Amador County – Amador Water Agency has 12 months to decide whether to finish up with the Gravity Supply Line preparations or walk away. AWA District 4 Director Don Cooper said Tuesday the agency has sunk $1.02 million into the project and must decide whether to put in another $234,000 to get to the point where they can move forward with a $5 million grant, and an $8 million loan from the USDA. Cooper said he believes it is a viable project, “but there are two board members that disagree with the decision.” He referred to President Bill Condrashoff and Vice President Debbie Dunn, who he said have raised ethical questions for him with their behavior, including contacting the USDA and not sharing that information with the rest of the board or the general manager. Cooper said protocol states that if a board makes a decision, “you don’t go through gymnastics to disagree with it.” He said it was unethical, and the board once it votes should work together on the project, as with the March decision to move forward with the Gravity Supply Line. A rate increase for the Central Amador Water Project was stopped by a Proposition 218 protest, and Cooper thought “strongly that those two (Dunn and Condrashoff) were involved.” He said he “saw some pretty happy faces when that vote came in to stop that rate increase.” Cooper said the board is coming to a decision time on whether to move forward with the GSL, and will need a rate adjustment to show it can repay the long-term loan. “Another big hurdle is we need to try to get this project to where we can go out to bid.” Cooper said “we will get resistance from Debbie and Bill about spending more money.” AWA needs “about $234,000 to bring this project to the finish line and start getting some reimbursement from the USDA,” Cooper said: “I’m not ready to give up on this project, but obviously there’s a couple that are ready to give up on this project.” Cooper said citizens “David Evitt and Ken Berry believe they’ve got this sewn up by defeating the CAWP rate increase,” but he doubted the “majority of those customers really know what they shut down.” He said there will be a rate increase for the $1.02 million already spent on the GSL. He said the money is not budgeted, and the board has to decide if it will continue to put more money into debt service and bring this project to fruition, or to walk away. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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