Future of sanitation facilityis discussed

The Mendocino City and Community Services District held its monthly meeting on February 26. It was dominated by the continuing discussion about funding of infrastructure renovations for the rapidly aging sanitation facility.

The Board reviewed and approved the more substantial financial transactions from last month, including a deposit of $205,000 into reserves for the first time in over three years. The Board also considered a request from staff to purchase three replacement garage doors that were damaged from recent storms. The Board approved funding for up to $15,000, with a preference that the new doors be made out of fiberglass or aluminum rather than the wood doors that have been used in the past. Board member Aum offered to take the request up with the Mendocino Historical Review Board.

For most of the remaining part of the meeting, the Board discussed various issues surrounding the significant costs of making necessary renovations to the 50-year- old facility, particularly in light of diminished grant funds.

The recent news that the grant funds for recycled water would not come through as expected was a major setback since some of those funds would also be used for plant renovations.

The ballpark cost estimate of such renovations and replacements is approximately $ 45 million, and the District only has around 450 ratepayers. While it is tempting to use the newly deposited reserve funds for anticipated problems, those funds are necessary for emergencies and to leverage more significant grant and loan money.

President Dennak Murphy reminded the Board that they previously “voted on this as the number one priority for the District.”

The District's engineering firm will be developing a renovation plan that lists the various components of the system that require attention. Board members considered the feasibility of fixing the most vulnerable elements of the plant in a piecemeal fashion using rate-payer funds while waiting for the more substantial funds from other government sources — county, state, and federal — necessary to address the entire system.

While a triage approach may work for some of the less costly problems, many repairs and replacements are simply beyond the District's financial capacity. Further complicating the matter is that the MCCSD facility lacks the system redundancies of other sanitation districts.

One of the most talkedabout funding ideas is to approach the County to dedicate a certain percentage of the Transit Occupancy Tax collected in the town of Mendocino for MCCSD. While the Board recognized that the County is going through its own financial hardship, a major problem at the water treatment facility would make that condition even worse if it caused a sizable reduction in visitors. The Finance Committee is scheduled to meet at 10:00 this Thursday, the 29th, to resume the discussion along with beginning to assemble next year's budget.