In a move to get more accurate readings and to save the town money down the road, the Flomaton Town Council voted Monday afternoon to borrow $27,500 from its line of credit to begin doing environmental testing in-house at the sewer lagoon on Martin Luther King Drive that will eventually save the town money and give it more accurate readings.
Jeremy McMath, with Civil Southeast Engineering, said during the telephone conference meeting, that he had two items to bring to the council with only one needing action – bringing waste water treatment in-house.
The town is currently paying an outside source $800 per month to conduct the testing and told the council the way the testing has been done in the past has really handicapped the town.
He said the cost to get the equipment and renovate the building at the lagoon would be about $27,500.
McMath said the town would get that money back over a two to three year period and said the town has been having some compliance issues at the lagoon.
“You need more testing data and I recommend brining the testing in-house,” McMath said. “The frequency of testing would help the town.”
Councilman Roger Adkinson made the motion to spend the money to bring the testing in-house and Councilman Jim Johnson issued the second.
Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr., said once it's brought in-house, Utilities Superintendent Shaun Moye and town employees Chris Barrow and David Smith will do the testing.
Bondurant said in addition to testing equipment, the building will need to be renovated and air conditioning added.
“Everything Shaun is talking about will make the lagoon better,” Bondurant said.
Councilman Roger Adkinson asked what the on-going cost would be once the building was renovated and the equipment was installed?
Moye said he didn't have the exact numbers but it would be about $30 to $40 per month.
“I think that's a no brainer to go ahead with doing it in-house,” Adkinson said.
Councilwoman Lillian Dean asked Moye to please not bring in-house testing if the town still had to outsource testing.
“At first I was against it,” Bondurant said. “But I believe it will save the town money and help the lagoon.”
“For the past years, we've been paying for a service we weren't receiving,” said Councilman Jim Johnson.
Johnson then asked where the money was coming from for the $27,500 and Bondurant said it would have to come from the line of credit.
McMath also told the council there is no grant money available for the testing but again recommended the town move forward. He noted the town had the trained staff to do it, it will save the town money and the town will get more accurate readings.
The motion to proceed with the in-house testing and borrow money from the line of credit passed unanimously with Councilman Johnson abstaining since his wife works at Escambia County Bank, but also added he supported the motion.
McMath said there would be several options with-in house testing, but said the town needed more information and more frequent testing. He said he would come back in July or August with a recommendation.
“Money needs to be spent to stay in compliance with ADEM (Alabama Department of Environmental Management),” McMath said. “Hopefully grant money will be available.
Bondurant told the council that within the next 60 days the town would get “some awful letters about the lagoon” from ADEM.
“The person doing the testing wasn't doing it right,” Bondurant said. “The letters will come from ADEM, but they could help us to get grant money.”
Bondurant also said he has continued to look at ways to get rid to the lagoon and build a waste water treatment facility, but said it's cost prohibitive.
“It will take about $3.5 million,” Bondurant said.
He said any grant or loan won't give the town that money unless it passes the cost on to the customers.
“Sewer rates would double,” Bondurant said. “Nobody wants to see those rates double.”
McMath said the goal is to make the needed repairs to the lagoon at no additional cost to the customers.
