Century hires firm to bring in compliance
“The water in Century is safe, we’ve been testing,” is how Century Mayor Luis Gomez addressed concerns voiced at the Century Town Council meeting Tuesday night prior to its approval to contract with U.S. Water for $33,360 to make repairs to its water system after the town has received a Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) consent order and two warning letters as part of an agency investigation preliminary to agency action in the last several months.
The letter received Jan. 30 referred to a sanitary survey inspection of the town’s water system performed Jan. 11, citing possible violations and deficiencies and requesting a written response within 15 days. The town received a warning letter in December 2023 and a consent order prior to that.
“We had an unusual number of breaks due to drilling for fiber optic cables in the past month,” said Gomez. “Each time these lines were hit, we went through the proper procedure. Ms. Howington (Town Clerk) made sure everyone was notified with the boil water notices. We did everything according to regulations. We have to follow the rules put forth by the Florida DEP.”
Gomez said these breaks were not the town’s fault. He assured that the boil water notices had nothing to do with the recent report for the Florida DEP. He said the violations stemmed from practices ‘that have been lingering for a number of years.’
Interim Town Manager Howard Brown said the town recently solicited proposals, which has brought two proposals. Brown along with engineer Dale Long and the mayor have reviewed them and were ready to advise the council as to how to move forward.
“Both proposers presented a methodology on how they would approach addressing the issues,” said Brown. “Both proposers stated that they felt they can fix these issues within 12 weeks, and both provided us with references as well as the cost.”
Two companies, U.S. Water and Clearwater Solutions submitted bids. Although the bids submitted were received before the letter from Florida DEP was received on Jan. 30, most of the deficiencies in the letter are covered in the bid submitted.
“We want to work with your team,” said U.S. Water’s District Manager Stewart Duncan. “We are going to look at the things that can be taken care of quickly and easily. Some of the things we are going to bring will help Heath Burkette,Water and Wastewater Superintendent), who is the single operator to streamline. We have a maintenance specialist that can help. Our goal is to team with the town of Century to do everything we can to take care of this consent order so your team can take it back over.”
Duncan said he will be available to the day 24 hours a day. When asked about a certificate of liability, Duncan assured Councilwoman Dynette Lewis that his company will provide one as part of the contract.
Duncan said he will read that latest letter and said that most of what they plan to do already will probably take care of the violations listed in the report.
Councilman Henry Cunningham expressed concern about the short timeline of 12 weeks, Duncan said from what his company has seen, they are easy things to take care of. He did say what his company can mainly help with are getting reports in on time and done correctly, processes not being adhered to.
“We’re going to take care of the low hanging fruit,” said Duncan. “We will put policies in place, procedures in place, and get Heath to help us out, it’s his plant. We want him to run this. We want him to help guide us in the right direction and put faith back into everything we’ve got.”
According to the last report from DEP, an evaluation of the town’s three wells, located on Blackmon Road, Henry Street and at Century Correctional Institute, as well as booster pumps and other components of the system, such as treatment, storage of finished water, distribution, management and operations, operator compliance and monitor and reporting were included in the inspection report. The report reflected the wells, pumps, treatment, finished water, distribution, management and operations, operator compliance and monitoring and reporting were all marked “NC” for non-compliant.
According to the report, as many as 35 evaluated items were deemed ‘deficiency’ and referenced a Florida statute or administrative rule by number and given a corrective action. Examples are missed monitoring; operator required visits not made; failures to notify DEP about precautionary boil water notices; leaks in various tanks; missing or damaged operation manuals; alarms missing or not working properly; mesh screens showing debris; non-functioning equipment; absence of monitoring equipment, chemical spillage; excessive corrosion; cracked well casing; insufficient record-keeping; missing records of required equipment performance; missing programs or plans for maintenance and flushing; reports not submitted at all or on a timely basis; lack of security at sites; lack of required safety equipment; and several others. The report had recommendations for housekeeping, offline facilities and a preventative maintenance program (PM).
Brown said the recommendation was to award U.S. Water, which had more Florida experience and came in at a lower bid, at $33,630, to complete the job.
In a motion made by Councilwoman Sandra McMurray Jackson, which was seconded by Councilman Cunningham, the motion carried. Councilwoman Alicia Johnson, abstained from voting, due to a conflict of interest due to a prior business relationship as a contractor with U.S. Water.
The next council meeting will be at 7 p.m., Tuesday Feb. 20, at Century Town Hall. The public is invited.
