Utility decision may aid buyout (Citrus Springs)

By Terry Witt


The Florida Governmental Utility Authority’s staff may make it easier for the county to work on its proposed buyout of FGUA’s systems.

In a Feb. 17 memo, FGUA staff recommended dumping its current plan to hire a new operations and customer service contractor, a process that could complicate the buyout.

The county commission doesn’t want to be saddled with a new operations and customer service operator for the next five years if it decides to purchase FGUA’s 11 water and five sewer systems in Citrus County.

FGUA staff has been ready since November last year to hire U.S. Water/Wade Trim as the new contractor to run its systems, but the county hasn’t been prepared to make a decision on the buyout.

In the memo, Systems Administrator Robert Sheets recommended canceling the contract proposal process involving U.S. Water/Wade Trim and modifying its existing contract with Severn Trent, the current contractor.

Sheets said any new contract with Severn Trent would set higher standards for performance and impose penalties if the company did not meet the requirements. If FGUA could not come to terms with Severn Trent in 60 days, it would have the right to negotiate directly with the other potential providers.

FGUA staff will make the recommendation at Friday’s FGUA board meeting in Lehigh Acres.

The county commission is studying whether it would be in the best interests of FGUA’s customers if the county bought its 11 local water and sewer systems, which include Sugarmill Woods, Pine Ridge and Citrus Springs.

County staff is expected to make a presentation about the buyout on Feb. 28.

Sheets said the decision to terminate the process involving U.S. Water/Wade Trim was in keeping with its philosophy of being a tool for local governments.

“We always yield to local governments’ prerogative,” he said Tuesday.

The county commission decided to consider purchasing FGUA’s systems in part because customers were complaining about FGUA. The government utility had proposed property assessments in Citrus Springs and Pine Ridge without county approval.

Later on, FGUA agreed to allow the county’s Water and Wastewater Authority to review the assessments.

FGUA pressed for answers (Citrus Springs)

By Terry Witt

The Florida Governmental Utility Authority faces millions of dollars in repairs and upgrades to the water and wastewater systems it purchased two years ago in Citrus County, a county government report has concluded.

In the report, County Engineering Director Al McLaurin said FGUA is not ignoring the problems and has made an effort to bring the facilities into compliance by budgeting for the repairs and upgrades in its five-year construction plan. FGUA completed 48 percent of the work it had planned to do in 2005.

“It is just that there are so many problems, especially at the wastewater treatment plants, that they cannot correct all of the problems at once,” McLaurin said in a report for the Citrus County Water and Wastewater Authority (WWA). “This is a result of current growth that is affecting all facilities throughout Florida.”

McLaurin’s report was made public Monday as part of WWA’s monthly meeting. It surfaced as FGUA Director of Operations Charles Sweat was pressed for answers about when the government utility plans to build new water wells for Citrus Springs and Pine Ridge.

McLaurin’s report said FGUA needs to build new water wells for Citrus Springs, Gospel Island and Pine Ridge.

FGUA inherited the maintenance problems from Florida Water Services Corp. when it bought the systems in December 2003. None of the problems identified in McLaurin’s report pose an immediate health hazard to FGUA’s customers, said Utilities Regulatory Director Robert Knight.

As part of the purchase, FGUA took ownership of the water and/or sewer systems in Apache Shores, Citrus Springs, Golden Terrace, Gospel Island, Lakeside Country Club, Oak Forest, Pine Ridge, Point O’ Woods, Rosemont/Rolling Green, Spring Gardens and Sugarmill Woods.

Donald Cox, a WWA board member, said records show the water systems in Citrus Springs and Pine Ridge are approaching capacity. He wanted to know if FGUA was prepared to add water-pumping capacity.

Charles Sweat, FGUA’s director of operations, said a test well has already been dug in Citrus Springs and construction of a production well at the same location will take place this year. He said FGUA doesn’t know yet if it will add one or two more wells in the Citrus Springs-Pine Ridge area.

In other business:

n The board voted 5-0 to have FGUA investigate a complaint by Michael Castricone that a Citrus Springs water line near his home passes through a drainage retention pond. Castricone said if the water pipe were to break it could be contaminated with stormwater.

Castricone has also complained for two years that Florida Water Services allowed diesel fuel to spill on the ground near water well three. He is concerned it may contaminate the water. He mentioned the problem again, but WWA took no action.

WWA instructed Knight to draft a proposed policy on how residents would be charged for water lost when water pipes break. Utilities handle the matter in different ways.