Explanation to a taxpayer on why board made Contracting out Decision.
As Harry Lehman noted in his letter to the Advance last week, in our happenstance meeting I referenced the intricacy of the decision the Novato Sanitary District (NSD) Board was going to make regarding the incredibly complex startup of the District's new treatment plant. I summarized the options of bringing in external help to train our staff or contracting with a firm experienced in the field.
I have always appreciated Harry's astute mind and valued his input. In our conversation it was clear about his distaste of business support.
Public-Private Partnerships (P3) is not a new concept. It has been in use throughout the state. According to California Special District Association, the federal and state governments are passing legislation to encourage P3 for districts. Since 1972, the City of Burlingame's wastewater facility has been operated by Veolia Water and has won the Outstanding Achievement Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Council for Public Partnership Award and two Safety Awards.
Taxpayers rightfully expect better service from their special districts for less cost. We need only to look in our back yard to see well-run agencies facing problems through no fault of their own, yet having headline making problems. The North Marin Water manager opined in favor of NSD's contracting of operations and maintenance due to problems starting up the new water treatment plant and has contracted operations of it's West Marin wastewater facility. I am certain that Marin county officials are not pleased with publicity surrounding their new accounting software.
The Novato Sanitary District Board recognized early that a solid plan for the startup, operation and maintenance of the new $90 million pumping, equalization, and treatment facility is vital to meet water quality standards, regulation requirements and energy efficiency/climate change goals. However, in light of the many regulatory, operational, and cost risks involved if the District were to simultaneously operate both old and new plants, the Board elected to consider other alternatives as well.
The District Board members and staff made site visits to nine similar wastewater treatment facilities and met with their public agency staff and as well as their elected officials.
The board reviewed Statements of Qualifications from five firms and selected the three most qualified firms to request proposals for Contract Operations, Maintenance & Management.
We also assembled a team to review the proposals received, check references, and conduct interviews. The District has now completed a thorough investigation into selecting the best way to obtain the necessary resources, systems and expertise to manage the operation and maintenance of this new treatment facility which was mandated in order to better protect the environment.
The District needs to move ahead now with this decision. The new treatment facility construction is 66% complete with new units scheduled to come online starting this fall.
Considerable savings will come from Veolia's experience with startups such as ours. Their technical staff is available to write procedure manuals, as well as initiate operations and maintenance programs.
Privatization is a word that has been used by the media and some skeptics. Our Novato Sanitary district will have a hybrid operation. The taxpayers retain full control and ownership of the district. Our ratepayers will save over $7 million and in our current economy, this is of great importance. The District permanently retains ownership, governance, control, and rate setting. The contract we are negotiating will have guaranteed costs, guaranteed power usage, compliance guarantees with Veolia paying violation fines, equipment maintenance guarantees, O&M development in time for facility start up, insurance and performance bonds. In this contract, the Novato Sanitary Districts will retain management control. This point is important to remember as this contract has been conscientiously written with the welfare of our citizens marrying the best operations possible.
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