New wastewater plant in jeopardy

Paperwork problem puts needed federal funds at risk as deadline approaches

By Amber Marra - amarra@nvdaily.com

STRASBURG -- The drafting of an application seeking federal stimulus funds for Strasburg's planned $25 million upgrade to its wastewater treatment plant has come to a standstill as a key document has become outdated during the process.

At Monday night's Town Council work session, Stephen Steele, vice president of Anderson & Associates, outlined the need for fast action on a five-year-old environmental review document.

Anderson & Associates has been working with the town on the finances for the wastewater facility, while environmental consulting firm Malcolm Pirnie is being paid $1.9 million to design the plant upgrade, according to acting Town Manager Judson Rex.

The grant is being sought through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act facilitated by the Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Program. If the application process is completed, the grant could cover up to 75 percent of the cost of the wastewater treatment plant's upgrade.

Steele explained to the council at Monday's session that while another grant Strasburg has sought, which would cover some of a $10 million sewer line extension along U.S. 11, is on track, the wastewater plant request is in limbo until the original environmental review form can be corrected by Malcolm Pirnie.

Steele also encouraged the town to act on the issue quickly due to an approaching Sept. 30 deadline to get all applications in to the rural development agency.

"We all have a vested interest in getting this piece of paper, we all do. ... Telling these people to [update the form] isn't sufficient. How are we going to make sure this happens?" Councilman Don Le Vine said at Monday's meeting.

The deadline for completion isn't the only impending problem to be dealt with, as grants through the stimulus program are incredibly competitive, though Steele said there was about $51 million available as of Friday.

"The deadline is the 30th of September, but that is contingent on how much money is left. If the money is gone tomorrow then the deadline is a moot point," Steele said on Tuesday.

Steele described the environmental review document as a map showing the effects of a potential project that is sent to 14 regulatory agencies to ensure there are no artifacts, endangered species, protected properties, or anything needing conservation in the area.

The environmental review document dated 2005 passed all of the regulatory agencies at that time, Steele said. He emphasized that it may take a while to get a response this time around, however.

"You could get on a bus with pitchforks and torches and stand in front of their offices, but they're going to do what they want. We have no control over those folks," Steele told the council Monday.

He also said that the document is usually only considered current for one year, and that Malcolm Pirnie should have known the five-year-old document needed to be updated.

"I'm assuming we didn't hire a bunch of idiots, so they knew this was going in front of Rural Development," Councilman Scott Terndrup said at Monday's session.

In return, Rex said Tuesday that he is "skeptical" that there is any language in Malcolm Pirnie's contract with the town that outlines any deadline for the environmental review to be completed because the contract was drawn up separately from the grant application process.

Rex also said that he and Director of Public Utilities Ron Tewalt will be traveling to Malcolm Pirnie's office on Richmond today to sort out the environmental review issue as soon as possible.

In the event that the problem cannot be solved by Malcolm Pirnie, the town will turn the duty of taking care of the new environmental review document over to Anderson & Associates.

"It's hard to say [who will be doing the environmental review] until we get a full conversation and understanding from Malcolm Pirnie, but it's nice to know we have a second option," Rex said Tuesday.