Special Districts Administrator Mark Dellinger went before the board with the latest in his series of updates on the condition of the system, which was overloaded by last month's storms.
His written report to the board said that on Feb. 15 a committee was formed to investigate the issues related to sewer spills in Clearlake's Meadowbrook Drive area. The committee included Supervisors Jeff Smith and Jim Comstock, County Counsel Anita Grant and Special Districts staff.
They discussed a number of actions; Dellinger said the most time critical will be brought to the board on March 2.
The critical actions Dellinger is proposing include declaring an emergency and waiving the county's consultant selection process in order to immediately move forward with installing a temporary pump station at the north end of Bay Street. That would include installing approximately 3,000 feet of 8-inch pipe that will connect with Pump Station No. 3. Waiving that bidding procedure will save about six weeks.
He's also proposing to do smoke testing in the part of the collection system impacting the Meadowbrook Drive area, with between 175,000 and 200,000 lineal feet of pipe to be tested.
Once that testing is complete, Special Districts staff would begin procuring repair services for identified inflow points, which would be budgeted in the coming fiscal year, and initiate several hydraulic models to evaluate the impacts of upstream flows on Meadowbrook Drive.
The estimated cost for the smoke testing so far is between $65,000 to $100,000, and installing the temporary pump station is estimated to cost between $100,000 and $200,000, Dellinger reported.
Further, Dellinger suggested canceling all capital improvement reserves and reallocating the funds by resolution.
He told the board he has packaged a preapplication for grant funding to the State Water Resources Control Board, however, he said he's not holding out hope that they'll receive any funding.
To support the upgrades, Dellinger wants to establish a system capacity fee for all new development and pursue a rate increase for the entire wastewater system.
Dellinger said he wants to push ahead with a preferred alternative that he considers the best and most complete for dealing with the Southeast Regional system's capacity issues.
That plan includes a new pump station and a 12-inch pipeline connecting directly to the treatment plant. Both of those elements were identified in a cleanup and abatement order the Regional Water Quality Control Board issued on the system. Dellinger said his department also needs to move forward with preliminary design and environmental work for the project.
The project is estimated to cost $5.5 million, half of which the Clearlake Redevelopment Agency has committee to provide.
However, Dellinger noted that the proposal can “stand on its own,” whether the county and city partner on the cost.
Dellinger said he had to report to the state the system's recent spills, and he doubts the county will get any funding awards, but they must demonstrate moving quickly.
Supervisor Jeff Smith noted during the discussion that the agreement with the city of Clearlake hasn't yet been signed.
Regarding making the project happen, Supervisor Rob Brown said, “I want to make sure that the city is sincere in their commitment.”
Brown has raised issues with the plan in previous meetings due to his concerns over the city's plans for a regional shopping center at the now-closed Pearce Field on Highway 53, which is in the area served by the Southeast Regional system.
County Administrator Kelly Cox said if the city is planning to use redevelopment funds for the project, it may have to be tied to development, as he's not sure that just fixing a sewer system eliminates blight, one of redevelopment's key goals.
Brown responded that blight will result if they don't have an upgraded sewer system.
Dellinger told Lake County News that he hadn't spoken to Clearlake city officials for about three weeks about the plans to move forward and work together on the project.
On Thursday, the Clearlake City Council is due to discuss the shopping center plan, which could take as much as $7 million in redevelopment funding to support infrastructure.
Clearlake City Administrator Dale Neiman told Lake County News on Tuesday that the city's redevelopment agency currently has $7 million in bond proceeds.
“The improvements are estimated to cost approximately $6.2 million,” he said, regarding the airport property. “The agency’s commitment of $6.2 million includes the $2.5 million for our half of the sewer improvements.”
He said the proposed disposition and development agreement for the airport property the city is proposing to enter into with developer KK Raphel Properties LLC of Danville notes that the not-to-exceed amount is $7 million.
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