After more than a year of negotiations, the administration presented the Laurel City Council with a proposed contract with United Water that did not gain the full council support.
Dennis Keveryn, the City of Laurel’s chief administrative officer, said the contract, which was several pages in length, was developed with the company that handles the city’s water and sewer operations after several meetings between city officials and United Water.
According to officials, the city has been negotiating for nearly a year possible contract changes with United Water Services, Inc.
In September 2009, the City of Laurel agreed to hire a consultant with Waggoner Engineering to assist the city in contract negotiations concerning the city’s water operations.
In October 2009, the City of Laurel’s rates for water/sewer increased. Also for nearly two years officials have been talking about the condition of the city’s water and sewer lines.
In a joint meeting of the public safety and public works committees in May 2008, city officials met with engineers with Neel-Schaffer to determine the status of the city’s current infrastructure.
Officials have acknowledged that there are numerous water line problems throughout the city.
According to officials, United Water took over operations of the city’s water and sewer services in October 2006.
Gerald Addington, vice president and division manager for the south for United Water, attended Tuesday’s meeting and told the council that the company is here to work with the city.
City officials said Tuesday that they are concerned about the city’s current contract with United Water.
However, Keveryn said the contract proposed Tuesday should resolve those concerns.
“It’s a win-win situation,” he said.
Keveryn said the proposed contract would include $570,000 payment upon signing and would guarantee the city $2.98 million over a 15-year contract period.
“We are putting the cart before the horse,” said Ward Seven Councilman Trey Chinn. “We have some contract issues that we need to deal with before we decide about a new contract.
“Their contract said they would pay for chemicals and postage, but every month we (the city) are paying for them,” Chinn added. “I think the city should adopt the policy that we are owed this amount and it shouldn’t be connected to an extension of their contract. ... We need to handle the contract we have now regardless of a contract extension.”
Ward One Councilwoman Willie L. Evans said she also does not think the city should be “locking itself into a 15-year contract. ... I agree that the two things should not be tied together.”
Officials said there is a 120-day exit clause that the city or United Water could exercise to get out of the contract.
Ward Three Councilman Tony Thaxton, who worked with the administration on the contract negotiations, said the negotiations began because there were some areas of the city’s current contract with the company “that we needed to get some clarity on.”
“The contract we had was complex,” Thaxton said adding that city officials had concerns about the annual fee, chemical cost, staffing and overtime. “This is a good solution to what we have.”
However, after a lengthy discussion among council members, the group agreed to return the item to the council’s public works committee for more discussion.
Addington said following the meeting that he agrees that the council should be comfortable with the details of the contract.
“It’s a decision that the city needs to be comfortable with,” he said. “We are here to work with the city.”
Ward Four Councilman George Carmichael, chairman of the public works committee, said the group will meet Tuesday in a work session to discuss the matter.
Local News
City water deal still undecided
Some councilmembers have concerns with proposed contract
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