June 14, 1998

County Shows Smarts With A Revised Sewer System

A facetious definition of an expert is “someone from out of town with a briefcase.” However, this isn’t funny when expensive consultants merely tell us what we already know -- or, worse, give us bad advice that results in additional cost to rectify.

Coming quickly to mind is the professional hired to evaluate structural condition of the Punta Gorda building which the county wanted to buy for additional courthouse offices. Upon taking possession, it was found that the roof leaked -- a condition the consultant was paid to avoid. Repair cost taxpayers an extra $10,000.

Four years ago, the county hired an engineering firm to design a state-mandated sewer system for Charlotte Harbor and Port Charlotte neighborhoods. Estimated cost was $800 million up front -- perhaps a billion dollars with extended partial payments by customers.

The plan was a good one by all accounts. Unhappily, costs of removing 40,000 septic tanks and installing large gravity-flow pipes were staggering for homes and businesses -- ranging from $8,000 to $15,000 each. Opposition by owners was so fierce, county commissioners scrapped the plan at a cost of $17.6 million. The consultation work was good -- but unrealistic for Charlotte County.

Instead, the commission launched an “alternative” sewage disposal system, permitted by the state, that could be installed piece-meal by county employees over a period of years.

Mike Saunders, county utility engineer, and his people began work last week at the Charlotte Harbor community west of Tamiami Trail. During the next five years, his crews will replace existing septic tanks and associated drain fields with sealed tanks and small “low-pressure” pipe systems also at Murdock Circle, New York section of Port Charlotte, Peachland Boulevard, Midway elementary school district, Quesar new school area, and east Charlotte Harbor community.

After this schedule, other areas will be tackled.

Each home and business now utilizing drain fields will receive a new fiber-glass tank with a built-in pump. This will feed digested over-flow automatically through a small pipe to the nearest large-pipe network and thence to the sewage treatment plant. The installations are not as efficient as large-pipe gravity-flow systems, but they get the job done at half the cost to customers.

Hook-up costs to home owners will be $3,982 including the new tank. This charge can be paid over a period up seven years at a carrying rate of eight percent. A control box costing something over $100 will be provided by customers. Businesses hookups and charges will be $5,000 or more depending upon the size of tank needed and amount of water normally used. The scaled-down sewage treatment and disposal system illustrates a common sense approach to public services management which too often is overlooked by government officials.

County commissioners and Administrator Jan Winters may prefer reliance on outside guidance, but they demonstrated they have enough smarts to handle many problems in-house.

The county last year spent $388,000 in discretionary funds for outside consultants -- mostly engineers and lawyers -- according to Bill Noble, top number-cruncher for the clerk of courts and county financial officer. This figure does not include auditors, architects and specialists required for state and federal grant programs.

Unexpected work loads justify outside expert help from time to time. Nonetheless, the commission and administration staff are (should be) capable of deciding and carrying out important projects on their own. We can hire a half-dozen, good, full-time engineers and lawyers for what we pay single-project outsiders unfamiliar with our local problems.

One suspects government managers employ many consultants to avoid responsibility for expensive and/or complicated projects having a high probability of mistakes.

It takes a little courage to stick one’s neck out. Yes, there will be some mistakes; but we have those with high-priced outsiders. Either way, commissioners and the administrator take heat and pay a price.

The county found a creative way in the revised sewer system experience to balance need with the possible at minimum cost.

It may be on to something big.

PARTING SHOTS

Champion grant-getter from the National Science Foundation has to be Professor Robert S. Wyer at the University of Illinois. He currently is working on a study -- for which he received $107,000 -- to determine why people laugh at sexual and ethnic jokes. Previously he received $170,000 to discover the “cognitive consequences of emotion” and $122,851 to test his theory of “humor elicitation.”

Other recent grants from the NSF:

• Why men don’t smile as often as women, $220,000.
• Why politicians attend to certain problems and ignore others, $245,000.
• Why potential candidates decide not to run for Congress, $194,000.

Stop laughing.

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers