The City of Bay City engaged Malcolm Pirnie for a performance audit and plant optimization study for the Water Fund. Malcolm Pirnie has completed most of the steps involved in the Plant Optimization Review and has made recommendations to City staff

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City Manager Sets Sked for Sewer Fund Advisory Committee

Consultant's Water Treatment Chemical Usage Study Also to Get Scrutiny

November 21, 2010
By: Dave Rogers

High sewer rates are on the front burner at city hall.

Stemming from prompting by former city commissioner Virginia Hutter and others, City Manager Robert V. Belleman has called a series of meetings of the Sewer Fund Advisory Group which consists of residents, commercial, and industrial customers.

"As a result of the initial meeting (held Nov. 12), the Sewer Fund Advisory Group requested additional information, recommended that we not restructure the rates at this time until they had looked at all aspects of the sewer operations including revenue requirements, and ultimately having a better understanding of this issue," said Mr. Belleman.

Six additional meeting dates for the Sewer Fund Advisory Group to meet include: December 3, 10, and 17, 2010 and January 7, 14, and 21, 2011.

"There may be a need for an additional meeting or more; however, several of the Advisory Group members stated they are cognizant of this issue and the urgency for us to respond to customer complaints about high sewer rates," said Mr. Belleman in his biweekly memo to commissioners.

"Therefore, they are committed to meet on a regular basis and to be steadfast in making recommendations on how to address our revenue requirements for the Sewer Fund."

Additionally, the four areas this Advisory Group will consider at these meetings include: 1) cost reductions, which includes labor costs, debt refinancing, and/or capital investments; 2) rate restructuring; 3) performance audit/contract operations which would involve a third party engineering firm to evaluate the efficiencies of our operations and to make recommendation on opportunities for improved efficiencies and/or whether contract operations make sense; and 4) consideration of transmitting sewage to the West Bay County wastewater treatment plant.

The manager concluded with a summary of how water system problems are being addressed:

"As you may recall, the City of Bay City engaged Malcolm Pirnie for a performance audit and plant optimization study for the Water Fund. Malcolm Pirnie has completed most of the steps involved in the Plant Optimization Review and has made several recommendations to City staff. Part of the optimization recommendations included a review of the changes and how they are affecting raw water chemical usage, water quality, and overall operational efficiencies. I will be submitting those reports to you in the near future for your review."