Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
If the various plans for sewer systems come to fruition, the county could one day be awash in sewer systems. Then again, the plans are only proposals at this point, if some are farther along than others, in terms of the planning and funding process.
The latest proposal for a sewer system arose at the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday evening, May 6, possibly as a consequence of the expressed qualms of city officials to join the county in a joint venture absent certain upfront guarantees.
Commissioner Chris Tuten raised the possibility of an independent sewer system, which he had apparently discussed with Clerk of Court Kirk Reams and engineer Josh Baxley, of Dewberry Engineering.
“The talk is about the possibility of the county starting its own sewer project,” Tuten said.
Basically, what he was seeking, Tuten said, was the board’s permission to explore the issue further and maybe have some preliminary engineering
work done. It was Baxley’s representation that the county appeared to have suitable sites for the placement of such a system. And what’s more, that the funding to pay for its construction could be available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
But the first step, he said, was to conduct a preliminary engineering study, which would determine the project’s feasibility, as well as answer where it was best to locate the system and its viability, survivability and operational costs, among other things.
As part of the process, he said, it could also be first explored if the USDA funds were available to finance the study.
County Coordinator Parrish Barwick supported the idea, but raised a caveat. He noted that a major problem with low-pressure sewer systems was that, absent a companion water system, it was near impossible to enforce compliance, in terms of bill payments.
“You can’t turn off a sewer system, but you can turn off the water,” Barwick said, referring to customers who might fail to pay their bills.
He encouraged the commissioners, if they were serious about pursuing an independent sewer system, to acquire water (“yes, go into the water business,” he said); or to get an ironclad agreement with an existing water system that could and would turn off the water if the need arose.
He mentioned the possibility of a partnership with the Jefferson Communities Water System, a non-profit water system that currently serves Lloyd, Wacissa and others of the county’s outlying communities.
Michael Langton, of Langton Consulting in Jacksonville, which is on contract to the county to find grants to fund desired projects, joined the discussion via Zoom.
“I think it’s good to explore this idea,” Langton said, adding that the grants to fund such systems definitely existed, but no grant would pay for 100 percent of the cost, unless the county resorted to RESTORE Act money from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf.
He offered to help the county explore the grant possibilities and to apply for any that were appropriate.
The way the discussion was left, the grant’s angles were to be explored further and Barwick was to approach the Jefferson Communities System to learn if there was any interest in a partnership.
It seemed that new proposal was in lieu of, or in conjunction with, the earlier one to extend the sewer line from the I-10 and U.S. 19 interchange to Capps and ultimately to Waukeenah.
This earlier proposal, as presented by representatives of the Apalachee Regional Planning Council several months ago, entailed extending the sewer line 6.5 miles, from its present termination point on Nash Road just south of the interstate, to Capps, and then west alongside the north side of U.S. 27 to the small community of Waukeenah.
The total cost of this project, per the estimates of the engineers and analysts, would be $2,639,321, for which the county would apply for two grants – one a Community Development Block Grant and the second a Rural Infrastructure Grant.
Additionally, the county was to contribute $75,000 and Simpson Nurseries/Trulieve were to contribute another $75,000, for a total of $150,000.
The payoff, according to the presenters, was that Trulieve, the medical marijuana growing facility on U.S. 27, which currently employs about 200 people, would be able to add another 200 or more jobs if the sewer infrastructure existed.
When city and county officials met to discuss the pursuit of this project jointly, however, the discussion didn’t prove very promising for a partnership. Which may be why the county leaders are looking at the possibility of going at it alone.
More promising is the Lloyd sewer extension system, which the city and county are supposed to be pursuing together, although tensions between the two exist here also.
The idea is basically to run a sewer line from the city’s waste treatment plant in Monticello some 11 to 12 miles west on U.S. 90 and then more or less south on Old Lloyd Road to the village of Lloyd.
Two funding sources are being tapped for this project, one a $2.5 million grant through the Florida Job Growth Fund, via the governor’s office, and a second, a $7.1 million grant from the RESTORE Fund, which derives from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and which funding supposedly has already been awarded.
At the two governing boards’ last discussion on this project about two months ago, however, an interlocal agreement had yet to be signed. City officials, moreover, were demanding that the county also do a preliminary engineering study to answer basic questions such as whether the customers would be there to support the system and asking for an upfront guarantee that the county would shore up the city’s finances if the system developed a deficit.
Which again may explain the county’s latest proposal for an independent sewer system, which some spoke of eventually looping north from Waukeenah to Lloyd.