Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utilities Wastewater topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents ask Lewiston to audit sewer agreement after long-unpaid obligations by entertainment entity, speaker says
Summary
A resident told the council an agreement dating to 1999 required an off-site entertainment entity to pay buy-in and monthly wastewater charges and to fund a maintenance account; the speaker said the company has not paid and asked the city to audit records and enforce the contract or terminate service.
At the start of public comment the Lewiston City Council heard from Margaret MacVicar, who urged the city to audit and enforce a 1999 sewer-agreement covering an entertainment development outside city limits that she said has not paid required sewer fees.
MacVicar told the council the original agreement covered sewer service for a large entertainment complex and a 152‑room hotel and set a buy‑in fee and a maintenance-and-operation account intended to help fund wastewater-treatment repairs. She said the entertainment entity has not paid buy‑in fees (she cited "almost $40,000" as the buy‑in amount), has not been billed monthly and has not contributed to the maintenance account. She said the city’s wastewater budget includes $3,200,000 in wastewater expenses and that residents are paying bonds to rebuild the treatment plant while the entertainment entity allegedly avoids its agreed costs.
MacVicar asked the mayor and council to call for an audit of the city’s books related to the sewer line agreement, to obtain an enforceable contract that ensures the entity pays for its wastewater flows and to terminate service if the debt and contractual obligations cannot be enforced. "I'd like to bring this to your attention...I'd like for you to take this on to call for an audit of the books on this issue of the sewer line," she said, and offered to leave a copy of the agreement with city staff.
Mayor Johnson and staff accepted her materials and told her to give the documents to the city clerk. The city did not announce any formal action at the meeting; staff said they would review the submitted paperwork.
MacVicar stated that the entertainment entity is located in the county and therefore not subject to city bond assessments; she urged the council to clarify the effluent gallonage from the site for the wastewater master plan and to ensure any future wastewater-planning revisions account for that flow.
The council did not vote on the matter during the meeting; MacVicar was asked to provide her paperwork to the city clerk for follow-up.
