Marco septic tank replacement takes flight

Despite a divided City Council, a last-minute legal challenge and a room full of protesters, Marco Island city officials walked away from a marathon council session Monday with approval to construct the first of 14 sewer districts.

The council’s split 4-3 vote to approve the South Barfield sewer district came at around 11:30 p.m. Monday after an exhaustive debate by council members and hours of individual protests by residents who attended the session.

Council Chairwoman Vickie Kelber was joined by Councilmen John Arceri, Mike Minozzi and Bill Trotter in the majority vote to approve the contract. Council members Terri DiSciullo, Jeannette Patterson and Glenn Tucker voted against it.

Tucker opposes the sewer program because he says there is no water pollution crisis that warrants the removal of septic tanks. DiSciullo and Patterson want the city to find a more equitable way to divide the cost among property owners in all 14 districts, review more financial alternatives to reduce residents’ costs, and research alternatives such as a septic tank management program.

Owners of 125 lots in the South Barfield district will be the first to test the city’s septic tank replacement program when construction of sewer infrastructure and removal of septic tanks begins in March or April.

The council’s vote approved staff’s recommendation to award Quality Enterprises USA, Inc. a $1.97 million contract to build the district. The council included in their approval the use of $500,000 in grant money given to the city by the South Florida Water Management District last year in support of the sewer program.

The grant will be divided among owners of 389 lots in the South Barfield and Tigertail districts to help cover their costs. Using the grant reduced individual property owner’s cost in the Barfield district to $15,687.

That amount will be divided into annual property assessments plus an estimated 5 percent interest for an annual payment of about $1,200. Residents with septic tanks in those districts can pay the full $15,687 up front by the first of September to receive a 6 percent discount on the total. Or they can opt to pay nothing for 20 years, at which time the full balance would come due.

The full amount would come due if they transfer ownership of their property in the meantime. Otherwise, the estimated $1,200 assessment will be charged on their annual property tax bills for 20 years.

Although more than 20 people in the standing-room-only crowd that attended Monday’s council meeting spoke to the council to protest the septic tank replacement program, none of those who spoke against the project were from the South Barfield district.

Many, however, were property owners in the other 14 districts. They included Marco CARES chairman Ed Foster, who lives on San Marco Road. CARES (Citizens Advocating Responsible Environmental Solutions) filed for a preliminary injunction Friday in Collier County Circuit Court to stop the sewer program from going forward.

CARES’ injunction alleged that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wrongly issued the city a permit for wastewater treatment plant expansion to handle added flows from the sewer districts.

The city, CARES contends, did not file an annual capacity analysis report in 2005 as required by state law. City Public Works and Utilities Director Rony Joel, however, produced a copy of the report and said the DEP confirmed the agency received it in November 2005.

The council approved the construction contract for South Barfield with the caveat that the city attorney will monitor the judicial process surrounding CARES’ lawsuit to insure that staff’s predictions that the city will prevail hold true.

Foster said Tuesday the legal battle is not over “until the fat lady sings.”

“It is premature to jump to that conclusion,” Foster said in an e-mail. “Mr. (Rony) Joel told our attorney on Friday that he ‘had no idea’ whether a report was filed or not. He should have known. That’s his job.”

Foster said he and two engineers went to DEP offices in Fort Myers two weeks ago to look for the report, but after three hours, no one could find it.

“We sent our attorney up to request the report, but none could be found and no one could remember ever seeing one,” Foster said. “Suddenly, last night, a ‘report’ materializes out of the blue, sort of like Hillary Clinton’s billing records. They were right there on the coffee table all the time. Wow. What’s next?”

Despite the council’s decision to push forward with the septic tank replacement program, Foster said his political action committee has not given up hope of stopping it.

The 4-3 split on the council could be turned around in favor of those who oppose the sewer program when three new members are elected to the council on March 14. Seven candidates are vying for the three seats, and incumbents Kelber and Arceri, two key supporters of the sewer program, have chosen not to seek another four-year term.

“It is not in the best interest of the city to elect a ‘one-issue’ candidate,’ Foster said. “But neither is it in the best interest of the city to elect candidates who are so rigid in their thinking that they cannot admit to having made a mistake and are unwilling to look at scientific data that clearly indicates that sewers are neither needed nor safe on this island.”

Minozzi and Arceri, however, said they believe the majority of the people on Marco want to get rid of septic tanks, which they say perform poorly on Marco’s low water table, in the barrier island’s sandy soils and on an island with a such dense population.

Arceri quoted a Marco Island Civic Association survey taken in 2001 in which 75 percent of responders said they wanted the city to get rid of septic tanks. “And that survey was taken way before we ever addressed water quality,” Arceri said.

“There isn’t one other waterfront community in Southwest Florida that has not addressed this issue,” Arceri said.

Minozzi said he had studied the issue of whether septic tanks or sewers were better for the island’s environment for more than six years. “I’ve put hundreds of hours into studying this,” he said. “I still feel that most people on the island are in favor of (getting rid of septic tanks).”

Minozzi said property owners in the South Barfield district will pay about $100 a month for sewer and that septic tank maintenance and repair costs are as much or more, yet not as reliable as sewers for preventing pollution.

“With the trust that has been put on me by the citizens of this island, it would be irresponsible for me not to continue with this program,” Minozzi said.