Steve Kornell says he wants to revisit the 2011 decision to close the Albert Whitted sewage plant and to take another look at the decision to move all biosolids to the Southwest plant.
The reason? He doesn’t trust that city staff gave council full, unbiased information when members made those decisions.
Kornell made the announcement Wednesday on his Facebook page:
“I have placed a new business item on the agenda for the Oct. 6 city council meeting asking that city council reconsider the decision to close the Albert Whitted plant and to work to reopen it as soon as possible. I am also asking that we reconsider the decision to move all bio- solids to the already clearly overloaded SW Plant. Let’s see how it goes this time.”
Later Wednesday, Kornell said, “I think we should have this discussion again in light of recent events.”
Kornell was referring in part to the dumping of 150 million gallons of partially treated wastewater, and stormwater mixed with raw sewage from manholes into Tampa Bay during three storms this past summer. City officials have blamed crumbling pipes and lack of capacity for the discharges.
The lack of capacity was caused in part by the closure of the Albert Whitted treatment plant and the subsequent diversion of the wastewater to the Southwest plant. City officials have said they believed the Southwest plant had enough capacity to handle the wastewater normally flowing into it as well as the wastewater from Albert Whitted. That belief was based on a 2010 or 2011 study that concluded the closure of Albert Whitted would not tax Southwest. Based on that study, a unanimous council in early 2011 gave preliminary approval to the closure of Albert Whitted.
But before a final vote was taken, Kornell said, a resident found another study on the city’s website that said it would be better to divert the Albert Whitted wastewater to three other sites, not just one. Based on that study, Kornell said, he and then-council member Wengay Newton were the only two to vote against the closure of Albert Whitted.
Last week, a city employee, Craven Askew, told officials that there was a 2014 study that said Southwest could not handle the wastewater from Albert Whitted. Askew, who claimed whistleblower status, said city officials knew that overflows would occur if Albert Whitted was finally closed. That closure happened in 2014.
Mayor Rick Kriseman has said neither he nor council members had heard of the study until Askew revealed it. Kriseman has asked for an investigation into the city’s water resources department and, Wednesday, he put two midlevel water resources employees on unpaid administrative leave.
Kornell backed up Kriseman, saying that would not be the first time city staff members appear to have withheld or slanted information that does not jibe with staff recommendations.
“I will tell you there’s a pattern of not sharing studies with us,” Kornell said. “So when the mayor says we didn’t receive a report, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
That lack of trust, Kornell said, is also prompting him to call for a review of the decision to move biosolids to Southwest without a backup solution. Biosolids are the organic, solid matter derived from sewage.
Kornell said his questions about the wisdom of not having a backup were greeted with “a very snarky, smug answer. … They just blew it off.”
But, it just doesn’t make sense, he said, to have only one place for biosolids. If something happens to Southwest, which is clearly overburdened, then the city would be in real trouble. And in view of the news that information is being withheld from the council, it just makes sense to ask questions and take a closer look at recommendations, he said.
“If we’ve learned anything at all, it’s to question,” Kornell said. “As long as I feel staff is slanting information, I will continue” to ask.
