Hopewell council reviews $21M in priority repairs, staffing gap and three options for wastewater plant

City council received a multi‑hour briefing on the condition, costs and management options for the Hopewell Water Renewal Treatment Facility, where an engineering assessment and a staffing study identified major capital needs and operational shortfalls.

Bob, a member of the consultant team, told council that “the Hopewell Water Renewal Treatment Facility currently treats, as you all know, 27,000,000 gallons of wastewater a day,” serving the city, Fort Lee and nearby industry. He said the plant’s condition and financial position make it critical to local manufacturing and the city’s budget stability.

Heather Ness, the project presenter, summarized two consultant reports: a Dewberry condition assessment and a Hazen & Sawyer staffing evaluation. She said the Dewberry work prioritized repairs into three buckets and put high‑priority items at about $21,000,000, medium priorities at roughly $420,000 and continuous improvements around $2,000,000, while noting that “half of the additional items in [Dewberry] were studies for other items,” meaning final costs depend on follow‑up work.

The Hazen & Sawyer staffing evaluation recommended adding 17 positions to close operational gaps. Presenters said the plant currently has 56 authorized positions in the 2025 budget and that meeting the recommendation would bring staffing to about 71 — a gap of 15 full‑time positions.

Ness presented three management options for council consideration: (1) recruit a high‑performing general manager and maintain city ownership and operation (retaining oversight and revenues but keeping liability and funding responsibilities), (2) contract operations to a specialized operator while keeping ownership (reducing day‑to‑day staffing burdens but requiring strong city contract management and still leaving capital responsibility with the city), or (3) sell the plant or form a public‑private partnership (which could produce an upfront payment and transfer operational risk but would cede ownership and related revenue streams). She cautioned that any sale or P3 “requires quite a bit of upfront work” including complex legal and procurement processes.

Colonel Rich Bandelowski, installation commander at Fort Lee, told the council the Army transfers about 2,000,000 gallons a day to the facility and described the plant as a shared operational risk. He said Fort Lee has communicated the issue up the chain of command and signaled willingness to explore partnership or federal funding avenues.

Council members pressed presenters for concrete financial detail. One councilor asked how rate structures would change under each option; presenters said that rate modeling and a prioritized ramp of capital spending are needed and remain to be done. Ness described the continuous‑improvement estimate as a “minimum $2,000,000” and reiterated that some Dewberry figures are placeholders pending additional studies.

City staff and council agreed on near‑term next steps: return with an operational plan and a rate‑impact analysis tied to the three options, continue monthly oversight meetings and advance prioritized capital projects. Council also reviewed an RFP circulated earlier that day seeking executive recruitment services for both the water renewal director and the city manager; the RFP includes a target schedule and staff said council comments will be gathered before the next meeting.

The council took no final policy vote on plant ownership or structure at the meeting; members directed staff to provide the requested financial and rate analyses and to continue the discussion at future meetings.

The council adjourned following brief procedural items.