deep credibility gap and try to gain Citrus County's trust.

They might not get the chance.

Phillips says Citrus County should consider buying the two subdivisions' utility systems from FGUA, something that has been contemplated from the beginning of this venture.

Before deciding to do so, however, Citrus officials must have accurate information from FGUA to determine whether the county can operate the systems economically and efficiently.

At the very least, her suggestion that Wesch be replaced on the FGUA board by someone held accountable to the voters, a county commissioner, should be adopted immediately. There has been a frustrating breakdown in communication between FGUA, the county and the utility customers that must be repaired.

The concept of FGUA was never an easy sell to various county officials and civic watchdogs, including this newspaper, for a host of reasons. As this ordeal sorely demonstrates, those reservations were all too valid.