North Santa Rosa utilities unite against "bad legislation" creating oversight organization

In the tiny communities of Moore Creek and Mount Carmel if you run into a water calamity, the way to get it solved is by picking up the phone and making a call to someone like Elijah Bell, the president of the local water system, or the woman he calls Ms. Becky, the office manager at Moore Creek Mount Carmel Utilities.

"Ms. Becky is not above putting on her boots and wading in to turn off somebody's water," Bell said.

That kind of customer service, Bell said, isn't something anyone's going to get from a massive regional utility like the Escambia County Utility Authority.

"We are very much anti-somebody coming in and taking our franchises away," said Bell, whose utility provides water to 1,400 customers in an area south of Jay. "We know what has been offered to the customers in our franchises is good, and most of all, it's personal," he said.

Thursday afternoon Bell joined representatives from the other utilities, collectively now called the North Santa Rosa Utility Coalition, at Milton City Hall to speak out against state Sen. Doug Broxson's proposal to place them all under the purview of a single governing body to be known as North Santa Rosa Utility Authority.

The primary purpose of the press conference, coalition spokesman Robert Smith said, was to "inform and warn" the 100,000 customers represented by the group about the risks associated with their small independent water and wastewater systems being swallowed up by an entity similar in structure to the ECUA, which according to the ECUA's website pumps nearly 13 billion gallons of water annually to more than 99,000 customers in Escambia County.

"Gone will be the days when customers can call their water board office or members of their citizen serving board members to discuss problems and have vital services rendered in a timely fashion," Smith said.

The bill, if enacted, would create another government bureaucracy, Smith said, with a paid staff and an oversight board charged with establishing the rules by which a five-person elected governing board, also paid, will function. He estimated the cost of simply establishing the authority would be at least $5 million.

The coalition was created in early December following Broxson's introduction of his bill at an Oct. 24 Santa Rosa County Legislative Delegation meeting. No one spoke in opposition to the proposal at the time of the delegation meeting, and on Thursday Smith said representatives of the nine impacted water and water and sewer systems were never told about it.

"This bill was crafted without any input from the citizens affected," he said.

In apparent reaction to the perceived snub by Broxson, the coalition chose not to invite him to Thursday's press conference and Smith said none of the coalition members had spoken to him.

"We have no intention to talk to Sen. Broxson at this time," Smith said. "It's nothing personal against Senator Broxson, it's just that we feel this is bad legislation."

The city of Milton has reached out Broxson and Rep. Joel Rudman, R-Navarre, to request that a public forum be set up before the Broxson bill moves too far through the legislative process, so that its potential impacts can be discussed.

After the press conference, Milton City Manager Scott Collins said that the city of Milton is and has been working independently of the North Santa Rosa Utility Coalition to learn more about the legislation being introduced and develop strategies in the event it is passed.

"I wasn't aware this existed until Monday," Collins said of the coalition, though his name and that of Milton Public Works Director Joe Cook were listed on a roster provided in mid-December to the Pensacola News Journal.

"Our position is we just don't have enough information, which was the genesis behind requesting the community involvement meeting," he said. "There's so much at stake in the proposed bill, it makes sense to get as much information as we can."

He said the city stands do be disproportionately impacted by the creation of a utilities authority, having three utilities – sewer, water and gas − brought under the authority umbrella.

Previously: Broxson plan to streamline North Santa Rosa water and sewer service meets opposition

While the city of Milton has adopted a stance independent, though "similar" to the coalition, according to Collins, the town of Jay, which in mid-December had not taken a firm stand, has joined the coalition in opposition of the Broxson legislation.

"The town was able to do some more research and we do not think a North Santa Rosa Utility Authority will allow us to provide the lowest pricing on water and wastewater services to the residents in Jay," Town Manager Eric Seib said in an email.

Jay, Milton and Pace are the only utilities among the nine operating north of the Yellow River in Santa Rosa County that provide wastewater treatment services.

Contacted after the press conference, Broxson said that his office has reached out to all of the utilities and their boards operating in North Santa Rosa County and heard from none. He did say though, that he was "excited" to see them united for a cause.

"For the first time in the history of Santa Rosa County, (these) boards have formed a coalition. The bill has already had an impact," he said.

He said "90%" of the reason he suggested creating a regional utility "has to do with wastewater."

"How do we get the three that provide wastewater treatment, Jay, Pace and Milton, to get together and work to process the wastewater in an effective and efficient manner?" he asked rhetorically.

The city of Milton, he said, is due by next week to have cut the amount of wastewater effluent being released into the Blackwater River in half to meet state requirements.

"They're not going to make that," he said.

It's past time, he said, that the utilities open up their books and explain to the public what they're doing and outline their public responsibility.

"It's very exciting having this conversation. This is not about a state senator bullying anyone, it's about 'let's have a 20-year conversation and talk about what we'll look like in 2040,'" he said.

Much of the press conference was dedicated to pointing out troubling events that have taken place since 1981 at the ECUA, the agency that would serve as the model for the proposed North Santa Rosa County Regional Utility .

"Many questionable actions have come to light, making us extremely leery about the creation of such an entity that is answerable to no one," a statement read by Smith said. "In light of these substantial problems with ECUA ... we project an entity of this nature will swallow up and take advantage of our existing utility systems and our members."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: North Santa Rosa Utility Authority idea draws opposition