Amador County – The Amador Regional Sanitation Authority met this week and heard from staff that a closure of Preston Youth Authority would not impact the authority’s sewer system operations there.

City Manager Sean Rabe, manager of ARSA, said in a report to the board that ARSA’s contract with Preston would keep the facilities open to the sewer management authority. He said the agreement could only end after a five-year notification period, and then only after the prison and ARSA agreed on how the wastewater flow would be disposed of, due to its being a municipal sanitary service.

Rabe in the report said “the agreement states that the five years’ notice can only come after Ione and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ‘have resolved how to provide adequate reclaimed water for both Castle Oaks Golf Course and Preston Youth Correctional Facility.’ ”

The ARSA board appointed an ad hoc committee of Sutter Creek Mayor Tim Murphy and District 2 Supervisor Richard Forster. The committee will work with Rabe “on issues surrounding the ARSA agreement with Ione,” Rabe said. “There was some discussion about the Preston closure but no action was taken or needed.”

Rabe said: “Another issue we talked about was the impact of all of the rain on the system. With all of the rain the reservoir levels are rising. I don’t think we are in any danger yet, but if the rain continues and the levels continue to rise we could be. The engineer and I are looking into contingencies if that happens.”

Rabe in the report said two agreements “define the role of the facility in terms of ARSA,” an operations lease and a ground lease, both of which expire in 2037.

He said analysis made it clear to staff that the agreements “provide ARSA with more than ample protection to continue to use Preston Reservoir, regardless of whether or not CDCR closes the Preston facility.” He said the “clauses of the operations lease have not been met,” and “there has been no five-year notification and there is no resolution on how Castle Oaks would receive reclaimed wastewater if Preston Reservoir were closed.”

He said “terms of the ground lease require CDCR to allow ARSA staff access to the reservoir at any and all times. The ground lease also notes that termination of the lease is not feasible, and that the terms of the lease apply to the successors of the parties of the lease,” such as any subsequent user of the facility.

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