FARMINGTON -- Communities Unlimited, the nonprofit organization running Valley View's sewer system, continues to make plans to provide a long-term solution for the 500 customers served by the system, Jerry Kopke told members of Valley View Property Owners Association at their annual meeting last week.
The community sewer system, owned by Washington County Property Owners Improvement District No. 5, was placed in receivership in May with Communities Unlimited named as receiver. Kopke works for Communities Unlimited. The receiver was charged with bringing the system into compliance with state laws and obtaining a new wastewater permit from Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.
At the same time, the district's three commissioners -- Joe Stewart, Jennifer Stewart and John Lipsmeyer -- resigned their positions.
These actions took place as part of a lawsuit filed in March 2016 by Washington County, the cities of Farmington and Prairie Grove, Rausch Coleman Valley View and Valley View Estates Subdivision Property Owners Association against the Improvement District, Valley View Golf LLC and the district's former commissioners.
The county lawsuit asked that the system be placed under a receivership because of the danger of harm to the health and safety of residents in the subdivision and the danger to the environment as a whole. The defendants have denied these claims. The lawsuit is pending.
Three residents living in Valley View or nearby subdivisions have volunteered to serve as commissioners. That will enable the improvement district to move forward in making decisions, Kopke said. Former Washington County Judge Marilyn Edwards signed an order Dec. 14, 2016, appointing William Stephenson (also POA president), Kevin Lewis and Michael Anderson as the three new commissioners.
Kopke told POA members that since coming on board as receiver, "It's been challenging, interesting and sometimes very rewarding."
He explained Valley View has a fairly new wastewater system, about 14 years old, but it has "aged prematurely primarily because of lack of maintenance and repairs."
This past year, the receiver has hired engineer Jeffrey Dehnhardt with Engineering Services Inc., of Springdale, to come up with a corrective-action plan and to get the system permitted through ADEQ. The district's operating permit with ADEQ expired Jan. 30, 2016. The system has been operating without a permit since then.
As the sewer treatment system was originally designed, untreated wastewater from Valley View houses and nearby neighborhoods would come into a holding lagoon next to a small treatment system near Giles Road. The sewage was to be treated, pumped to two storage ponds on the Valley View Golf Course, then used to water the greens.
Kopke said the cheapest solution to fix the system would be to repair and replace the existing facilities to use the system as it was originally designed. He told POA members that in August 2016, golf course owners notified the receiver that they would not allow the treated wastewater to be pumped to their storage ponds, except under certain conditions. These conditions were not acceptable because of the cost and lack of control, Kopke said.
Dehnhardt, who lives in Valley View Estates, also addressed POA members, saying that his first job as engineer was to evaluate the assets of the current facility to determine its condition and make recommendations for repairs and replacements.
"Most of the equipment in place was in pretty bad shape," Dehnhardt said. "It looked like a lot of it hadn't been maintained at all, frankly."
Like Kopke, he said the first plan was to repair and replace equipment to treat the wastewater, then pump it to the storage ponds on the golf course to irrigate the greens.
Other options evaluated for treating the wastewater included connecting to either Prairie Grove sewer system or Farmington sewer system, converting the system so that it could discharge treated wastewater into an unnamed tributary of the Illinois River, or changing it to a drip irrigation system. The drip system is considered an advanced form of a septic system.
The receiver recommends the improvement district build a pump station and force main to send the sewage to Prairie Grove's wastewater treatment plant. (Prairie Grove officials have indicated they are willing to discuss Valley View connecting to the city's treatment system but no decisions have been made).
The next step will be to obtain funding. The receiver submitted a preliminary engineering report to the Arkansas Water/Wastewater Advisory Committee. This committee approved the application and is the clearinghouse for several regulatory agencies and for possible funding from different organizations.
For now, the improvement district is hauling wastewater to Prairie Grove's sewer treatment plant. Kopke admitted this is not cheap but is the only way to provide sewer service to customers and to make sure the district does not violate any state laws relating to sewer overflows.
The improvement district has contracted with BBB Septic Services of Bentonville to pump the sewage from the holding pond and haul it to Prairie Grove. The monthly cost for pumping, transporting and disposing of the sewage is about $31,000.
To pay these costs, Communities Unlimited petitioned the Circuit Court -- through the pending lawsuit -- to be allowed to apply for loans. Circuit Judge John Threet approved a loan for $100,000 in June 2016, and another loan for $350,000 in September 2016. In both requests, the receiver stated the loans would not require an increase in sewer rates paid by customers.
The district also has been approved for a low-interest loan from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission. ANRC announced earlier this month that it had approved a loan of $386,250 for the improvement district for up to 10 years at a 2.75 percent interest rate.
Communities Unlimited has applied for a temporary wastewater permit from ADEQ based on the current plan to haul the sewage to Prairie Grove for treatment. Kopke said he expects ADEQ to approve this application at any time.
Several POA members asked about the estimated cost to connect to Prairie Grove's wastewater system, the time frame and how it would affect rates.
Dehnhardt gave a very preliminary estimate of $2 million for the project. He said it would probably take nine to 12 months to construct the connection, but this did not include other requirements, such as the environmental process, land acquisitions for the sewer line and approvals from various agencies.
Sewer rates would be impacted, Kopke said, but he could not give any estimate on how much.
"We're committed to implementing a long-term plan to resolve this for the next 20 years and also putting together a plan you can pay for," Kopke said, adding, "This will protect your home values."
Stephenson, POA president and now a commission member, noted that as more houses are built in Valley View this will help revenues. Currently, the cities of Farmington and Prairie Grove have a moratorium on building permits until the system has a new wastewater permit from ADEQ.
Kopke gave a financial report on the improvement district, saying that in May 2016, the district had less than $700 in the bank with $10,000 in unpaid bills. At the end of December, it had more than $50,000 in the bank. The December billing cycle reported 492 customers with collections of almost $20,000. All customers pay a flat $40-per-month sewer fee.
According to public records on the pending lawsuit, Washington County has been dismissed as a party in the lawsuit, at the request of former county attorney Steve Zega. Threet signed an order dismissing Washington County as a party on Dec. 29, 2016. Prairie Grove was dismissed as a party earlier in 2016.
Another lawsuit is pending in Washington County Circuit Court against the Improvement District. This suit, filed in August 2016 by ADEQ, compels the district to meet problems that have been ongoing since 2012. It seeks $420,000 in civil penalties for violations of state laws. Public reports on the ADEQ website show numerous complaints about the sewer system and multiple violations observed during inspections by ADEQ staff.
General News on 02/01/2017