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Board approves five-year contract for special-district water and sewer operations, orders rate studies
Summary
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved a five-year operations contract with Advanced Water Treatment Systems for county special-district water and sewer plants, directed rate studies for deficit districts, and authorized a small budget amendment; the board emphasized the need for new rates to avoid general-fund impacts.
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a five-year contract with Advanced Water Treatment Systems to operate the county’s special-district water and sewer treatment plants.
Director of Public Works John Gay presented the item, saying the county declared an emergency in July after the previous operator left and that Advanced Water Treatment Systems’ proposal was about $100,000 a year less than the prior operator and included locally based operators. Gay said the five-year contract total is $3,153,000 and that a related budget amendment for $18,000 was part of the staff request.
Gay told the board the Public Works Department is also pursuing two other steps to stabilize district finances: a draft cut-and-cap policy for sewer lines in nonpayment situations and rate studies for the Poe and Niland special districts. He said the goal is to have new rates in place before the end of the next fiscal year so that the special-district operations do not rely on the county general fund. Gay added that if the rate studies are successful, the contract and related operations should not impact the general fund.
Chairman John Hock moved approval of the staff recommendations; Supervisor Jesus Eduardo Escobar seconded. The motion carried.
The board did not provide a detailed vote tally in the public transcript. The board asked staff to proceed with the contract and the planned rate studies and to return with the draft cut-and-cap policy for future board action.
Background: Gay said the contract award followed a competitive proposal process in which Advanced Water Treatment Systems’ operational price and local staffing profile were judged more favorable than the competing proposal. The department identified Poe and Niland as districts currently operating year-to-year with budget shortfalls and signaled an intent to pursue remedies that may include rate adjustments and infrastructure policies.
The board’s action included: authorization to execute the five-year operations contract with Advanced Water Treatment Systems, a budget amendment of $18,000 related to the action, direction to proceed with sewer cut-and-cap policy work with outside counsel, and direction to initiate rate studies for Poe and Niland special districts.
