Lewiston Town Board hears on WPCC woes

by Terry Duffy
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, March 15, 2008

The meltdown from last weekend’s heavy snows seemed almost apropos at Lewiston Town Hall, as discussions on a brewing problem became a focal point at Monday’s mid-day Lewiston Town Board work session, namely the Lewiston Water Pollution Control Center out on Lower River Road.

Tim Lockhart, WPCC administrator, detailed to the board a status report on the condition of the 30-plus-year-old facility. In a nutshell, the town, which owns and operates the plant, has some work to do to tackle the mounting physical deterioration problems – said to be in the $500,000 repair/replacement range and increasing -- as both the area and the demands on WPCC’s water treatment capabilities continue to grow.

WPCC handles the primary sanitary sewer treatments for the Town and Village of Lewiston, plus the Town of Porter and Village of Youngstown under a continuing Tri-Community agreement among the municipalities. Its primary operations funding comes nearly 100 percent by means of user fees – currently at $2.70 per thousand gallons of individual use, whether it be from residential or commercial users. Broken down further, Lockhart said the Town of Lewiston accounts for 50 percent of its overall $1.5 million budget, the Village of Lewiston 25 percent, and the Village of Youngstown and Town of Porter 25 percent apiece.

Other revenue comes from outside services provided, including septic disposal services and sludge contracts with Modern.

Capital Improvement Needs

But overall, WPCC appears to be struggling as increased demands and lagging capital improvement issues continue to mount. “We’re meeting operating expenses,” Lockhart said, but that’s about it, as he went on to detail what he viewed as troublesome issues affecting the physical plant and capital improvement shortfalls.

Among these is a new roof – estimated to cost $150,000 – that Lockhart called his most pressing need. “We’ve patched, patched and patched,” he said, telling the board the now three-decade-old flat bed roof has reached its shelf life limit and has become a maintenance burden on his budget. To address it thus far, Lockhart said he has been tapping into WPCC’s shrinking fund balance accounts, which now hover at just $50,000 – down dramatically from the mid-late 1990s averages of $1 million, as the town embarked on its badger meter installations, which were completely funded by the WPCC.

Another major capital improvement need covers WPCC’s various dewatering equipment needs – sludge equipment, bearings, belt presses, etc. – that Lockhart says are now in need of complete replacement at a collective cost estimated at anywhere from $250,000 to $350,000. For example, Lockhart pointed to a still-operating 25-year-old belt press at the plant that requires what he called ongoing “piecemeal” repairs just to keep it running. Other ongoing costs include HVAC maintenance and equipment, which Lockhart says he’s been able to cover under his budget.

But another pressing need is WPCC’s power capability of servicing the area in the event of an extended electrical breakdown. Responding to a question by Councilman Ernie Palmer, Lockhart told the board that WPCC’s generator is now 32 years old and he wasn’t sure how well it would function to power the plant in the event of a mass power outage in the area. “It’s functional,” Lockhart said, telling the board that, like other equipment, it’s become aged and a major problem is replacing the individual units and parts that have grown in cost.

On replacing the entire unit, Lockhart pegged its estimated cost at $150,000. “It’s a pricey item,” he added.

Budget Concerns

Turning to other areas impacting WPCC finances, Lockhart brought up a number of cost concerns, telling the board items such as employee heath care and retirement costs “are going out of sight.”

“It’s having an impact on our fund balance for public projects,” Lockhart said.

Supervisor Fred Newlin, noting that WPCC saw its last staff retirement nearly 5 years ago, suggested that retirements and staff attrition be further examined.

Lockhart told the board he felt overall that WPCC was working within its budget, addressing maintenance, operational and personnel costs and keeping its expense to the community at a reasonable level. As far as personnel costs, retirement and health care – Lockhart said he’s been able to maintain these at 1.8 percent annual increases, below the rate of inflation, thus keeping the user rate of $2.70 per thousand consistent for all. “Each municipality has their own particular rate (regardless of consumption). It’s a flat rate,” Lockhart said.

Consumption Issues

Talk then turned to actual consumption, which varies among the municipal users. Lockhart said that Lewiston, Porter and Youngstown have and continue to stay within their overall INI (water, sewer and drainage) outflows, and the Village of Lewiston “has been making great strides, but there’s still room for improvement,” saying the village has had three permitted overage discharges thus far in 2008.

Overall, Lockhart said that while the WPCC has and continues to handle the increased loads on its services without major problem, calling Village of Lewiston sewer infrastructure problems “not the issue,” he did stress that the area’s thousands of users need to get a handle on the outflows. For example he said WPCC was designed to absorb releases of 1 to 1.5 million gallons per day, but pointed out that at times it has handled releases anywhere from 9 million to upwards of 15 million gallons per day for treatment from its Tri-Community network. “This heavy duty discharge is not at 100 percent treatment,” Lockhart said. “We have to do our best to reduce the outflows,” he said, adding that WPCC was “not designed to deal with today’s INI flows.”

Suggesting community outreach, Lockhart said, “What we need to do is have a better public education process with the residents.” He said that additional problems arise from residential and surface water discharges that hit the system, which become far worse at thaws or after heavy rains. He said with the added stress to the WPCC system comes associated higher costs from electrical (estimated at 25 to 30 percent) to demands placed on its older equipment. “When it comes, we have to turn on the pumps,” Lockhart said.

Recourse suggestions from the town to handle the increased WPCC costs ranged from a new schedule of rates based on 100 percent consumption for all users (versus the aforementioned current municipality breakdown percentage), to additional new fees, possibly at $400 per unit being tagged on to new builds as developments continue in the area. No action was taken on any of the concerns as discussion ended with the town directing to have grant writer Bernie Rotella pursue funding to address WPCC and other town financial needs.

More, as news develops.