A referendum seeking permission from Derby voters to spend millions of dollars to repair the sewer infrastructure is once again up for discussion.
The latest estimate puts a citywide vote in six months.
The city’s Water Pollution Control Authority held a series of public information meetings in 2013 (click here and here to watch videos) in an attempt to explain to residents why almost $35 million in repairs were needed to the city’s underground pipes and pump stations.
The price was whittled down to $24.6 million in repairs and upgrades, but the yearlong buildup stalled during the mayor’s race.
Shortly after Mayor Anita Dugatto took office, John Saccu, chairman of the city’s Water Pollution Control Authority, asked for a meeting to bring the new administration up to speed on the repairs.
That meeting happened Feb. 12, according to Saccu’s monthly report to the Derby Board of Aldermen.
WPCA engineers from Weston & Sampson briefed city officials on the referendum projects, according to Saccu’s report, and left with a number of goals, including:
1. WPCA engineers will rework project cost estimates, including “escalating factors” (things that could drive the price up) spread out over years.
2. Establishing a projected cost impact to users and/or all taxpayers in the city, depending on how the city chooses to proceed (this references whether to tax people who aren’t connected to the sewer system along with the people who will see their annual sewer bill increase).
3. Have the first two goals completed within 60 days.
4. Negotiate for land acquisition for the replacement of the Roosevelt Drive pump station. This troublesome pump station is under the eye of state environmental officials since it has failed several times, dumping raw sewage into the Housatonic River.
5. Review explanatory text that voters could see during a referendum.
6. A projected timetable for a referendum is six months.
In May 2013, the WPCA plan called for replacing the Roosevelt Drive pump station for $6.8 million and replacing a related pipe on Roosevelt Drive for $3.4 million; upgrading the Derby waste water treatment plant to the tune of $9 million; replacing 18-inch gravity sewers on Route 34 near Caroline Street for $3.3 million; upgrading the South Division Street waste water pump station for $751,000 and upgrading the Burtville Avenue pump station for $958,000.
The Derby Board of Aldermen will have the chance to ask Saccu and WPCA engineers questions during an Aldermen meeting scheduled for tonight (Thursday, Feb. 27).
The referendum discussion is a separate discussion from whether Derby should pump its sewage to Ansonia’s new treatment plant. WPCA officials have said, repeatedly, they still need to make the repairs regardless.
