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9/17/2015 Item Crnersheet <br /> Public Works <br /> 2015-34 <br /> DATE: 9/1/2015 <br /> TO: Honorable Mayor Moore Wolfe and City Council Members <br /> I FROM: Tim Gleason, City Manager <br /> Richard G. Marley, P.E., Public Works Director <br /> SUBJECT:Administrative Compliance Order on Consent between the City of Decatur and the United States <br /> Environmental Protection Agency <br /> SUMMARY RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council approve the attached resolutions <br /> authorizing the Mayor to execute, and the City Clerk to attest, to the following: l. The attached Administrative Consent <br /> Order between the City of Decatur and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, requiring the City to undertake <br /> and complete the Compliance Requirements specified in the attached Administrative Consent Order. 2. Professional <br /> Engineering Services Agreement between the City of Decatur and AECOM Technical Services, Inc. to assist the City in <br /> preparing the sewer system reports and tasks required by the Administrative Consent Order, for a fee of$456,620. <br /> PRIOR COUNCIL ACTION: There have been no prior Council actions on this item. <br />� BACKGROUND: <br /> SANITARY SEWER PRIORITIES: <br />, Under the direction of the City Council,the Public Works Deparhnent has established four priorities to improve the City's sanitary sewer collection <br /> system as defined in the Sanitary Sewer Master Plan. <br /> 1. Critical Large Diameter Sewer Rehabilitation <br /> 2. Sanitary Sewer Overflows Due to Inflow and Infiltration <br /> 3. System Operation and Maintenance <br /> 4. Small Diameter Sewer Rehabilitation <br /> The Administrative Compliance Order and Professional Engineering Services Agreement with AECOM will address sanitary <br /> sewer priorities 2, 3, and 4. <br /> Administrative Consent Order <br /> In 2012, the United States Environmental Protection Agency(USEPA) served Decatur with an Administrative Consent <br /> Order(ACO), requiring the City to promptly eliminate overflows occurring in the sanitary and combined sewer systems. <br /> Staff retained outside counsel with expertise and direct experience in USEPA administration of the Clean Water Act. With <br /> the assistance of outside counsel, extensive negotiations between the City and the USEPA have resulted in USEPA's <br /> issuance of an ACO that is greatly limited in scope compared to the mitial Order. This is due to the City's pre-existing <br /> commitment to improving its combined and sanitary systems, and its good faith efforts to negotiate a reasonable ACO with <br /> USEPA. <br /> The City's commitment to improving its combined and sanitary sewer systems commenced in earnest in 2009, when Staff <br /> began preparing a Sanitary Sewer Master Plan. The plan recommended an aggressive course of rehabilitation of the City's <br /> critical sewers. To fund these improvements, the City Council approved a sewer user fee increase beginning in 2011, with a <br /> final increase occurring in May, 2015. Even while negotiating the ACO, the City has been making significant strides to <br /> rehabilitate its sewer system, including the Lake Shore Drive sewer rehabilitation project, the Union Street sewer <br /> rehabilitation project, and design work currently underway for rehabilitation of the 7th Ward and McKinley sewer <br /> rehabilitation projects. The City Council's 2014 approval of a storm water utility will assist the City's ability to address the <br /> requirements of the USEPA ACO. <br /> https://decatur.nowsagenda.conYagendaWeb/CrnerSheet.aspX?ItemID=223 1/3 <br />