October 31, 2012 Morristown Utilities Approves "First" of Three Steps in Taking Over Operation of the City of Morristown's Sewer System

In what MUC Chairman George McGuffin described as the "first" of  three stages in the take-over of management of the city sewer system by MUC, MUC voted on October 25 to contract with the City to handle maintenance of all sewer pump stations.

All commissioners (George McGuffin, Harold Nichols, Lynn Elkins, Gene Jolley, and Max Biery) voted "yes."

The resolution that was passed by MUC states that the "City and MUC have determined" it mutually beneficial that the first step in the systematic transfer of the operation of the sewer system to MUC is the maintenance of the pump stations.

The resolution says that MUC and the City "developed" the attached agreement that provides for MUC to assume maintenance of wastewater pump stations beginning January 1, 2013.

McGuffin says that we have all talked about this several times. 

According to MUC General Manager Jody Wigington, maintenance of the pump stations by MUC will be put before council at a future meeting.

[The City currently contracts with Veolia Water to manage the wastewater/sewer system. A new contract with Veolia or changes to their current contract will have to be made to accommodate the transfer of pump station maintenance to MUC.]

September 9, 2012 (Another) Morristown Sewage Spill into Cherokee Lake

The City of Morristown dumped raw, untreated sewage into Cherokee Lake on Monday (Sept 3) after a power outage at its wastewater treatment plant.[Correction: The outage this time was at the Spring Creek lift station this time.] About 94,000 gallons of raw sewage went into the lake.  [Last year, the outage was at the main plant and resulted in a dump of over one million gallons of raw sewage into Cherokee Lake. See below for links].

With the life station, there are two power feeds. However, both power sources (MUS-Morristown Utilities and AEC-Appalachian Electric) come into the lift station on the same poles for at least part of the way. When there is a wreck or storm or falling tree that hits a shared pole, both utilities are affected and there is no back-up power. Sewage backs up and is then released into the lake.

Monday's power outage is not the first power outage in the city sewer system. And Monday's raw sewage dump is not the first--or even largest--sewage dump by the City of Morristown into Cherokee Lake.

A massive spill of over a million gallons of untreated sewage into the lake occurred in June 2011. That spill was also caused by a power outage--but in 2011 it was at the main wastewater treatment plant. As with the life station, power to the main treatment plant comes from two sources (MUC and AEC), poles are shared, and in the case of a storm or wreck or other event, both utilities are affected and there is no back-up power at the main plant. Click here. At that time, City Administrator Tony Cox said of the power outage and sewage dump, "we're taking it seriously." There was also a spill of about 250,000 gallons of raw sewage in 2008. Click here.

[And then there was the Witt sewer lawsuit that cost the city megabucks in attorney fees (for part of its own TML attorneys' fees plus a negotiated payment to Plaintiff's attorney for his fees) and the City ended up under a federal court order to spend over a million dollars to fix the Witt situation and address repeated overflows. Click here and on the Witt Sewer search labels on the right.]

Under the headline "E. Coli levels off the chart at spill site," the Tribune reports that "concentrations of the bacteria (E. Coli), which has been linked to disease, remained so high (as of Tuesday) that they exceeded the ability of Veolia Water...to measure them." Veolia operates Morristown's wastewater treatment facility.

Knowing about the problem for quite some time, the City has been talking about back up generators.

The City Administrator sent a plan for generators to TDEC (Tennessee Dept of Environment and Conservation) months ago.

Apparently it's not economically possible to separate the two power feeds or address the problem in other ways. This latest spill makes the case for generators NOW! 

Morristown and other area communities rely on Cherokee Lake for tourism and recreational activities like swimming, boating, and fishing, and, most importantly, as a source of drinking water.

The repeated dumping of raw sewage into the lake from which the City gets its drinking water is ridiculous--especially when the problem has been known for YEARS and there is a way to prevent it from happening. 

Hospitals have back-up generators that can be used to make sure that vital health services are maintained for patients in the event of a utility power outage.

Four-plus years is long enough for the City of Morristown, which handles the city's sewer, to address its repeated raw sewage dumps--whether from lift stations or the main wastewater plant.

And MUS, which handles the city's water, should be highly concerned about the City dumping sewage into the lake from which MUS pulls water for treatment and sale to its customers. [According to the MUS website, MUS gets water from two sources. Water comes from Cherokee Lake and Havely Springs and is then mixed together before being treated. Click here]

November 14, 2009 City Finance Meeting: New Administrator and Sewer Mess

This 'n that:

SELECTION OF NEW CITY ADMINISTRATOR:

Interim Administrator Lynn Wampler went over the qualifications of the four candidates for city administrator. He stated that he and MTAS representative Pat Hardy did phone interviews during the previous week. Wampler said that the four on the final list are "all qualified people." Wampler expects that after the candidates complete one-on-one interviews with councilmembers, the council will be able to find a candidate who is a good match for the city and who is up to the task of putting the city on the path to financial stability.

The four include candidates, none of whom are from Morristown, are: Jody Baltz, Angie Carrier, Anthony Cox, and James Payne.

One of the local candidates who was interviewed, Rusty Smith, was present at the Finance meeting. During the discussion of the candidates, former councilmember Rick Trent asked that the council put city employee Jay Moore's name back into consideration and interview him. There were several favorable comments about Mr. Moore's performance as a department head, but in the end the council decided only to interview the four as selected by Wampler and Hardy.

CITY SEWER

The sewer situation (another city mess) and the fines and mandate that TDEC has put to the city to straighten out overflows and numerous other problems came up. The cost is going to be enormous. Brian Fowler, who is over the city sewer system, was not present at the Finance meeting.

    Fowler and city employee Lester Turner have proposed that city employees handle much of the work that has to be done, including the work that TDEC has mandated. Councilmember Bob Garrett questioned (1) whether the city employees could actually do the work cheaper than a contractor who is experienced in the work and (2) whether city employees could complete all the mandated work within the time frames set by the state.

    Turner pointed out that city workers have gradually become more proficient in using the required equipment and performing the work themselves. 

     Garrett added that if city workers do the work, the state will come in and audit the records (perhaps monthly) to verify that it is really cheaper for city employees to handle the work.

     Previously, Turner and perhaps Fowler as well did not realize that they had to include city benefits (insurance costs, retirement costs, matching social security, etc.) in the city's costs for city employees to do the work. As Garrett said, the city's true and full costs have to be included so that these costs can be accurately compared to the costs that would be incurred by hiring a contractor to do the work. Of concern to Garrett is that even if the costs are slightly lower for city employees to perform the work, he does not think that city employees can get all the work done by the state-mandated deadlines.

     Fowler was not at the meeting to discuss the sewer issue. Fowler testified this week in federal court in Greeneville in the case brought by residents of Witt and Roe Junction against Koch Foods over sewer odors that began in early 2005 at the same time that the Koch Foods plant in the East Tennessee Progress Center opened. The City was brought into the suit as an additional defendant after the lawsuit was initially filed.

    Lamar Dunn, the city's consultant on sewer system problems and sewer rates, has also testified at the federal trial.

    David Wilds of Koch Foods has testified. Cindy Krebs, who works for Veolia, has testified. Barry Calfee, who used to work for Veolia but who now works for Koch Foods, has testified. Veolia is the company with whom the City has contracted for management and operation of the city's wastewater treatment plant.

    Several of the area residents have testified, including County Commissioner Guy Collins.

    Except for one article that announced that the trial was starting, the Tribune has had no reports about the trial or testimony from any of the witnesses. The trial has been going on for two weeks now and is expected to wind up next week.