1997-04-28CITY OF SOUTHLAKE
SPIN/Joint City Council Meeting
Thursday, August 28, 1997
City Council Chamber
SPIN Representatives present: David Baltimore, Chair; Joe Mast, Secretary; Martin
Schelling (#2), Jan Francis (0), Doug Fierce for Tom Ward (#6), Darrell Faglie (#7),
Pattie Minder (#8), Laura Miklosko (#9), Candace Harris for Al Morin (#10), Roger
Hutton (#11), Barry Friedman (#13), Doug McKelvey (#14), June Haney (#15).
Representatives absent: John or Linda Wilder (#16), Janet Murphy (#4), Katie
Holzgraefe.
The meeting was called to order at 6:45 p.m. by David Baltimore. Guests were
introduced.
Agenda Item No. 2. Discussion of Neighborhood Sewer Program
David introduced the topic of neighborhood sewer participation. Mr. Hawk said that
the reason to bring sewers in the first place was to alleviate some of the problems in the
neighborhoods and spur economic development. The goal of the city is to provide
sewer to every home that wants sewer provided. In FY 95-96, a three year program
was designed to bring sewer to homes where sewer could be made available and where
people wanted it provided. First there has to be enough people to sign a petition saying
they want to bring sewer to their neighborhood and that number of homes would create
enough flow to make the sewer work, and also make the line cost effective. An
assessment sewer program goes out for bids and then splits the construction costs
between the city and the homeowners. It was determined that not everyone could
afford the initial cost. The city decided to pay 1/3 of the cost. For those who could not
pay, a payout plan was devised. The money from the residents who paid and hooked
on, would become part of a revolving fund. Everyone is paying for sewer whether they
bought a new lot or not. Each new neighborhood sewer gets added to the rate that
everyone is paying. The problem is that not everyone who says they want sewer is
connecting, possibly because the additional cost to connect to their home is still
prohibitive. The other problem is that where residents are not hooking on to the line,
there is not enough flow to make the sewer work and water must be purchased and
flushed into the lines.
The cost or difficulty of getting the plumbing hook up appears to be a problem. Mr.
Hawk said that local banks will cooperate with the sewer program with low cost home
improvement loans and that joint contracts with certain contractors have lowered the
cost. There actually is an ordinance that says that if your property is within 100 ft of a
line you have to hook up. We have not enforced it. The city needs help in getting
people connected to the sewer system. This issue is coming up as a discussion item at
City Council.
Mayor Stacy said that we may have put sewers where they weren't needed. A limited
time to get connected is one option that will be considered by the City Council. If one
plumber could do all the hookups in a single neighborhood, it might be easier to get a
plumber. The Council is against expanding the sewer program with these current
problems. Darrell Faglie suggested that payment up -front could be an option. The cost
of sign -on may increase with time. Jan Francis emphasized the difficulty of finding a
plumber.
The $1300 cost of connecting to the city's sewer system is tremendously subsidized.
The cost several years ago was estimated at about $4,000 per home. The cost to hook
to the home is additional. Mayor Stacy suggested that a twelve month hook up time
might be one option. Jan Francis said maybe 6 months is enough time to find a
plumber and obtain financing. Mayor Stacy suggested that SPIN might consider
coordinating the financing, plumbers, and other issues involved in facilitating the hook
up of the sewer lines.
Mr. Hawk said that we can not recommend plumbers, but there is a list of plumbers
and banks that they can recommend.
Cara White asked how to get a survey of who is interested in getting sewers. Bob
Whitehead passed out a list of the neighborhood areas that have asked for sewer.
David Harris said that Council has also considered requiring 100 % participation.
Councilman Harris indicated that some residents have held the council hostage by not
participating and giving up easements. David Harris said that the priority of where to
put sewers may be determined by the percent of the residents who prepay. The current
residential count is 6000 water customers and 4,000 sewer customers. Doug Fierce
spoke for Tom Ward who could not be present. Doug said that some of his
neighborhood has been required to install expensive aeration. Mr. Fierce wondered if
there would be more who would have to have this equipment to tie on. David Harris
responded by noting that other communities will also be giving input to that issue as
water quality becomes a larger, regional issue. SPIN 6 will not have to install the
aeration equipment at this time. Mayor Stacy pointed out that some areas in SPIN 6
may be able to share a line with Grapevine
Cara White was told that the Sewer would not come to her area for a while.
David Baltimore said that SPIN could meet with various Neighborhoods to stress that
hook-ups are important. Perhaps SPIN could meet with the plumbers to try to get a
contract that would be workable. SPIN will try to find a way to address this issue.
Darrell Faglie was asked to look into contacting plumbers who are committed to sewer
connection work in Southlake and are available.
The Mayor asked if SPIN thought that it would be appropriate to tell people that there
was a time limit to hook up. Scott Martin said that he is ready to stop sewer, or assess
everyone because of low participation. David Baltimore said that approach was not
good. Mr. Baltimore expressed that he felt SPIN could work the neighborhoods to
increase participation. He said that he thinks part of the problem is that the program
authorized three years ago, has had interested people move away from the area, and
new residents are not familiar with the program. Mr. Baltimore also suggested that
neighborhoods need to be fully served before trying to deliver sewer to new areas.
Barry Friedman suggested that a neighborhood survey like his might be helpful to
potential sewer line neighborhoods.
David thanked the council for their input and encouraged SPIN to do their part.
The Mayor reiterated that the participation commitment will determine the future of the
program. David Harris said that the important point he wants considered is that the
option may be 12 months to tie on or pay full cost.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:40.
Joe Mgt, SPIN Secretary
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