With 2012 winding down, Athens City Council laid the groundwork for major projects that will need a whirlwind of attention in 2013.
Council members passed an ordinance that will set aside hundreds of thousands of dollars toward improving the city’s wastewater treatment plant and proposed a plan to re-evaluate the city’s franchise agreement with American Electric Power.
The city’s current agreement with AEP –– which was signed in 1986 –– expired last year and necessitates a revision so AEP can access city right-of-ways to make necessary repairs, said Councilman Elahu Gosney, D-at large.
Although the agreement needs to be approved before the end of the year, Gosney said, the city can extend the deadline for another six months to address environmental issues.
“I hate to keep kicking it down the road but I want one more chance to address these problems,” he said. “I’d ask for a six month window to address environmental issues in some way.”
Building an environmentally friendly relationship with AEP is based off of standards set by the City of Ann Arbor in Michigan, Gosney said.
“(Ann Arbor) has several items that include green power options,” Gosney said. “Customers have the ability to request their energy source and the city has a renewable energy portfolio.”
Further discussion before signing the agreement would not only benefit the environment but could benefit the city’s pocketbook as well, Gosney said.
“We could charge a franchise fee to use our public right of way,” Gosney said.
Although the city can push the agreement back by as much as a year, Councilwoman Michele Papai, D-3rd advised council members to act sooner rather than later.
“I would encourage us to go with six or seven months rather than a year,” she said. “It puts a little more pressure on solving the problem.”
The city will also be making improvements to the wastewater treatment plant in the next year, which will be “the city’s biggest project coming up,” said Councilwoman Chris Knisely, at large member.
Council members passed an ordinance that set aside $800,000 for design and engineering of improvements that will be made to the city’s plant.
Much of the improvements will be made to the plant’s primary clarifiers, which are the initial line of treatment for wastewater, Knisely said.
“They’re going to be putting in round clarifiers that are more efficient than the square clarifiers we currently have,” she said. “These are some of the biggest improvements in the last 20 years.”
The city must wait for the design and engineering process to take place, though, before these improvements can be carried out, Knisely said.
“We’ll be ready to get a loan in early spring,” she said. “There will be ongoing construction next year and hopefully it will all be finished before Dec. 2014.”
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