Council: WWTP purchase, accounting
system upgrade on Monday agenda
March 13, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
The City Council will consider the purchase of the wastewater treatment plant and obtaining the bonds to do so and hear updates on recovery costs for city services and the accounting system at Monday’s meeting.
The March 16 session will start at 5:30 p.m. behind closed doors in the administration conference room where after any public comment the council will meet in private to address city labor negotiations. Also on the closed session agenda is what may be the last discussion regarding arbitration with Santa Paula Water LLC, the owner of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which the city is purchasing.
When the council continues the meeting to open session at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall Council Chambers it will be broadcast live on Time Warner Cable Channel 10 and replayed per schedule. The meeting will also be live streamed on the city website and archived for viewing on demand.
Two items on the Consent Calendar, those items usually considered routine and not warranting discussion, are the settlement agreement with Santa Paula Water LLC and the purchase agreement among other documents related to the $70.8 million deal. The next item is the issuance of $72 million in bonds to purchase the plant located west of the city south of Highway 126.
The deal also includes a $1.8 million security deposit held by the Bank of Zion that will be returned to the city’s sewer fund.
The bonds are anticipated to lower the interest rate on the plant to 3.75 percent, a much friendlier user rate than the 8.21 percent variable that had been charged since the plant was contracted.
There are two items of business to be discussed by the council, an update of the recovery costs for city services and the city’s outdated and often disparaged accounting system, which has been targeted for updating for several years.
Costs for updating or replacing the city’s accounting system would run from $150,000 to $600,000; according to the report by Finance Director Sandy Easley it could take 18 to 24 months for the conversion of the current system that could also add more permitting financial and tracking functions.
A different company noted in the report would charge at least $600,000 including training and other costs for a new accounting system.
