Amador County – Sutter Creek City Council discussed sewer needs December 6th and set staff working on wastewater planning, as they discussed the future of the Amador Regional Sanitation Authority and its partners around the county.

City Manager Sean Rabe told the council: “Me trying to play wastewater planner is not a good idea.” Rabe was directed to explore wastewater planning services and he will “bring back a kind of outline for what I’m looking for” in some kind of consultant.

Rabe said he met in Ione recently to discuss ARSA, with staff from Ione, Mule Creek and the Amador Water Agency, and potential changes ahead.

He said “everybody is open to looking at potential avenues of what ARSA is, and how it interacts with Sutter Creek, Ione and other members,” and partners.

Planning Commissioner Robin Peters asked why the city would not use city staff wastewater engineers, Grant Reynolds and Gene Weatherby. Rabe said: “We don’t need an engineer, we need an infrastructure planner, to get someone herding all the cats at one time.” He thought they might want a “third party” to see the issue from a different perspective.

In public comment, Mimi Arata said she shudders at the thought of hiring another “upper-echelon” consultant. She also asked about $2 million the city spent on wastewater plant upgrades that did not work, as reported by the Grand Jury.

Mayor Gary Wooten said they were talking about whether to repair Henderson Reservoir, and wastewater partnerships in the region. He said the city wastewater treatment plant previously was not compliant, but the city’s new consultant reported that it was now compliant. That issue was handled earlier in the meeting, when the council approved a consent item with an updated comment on the Grand Jury report, which in part said the plant was now compliant, though more work needs to be done.

Murphy said 12 months after resolution of a lawsuit against Gold Rush by Ken Berry, the city must tell Gold Rush what it wants for a wastewater system, as the developers must pay for it. Murphy said “we’re responsible for telling them what we need, and Gold Rush is responsible for designing and building it.”

Commissioner Mike Kirkley said the information they give Gold Rush would be a “technical report,” and it would be billable to Gold Rush.” Kirkley suggested they revisit the ARSA Master Plan to “see if this plan still makes sense in this bigger picture.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.