- April 19, 2024
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Flagler County is making a last-minute change to its requests to the Florida Legislature: The county is asking for $10 million to fix the wastewater plant at Plantation Bay.
"If that bursts, it puts a tremendous amount of liability on all of us."
— JOE MULLINS, county commissioner
The proposal was not on the County Commission's Feb. 4 meeting agenda. But Commissioner Joe Mullins had recently toured the plant and noted structural problems with its sewer tank. He had spoken with a number of concerned Plantation Bay residents. About 80 packed the County Commission chambers for the morning meeting.
"As you can see, there's a lot of people concerned with their Plantation Bay water," Mullins said after the commission finished with the business on the meeting agenda. "I am very concerned about it."
He said he'd met with residents in a newly formed citizen focus group, visited the plant Jan. 29, and "saw some very disturbing things." When he spoke to the plant employees, he said, "I could hear it in their voice that they had a lot of concerns.”
There was visible damage to the wastewater tank, including a broken interior retaining wall. A plant employee also pointed out that one portion of the metal tank is warped and buckles inward when the tank is not full.
"That metal will bend and go back and forth. That’s not good on metal," Mullins said. "If that bursts, it puts a tremendous amount of liability on all of us."
The county has been working on various projects at the wastewater plant, but divided the process into phases that did not directly address the tank issues Mullins had noted. Mullins said the county should move faster and fix the tank. He proposed adding the wastewater plant to the county's list of legislative priorities — a list of requests that counties provide to the state legislature each year.
The county had already drafted a list with four priorities. It included a request for $2 million for the Plantation Bay water plant, but did not include a request for the wastewater plant. The other priorities included funding for a new county library branch, sewage system repairs in the Hammock, and wastewater drainage in western Flagler County.
Mullins had already mentioned the issue to Florida Rep. Paul Renner, he said. The deadline to submit changes to legislative priorities was Feb. 5: the day after the commission's meeting.
Commissioners were wary of making a last-minute change with limited information. Repeatedly, they questioned County Engineer Faith Alkhatib, who affirmed that there are problems with the tank, and that various repairs are planned — but not immediately. Commissioner Greg Hansen suggested seeking $10 million from the state to fix it.
Residents, speaking during the meeting's public comment period, told commissioners they were concerned that the tank could leak or burst.
"Do we have any idea how much it will cost us if that tank blows? Do we have any idea how much the EPA will fine us if that tank blows?" resident Shelley Kennedy said. "We don’t have the money to take that risk."
Resident Jane Gentile-Youd urged the county to seek the $10 million.
"It might be more than $10 million, and the Legislature does not meet until March," she said.
She proposed that the county make the wastewater plant its top legislative priority.
Resident George Mayo proposed that the county place a moratorium on construction in Plantation Bay until the wastewater plant is fixed, so that additional homes don't over-stress the system.
The audience applauded that suggestion.
The commission voted unanimously to add the wastewater plant as a fifth legislative priority, request $10 million from the state, and clarify to legislators that the requests aren't ranked by importance.
Speaking after the vote, Gentile-Youd, who'd faced off against Mullins for in the County Commission District 4 race in the past election, said the meeting was "One of the most fruitful meetings I’ve been to in many years, and I thank my new commissioner. Never thought I’d say that, but I am."
