Amador County – Amador Water Agency Board of Directors last week selected Gary Thomas as its president for 2012 and Director Paul Molinelli Senior as vice president. They will assume their positions at the first board meeting in December.

The board also voted to conduct a participation fee study for Amador Water System, declining staff recommendations to lower fees for new development from $11,300 to $8,000, because the agency is no longer pursuing a regional water treatment plant. AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo said the study would cost about $30,000.

In recommending the fee reduction, Mancebo said: “The agency has been criticized in the past for giving away assets,” and since the agency is not going to be building a new water treatment plant, they should not charge for it. He said: “We’re not giving away assets. We’re simply trying to do what’s right.”

Mancebo said capacity expansion at the Ione water treatment plant includes used equipment purchased in Livermore, which would cost about $1,000 per fee, while the regional plant participation fee was $4,300. The difference was recommended to be reduced.

Thomas said “we will need a larger pipeline” from the Ione reservoir to the water treatment plant. Mancebo said “we will get to the point where we need to look at additional raw water capacity. He recommended using a pipeline from Preston that is no longer in use.

Thomas said he was “not comfortable with knocking off $3,300 when we have a cost unknown” for infrastructure needs in Ione. Director Robert Manassero said it is “not legal to collect fees for one thing and use it for something else.” Mancebo said they cannot blend fees for a discrete element.

He said the fee study used to set current fees identified specific improvements and spread costs across AWS’s customer base. Molinelli asked if there were repercussions from having collected fees for the project now stopped. Agency Counsel Stephen Kronick said it was the best estimate of the agency and board at the time, and was based on information available at the time. Kronick said the fees could be left in place.

Mancebo said the board and agency acted in good faith, hired a consultant and spent substantial money on a regional plant, but now it has become clear they are not doing the project, and have stopped all work on it.

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