Council Agrees to Spend on Plans for Civic Center Wastewater Plant

• Members Respond to Strong Criticism about Inaction

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council this week agreed to spend nearly $2.6 million for final designs and documents for a Civic Center centralized wastewater treatment system, but not without complaint from some council members that now was not the time to part with the funds.
The on-again, off-again financing for the treatment system plans has been stalled since last October when council members decided the city’s uncertain shaky financial situation did not warrant spending the money.
“How can we do this without a [having determined a treatment plant] location?” asked Councilmember Sharon Barovsky.
City Manager Jim Thorsen explained that much of the work could be done without a specific location for a treatment facility. Thorsen also said the commitment of money for the task would send a message to environmental groups and state agencies that have been clamoring for the city to take immediate action that would lead to building a centralized wastewater plant for the Civic Center.
“We don’t have 100 percent, but we are putting our money where our mouth is,” the city managere said.
However, Barovsky and others complained those very groups seemed to consistently shift their opinions on a specific location.
“First, we said Legacy Park and they screamed about that. Then, we said La Paz and the Baykeeper is suing us,” said Barovsky.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner expressed concern whether the city could retrieve those funds once a plant is built and an assessment district is set up to handle the financial aspects of upkeep and maintenance.
“We can bill the costs to the assessment district. We are trying to do the right thing,” Thorsen said.
“There are no guarantees,” said Councilmember John Sibert. “There are no guarantees of an assessment district. There are no guarantees that we can reach an agreement with environmental groups, but I think we can,” Sibert added.
“The environmental studies are independent of a site. I am willing to take the risk, as a lot of it is not site specific,” Sibert said.
“We are assuming we will have the property in the near future. We could get a final design done and an Environmental Impact Report, but no site. But it is not a waste of money. The plans and environmental review are still viable,” said the city manager.
“We want to have clean water. Everybody on the council wants that. We are putting our money where our mouth is,” said Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich, echoing the city manager’s comment. “We are trying to do the wastewater component because it is the right thing to do, so we can stop spending money on lawyers.”
Two years ago, after purchasing the Chili Cook-Off property that is now the site of Legacy Park, the council hired RMC Water and Environment to begin the preliminary studies for what was, and still is, called the Malibu Civic Center Integrated Water Quality Management Plan.
By December 2007, the council had upped the ante to over $2.5 million for the consultants to continue final designs and environmental studies for the work on stormwater improvements, which continued to move forward.
The current amendment to the contract would bring the total fees for RMC to over $5.1 million.