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77-GGGRESOLUTION NO. WHEREAS, the City of Boynton Beach, Florida, through mandates and edicts of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, the State of Florida Department of Environmental Rec and Palm Beach County, Florida has been forced to proceed with implementation of the Southern Central Regional Wastewater facility; and WHEREAS, said City, after finding itself in an ir- reversible position in this matter, has now been denied the cooperation of the Board of Commissioners of Palm Beach County, Florida in connection with the implementation of the project by said Agency's failing to approve "201" resolution providing for cooperative efforts by the City and said Agency; and WHEREAS, the statement of Vice Mayor, Emily M. Jackson dated September 20, 1977, succinctly sets forth the frustrated position of the City in this matter, a copy of which report is attached hereto and made a part hereof; and WHEREAS, the City is without source of relief unless the Florida Federal Legislative Delegation intercedes in this matter through the Federal Environmental Protection Agency. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA: Section 1: That U. S. Senators Lawton Chiles and Richard Stone and U. S. Congressman Paul G. Rogers are earnestly and respectfully requested to lend assistance and aid to the City of Boynton Beach, Florida at the earliest possible date in ~his most-critical matter. PASSED AND ADOPTED this ATTEST: - City C~ (Corp. Seal) COUNCIL ~O~q day-- of October, 1977. CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA By ~/~ STATEMENT BY VICE-MAYOR EMILY M. JACKSON COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 20, 1977 Our Regional Sewer plant seems to be at a stalemate~with the county not cooperating)by not voting for the ~'201" resolution. To review the past briefly: in 1972 ~and 1973 Boynton Beach officials attended many meetings of the County Commission and Area Planning Board when the idea of regional sewer plants first was discussed. We wanted to remain a separate entity~ and supply this service ourselves. The other communities felt the same way. As we attended these meetin~s~ many different ideas came up, being changed from month to month, First we were told we must be in a region with Boca and Delray, with Boca as~ the "lead" agency; then "we" were to be the "lead~, agency~ then Delray was to be the "lead" agency~ In early 1973 I attended one public hearing of the county commission when it was being discussed about us going into a regional system~ and I quoted %o the County COmmissioners the amounts of our bonds that were in existance at that time. I was promised b~ the then County Commissioners and their attorney that I need not worry,, because when the regional system went in, that of course our bonded indebtedness would be "taken into ful~l, consider~i~ ~ In September 1973 the William Bishop Consulting Firm~ together with the Area Planning Board, put out the "Palm Beach County Water Quality Management Plan~, better known as the WQMP~ paid for by an EPA grant, and approved by the State of Florida Department of Regulation. This WQMP mandated that Boynton Beach and Delray Beach were to become the South Central Regional Wastewater District. Both cities agreed late in 1973. ~fter about 18 months of conferences, meetings and study, an Interlocal ~greement Was passed by Boynton and Delray, with the two city councils ~o be the Board. An Executive Director was hired and we applied for a grant.~ As part of the WQMP, it was dictated that our existing-city waste- water plant be removed from service immediately upon completio~ ~of the South Central Regional Wastewater facility. AS part of ~he Citys+ grant application to EPA~ our consulting engineers~ Russell and Axon~ prepared a cost effective analysis showing it would be most cost effec- tive and feasible to continue to use our existing wastewater treatment plant for a reasonable time after the new system was completed. However~ inspire of the fact that our bonded indebtedness~ when carried to full maturity would amount to over 4 1/2 million dollars, plus a substantial amount in its share of building tl%e regional facility as well as the effluent ~rce main and lift stations we were mandated to phase out our Citys existing wastewater treat el'feet ' ~ent plant° The of this ms that our taxpayers will be paying $3°70 per month--- over $44 a year--- in order for us to pay the total principal and interest on a facility we are being forced to abandon~ because of administrative law by unelected people and the Co~ntyCon~aissioners-thruthe WQMP~ We have followed all the edicts put out h~.~ EPA~ DER,Area Planning Board and the County Commission~ We ha~e entered into an Interlocal agreement with Delray which neither City really wanted. We have made and paid for studies and plans which were approved and ~ S~tatement by Vice-Mayor Emily M. Jackson ~-~ ~.Council Meeting of September 20~ 197'? Page two we received our grant. In fact we have done everything in our power to do what was expected of us. We are now ready to plan for Phase II~ which means we must have a "201~' facility resolution passed by all the satellites in order to get the Federal Funding necessary. Yet now 'the Palm Beach County Commissioners~ have refused to vote-for 'the ~'201'~ resolution as ~equired by the DER. It was the County Commission along with DER and EPA who forced us to go into a regional ptant~ with no thought for our bonded indebtedness. We put up one million dollars and the Federal government put up three miIlion dollars in grants to pay for the three master stations inside the city. It is necessary to put in four more master stations to serve our'satellites. Are we expected to make OUR taxpayers pay for a bond of four million dollars for this? With the "20t~, we have already been forced to expend taxpayers money. We must get our money back from user rates in order to meet our committments. EPA makes us do all these things, and we have complied. Isn't there some way to make the county abide by the rules they helped makes through their WQMP? We are at a stalemate. No ~'201~'~ no Federal Funds. We can't get ~"201" without the vote of the County Commissioners~ Therefore~ we can't go forward without putting the burden on the already overburdened taxpayers. And we can't go back~ because we have already accepted EPA grant money! If we--can't go ahead~ will the EPA allow us to run our existing plant indefinitely? If the County refuses to cooperate, -there is no alternative but to turn to elected officials in Washington, who created the EPA, and urge them to take some action against EPA for forcing us into an untenable position.