BBARWA Update: Debt Policy Implemented and Capital Improvement Plans Outlined

The Governing Board for the Big Bear Area Regional Wastewater Agency held this month’s regular meeting last week, rather than waiting for the fourth Wednesday of the month, as this falls on December 23. The Board of five, which includes Chair Liz Harris, John Day, Rick Herrick, Rick Ollila and Tom Brandau, finalized the elements of BBARWA’s capital improvement plans through 2011, which will undergo further discussion in a workshop scheduled for January 19 at 10am. In the interim, two of those capital improvement projects are 1. to improve the lake pump station at the north end of Garstin Drive, for safety, reliability and odor control, and 2. to replace the earthen basins and deteriorating balancing chambers with an impervious, concrete tank for treated water at the facility. The BBARWA Board also approved a new Debt Policy, which outlines the need for debt and evaluation, including impact on current customers, before projects go forward. In a separate item, the County’s Director of Special Districts Jeff Rigney participated in the discussion with regard to treatment plant collections from the County’s Service Area 53B, which covers the North Shore, from Division to the dam. Rigney suggested that the County is, and should continue to be, the appropriate agency for the community collection system and, as BBARWA General Manager Steve Schindler tells KBHR, “We did an evaluation and it is not likely that we could provide the same level of service that the County is providing, without raising rates for those customers on the North Shore.” And, in BBARWA news since the meeting of December 9, Finance Manager Jennifer McCullar, with the agency for just 14 months, received the Government Finance Officers Association Award for superior knowledge and performance in the 2008/2009 budget preparation and implementation.