February 9, 2022 |
The Saratoga Town Council and Joint Powers Water and Sewer Board found little upon which to agree during a 90-minute workshop Monday to discuss moving forward with replacing an aging and troubled water line this year.
The $1.7 million project would be paid for with 6th Penny Tax dollars. Monday’s meeting followed a presentation last week by two engineering firms the town contacted to discuss the feasibility of completing the project this year.
Mayor Creed James began the workshop with appeal for collaboration between the two government entities.
The mayor and council want to move quickly on the project to avoid increased costs from both repairs of the existing line and price hikes on materials for the replacement. For instance, council learned last week that the cost of pipe is expected to increase 15 percent next week. Although appearing sensitive to the council’s concerns, members of the JPB expressed alternating concerns. One was that the town is rushing the job. The other complaint was that the town is wasting time exploring alternate methods of hiring out the work which makes the board uncomfortable.
The history of the standoff starts in December. The JPB approved a motion to put the Spring Avenue water project out to bid on a “design-bid-build construction” basis. Town council, concerned that process might cause delays, explored other delivery methods. The JPB took this move as council ignoring its mandate. The board members declined to participate in the process of engaging with engineering firms prior to last week’s council meeting.
On Monday, the JPB questioned the transparency of the process they chose not to participate in. Others questioned legality of not going out to bid during the first phase of one method, “construction manager at risk.” Mayor James assured the JPB that the town attorney advised that process is complies with state statute. The mayor described using an alternate delivery system as a different way of tying your shoes. Either way, your shoes are tied, he concluded. As the conversation evolved, tensions between the two boards became apparent.
JPB chair Richard Raymer said the alternate process makes him uncomfortable. Raymer said he thought the town was rushing the project.
Pictured above: File photo of Downtown Saratoga. Photo by Bigfoot 99.
The JPB did not recommend the Spring Avenue project until December, after the pipe blew in October. As late as September 8th, the JPB had identified the aging clay line as a “time bomb,” but still considered replacing one of the water storage tanks as its top priority. At that meeting, board member Russ Waldner acknowledged in an exchange with Saratoga Town Councilman Jon Nelson that the JPB had not pursued projects even though it had $2 million in tax revenues plus other reserves available.
The $2 million in 6th Penny Tax revenues Nelson referred to is more than enough to fund the water main project. The JPB was unaware of all the funds available to it because of the town’s legacy of financial problems stemming from a decade or more of bad bookkeeping spanning several administrations. The chair of the JPB was a town council member during one of those administrations. Last year, as a new clerk and treasurer sorted out the longstanding mess, the amount of money in water and sewer enterprise accounts could only be estimated.
In one of the telling moments of Monday’s workshop, Mayor James pushed back against the JPB chair Raymer’s claim that the board was never informed how much money it had available for projects. The mayor said the amount of specific purpose tax dollars was easy to track down.
The pointed remarks came after Raymer expressed frustration that JPB had been left out of the process of selecting the two engineering firms which gave presentations at last week’s meeting. However, the JPB declined the town’s invitation to join a conference phone call with the firms. Nor did it offer any suggestions of other engineering firms to contact for the council meeting.
JPB member Waldner offered a different objection to the town pursing a different delivery system that the one that the board had approved in December. Waldner said the town was wasting valuable time.
Saratoga Town Councilman Ron Hutchins, noting that the JPB had not undertaken a single water main replacement project in a decade, said the time-killer is that the JPB has not been proactive in developing the scoping for projects so the engineering is on the shelf and ready to go when needed.
The response to Hutchins’ questions exposed the elephant in the room. The JPB has been clueless about its funding, and has not taken any steps to get a handle on it. Several board members pointed a finger at Nelson during the workshop, blaming the councilman for their lack of knowledge about their funding. It wasn’t clear why. In fact, Councilman Nelson first raised questions about the JPB’s enterprise accounts two years ago amidst much controversy about how the town has been handling its books. Although the JPB was the beneficiary of Nelson’s efforts, none of the board members joined the fight publicly to demand an accounting of what town owed the JPB from water and sewer fees.
The exposure of the JPB’s lack of financial record-keeping resulted in the most productive takeaway from the workshop. Raymer requested that the town clerk supply the JPB with monthly accounting reports moving forward. The only other real point of agreement between the two entities was that both rejected the design-build delivery system as viable for the Spring Avenue water main project. Because it was a workshop, no official decisions were made. The JPB is scheduled to meet tonight at 6 p.m. at the Platte Valley Community Center.
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