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Questions surround sewer plant transition

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The public-private partnership between United Water and Nassau County has been touted as a way to save the county money and improve wastewater infrastructure, but for the county workers at Cedar Creek, the transition process has been bumpy. In an Oct. 29 memo from Jerry Laricchiuta, president of Nassau Local 830 of the Civil Service Employees Association, to DPW members at Bay Park and Cedar Creek, wrote that the application from United Water has “contractual conflicts as well as inconsistencies within the sewer agreement we entered into on May 12, 2012.”

In particular, the application process asks employees to be urine tested and have other medical exams that “goes against our own CSEA-county contract,” Laricchiuta wrote.And, when some CSEA employees refused to fill out the application, they were threatened with disciplinary action.

“The county has zero tolerance for drugs and so does United Water,” said Mike Martino, spokesperson for Nassau County’s DPW Employees. And while the county has backed away from its disciplinary threat, Martino said “employees are required with the transition process to ensure the operations are not affected when United Water assumes control in January.”

Nassau County signed a 20-year agreement in September with United Water to operate, manage and maintain the county’s wastewater treatment plants including Cedar Creek, Bay Park and Glen Cove, its pumping stations and sewers.

Phil Franco, co-president of the Cedar Creek Oversight committee, has worked with the county for years trying to make improvements to the plant and the committee has urged the county to hire additional employees. “Smells are bad again,” he said. “The plant needs upgrades and more employees.”

In a press release issued by United Water, it said its team will provide industry-leading technology and management expertise; improve the system’s operating efficiency and performance on environmental standards; clean discharges to meet New York State Environmental Protection standards and eliminate odors from the sewage treatment plants. United Water will also provide transparency on its performance by posting operational data and live video feeds, the company stated, and a team of local environmentalists will also meet on a regular basis with United Water personnel.

No one from the Cedar Creek Oversight Committee has been invited to join United Water’s environmental committee or participate in any kind of oversight initiative. And, the county continues to rebuff any efforts on the part of the Cedar Creek Oversight Committee to meet with county personnel to discuss any community concerns about the Cedar Creek plant including the fulsome odors emanating from the plant. “We met on Sept. 11, 2013,” Franco said. “That’s more than a year.”

United Water is guaranteeing cost savings to the county of more $230 million through out the contract’s duration. More than half the savings will come from operational efficiencies, including employee savings of a “minimum of $10 million,” Martino said.

“Overall, the PFM Group, a Wall Street based financial consulting firm hired by Nassau to independently review the proposed public-private partnership agreement with United Water, found ‘on a present value basis this represents savings over the term of the contract of $233.1 million,’” Martino said. “When the additional financial benefits of the synergy savings — reduced overtime, county resumption of contracted services, and additional revenues resulting from personnel reassignments — are considered, the combined contracted and synergy savings over the 20-year term rise to…$378.9 million.”