Council weighs project‑manager hire, reuse incentives and county plans ahead of April 24 conditional‑use hearing

Council members and staff devoted much of the April 8 meeting to the long‑running effort to build a new wastewater treatment plant and to related county planning that could affect the city’s ability to complete the project.

Councilman Cusack pushed for the council to consider hiring an experienced project manager or project engineer to coordinate permits, grants, BDI/consultant work and county negotiations. “We need to find a person that can coordinate it all together, that has the experience of building a wastewater treatment plant in other areas,” Cusack said, arguing a single dedicated point person would accelerate the project and make the city a more reliable partner for the county.

Councilman Lee and other members discussed reuse and revenue‑sharing as a potential inducement to the county. Lee suggested exploring effluent reuse that developers could tap into and offering the county a portion of reuse revenue to encourage county participation.

City Manager Ed Spears said recent county actions have altered the political and funding landscape. Spears told the council the county approved a bond issuance “over $30,000,000…for a 500,000 gallon per day package plant,” and that the city has continued to invite county partnership; he called the conditional‑use permit the critical path item. "The critical path right now is this conditional use permit. Without it, we're back at 0," Spears said. He advised that once the conditional‑use permit is secured the city can submit state permit applications and move forward with grant requests.

Staff and council members described the project as both a public‑health and enterprise operation: possible grant funding and reuse could expand capacity while wastewater enterprise revenues ultimately would support other city services. Mayor Heather Lindsay repeated concerns from prior meetings about regionalization and the importance of Milton completing work it has already invested in: she urged the county to allow Milton to continue given the city’s prior expenditures on the project.

Views varied on whether to hire a dedicated project manager now. Some council members, including Cusack and another who identified as an engineer and former project manager, argued a full‑time project lead would be necessary to manage the estimated multiyear, multimillion‑dollar effort. Others said staff already on the project — including Mr. Cook (who council members noted has built plants in the past), grants staff and the city manager’s office — could carry the work forward and that the immediate priority is the April 24 conditional‑use hearing.

Councilman Cusack asked staff to add discussion of a project‑manager hire to the council’s work session agenda. City Manager Spears agreed to add the item for future discussion. No hiring decision was made on April 8; the council set securing the conditional‑use permit as the near‑term priority.

Why this matters: council members said the plant is critical both for environmental compliance (moving effluent out of the river) and as an enterprise that could generate revenue for city services. The outcome of the April 24 conditional‑use hearing and any county decision about regional treatment capacity could shape whether Milton builds, partners or cedes the project to a county plan.

Next steps: the conditional‑use permit hearing is scheduled for April 24; council requested project‑manager options be added to a future work session once the permit outcome is known.