TTSA update: manager retirement, land-surplus review and long-term plant alternative discussed

Board members received a multi-part update about the Tahoe Truckee Sanitation Agency (TTSA). Director Wilkins reported the TTSA general manager, Richard Galante, is retiring and the agency has begun recruitment and interim staffing planning. An ad hoc committee is drafting principles to guide possible surplus of roughly 930–950 acres, with initial discussion focusing on limiting sales to other public agencies and possibly using deed restrictions to limit certain future uses.

TTSA staff also summarized a 50-year cost analysis of alternative wastewater-treatment approaches. The presenter said the study found that a less labor- and chemical-dependent treatment method would be more cost-effective over a long horizon, but would require significant up-front capital. "We would be taking about 50% of the current plant infrastructure, and we would ultimately demolish it," the TTSA update said, and staff projected the program would take about seven to 10 years. A speaker estimated that, during the near-term financing window, rates could rise substantially — the presenter said "about 5 years in the future, probably an additional 70 to 75 percent increase in the rates" — though the board asked staff to return with more detailed financing scenarios and rate modeling.

Directors discussed limiting land sales to public-sector buyers and the possibility of deed restrictions to preserve buffer zones around treatment facilities. Board members asked for additional financial detail and for future presentations to translate the long-term analysis into specific rate and borrowing scenarios.