Wednesday, November 11, 2009

ISLAMORADA -- A month ago Birmingham-based IntegraWater dazzled the Village Council enough to get privatization placed among the many options Islamorada is considering for its central sewer program.

But the company now finds itself in bad graces of some village officials, who view Integra's unsuccessful bid last week to obtain the right to excess capacity at Key Largo's sewage treatment plant as an attempt to force the village's hand.

"I am deeply disappointed in the attempt to go behind our backs and cut us off from Key Largo, and that's what they tried to do," Islamorada Mayor Don Achenberg said. "That casts a deep shadow in my mind as to if we can ever do business with them."

Added Village Manager Ken Fields: "I would have a lot of trouble with an organization that instead of being willing to compete in an open manner, attempted to back-door it and do business without others having a chance."

IntegraWater Vice President Wesley Self went before the Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District on Nov. 3, seeking to secure an option on 1.5 million gallons per day of treatment capacity at the Key Largo plant.

Under the terms of their offer, IntegraWater would have paid Key Largo $100,000 for the five-year option, which only would have gone into effect if they signed a deal with the village. In exchange, IntegraWater wanted Key Largo to lock-in the offer it has made to Islamorada of $32 per month per single family household for use of the plant.

The Key Largo board roundly rejected the offer.

"The main reason we can't do this is that it prevents us from doing business with anyone else. That would hurt Islamorada," Commissioner Andy Tobin said during the meeting.

But in an interview last week, Self stressed that the deal they offered Key Largo would have left the village with the option of doing business directly with Key Largo, IntegraWater or another private company.

He called the proposal a proactive attempt to establish IntegraWater as the lead player should the village decide to privatize the construction and operations of its planned central sewer system, and he said he got the OK from Vice Mayor Michael Reckwerdt and council members Deb Gillis and Dave Boerner ahead of time.

Gills, Reckwerdt and Boerner confirmed last week that they spoke with IntegraWater and were aware the company planned to present to the Key Largo board, though they didn't take a position on the matter.

"I don't think they were trying to go behind anybody's back. They were just trying to secure a deal," Gillis said.

Added Boerner, "If you're trying to beat out another private company, that makes sense. As long as you don't do it against the village."

Self took on Fields directly during last week's Free Press interview, saying that IntegraWater believes the Key Largo pipeline option could save the village at least $30 million when compared to the primary alternative of treating sewage at two plants in Islamorada. But, he said, during his Oct. 8 presentation to the village it became clear to him that the Fields administration was going to be an impediment.

"Fields was never intending to go to Key Largo," Self said. "I don't think Ken Fields was right in trying to build two plants and I don't think the majority of the council or the public agrees either."

During that October presentation, Self told the council that IntegraWater could complete wastewater systems on Lower and Upper Matecumbe, Windley Key and the bottom half of Plantation Key for between $12,000 and $15,000 per single family household, well below village estimates of more than $20,000 per home.

Monthly bills, covering operation and maintenance rates as well as financing, could be kept below $100, he said, less than half the village estimate of $230 per month.

The promises of lower costs and a speedier construction time intrigued council members, though they were less impressed by IntegraWater's argument that it should be hired without going through a competitive bid process.

Still, the council told Fields to have bid documents ready by Nov. 18 in case they decided privatizing is the way to go.

Fields, last week, said he doesn't expect to have the bid request ready by the target date.

"We've had a few other things we've been doing," he said, an apparent reference to a new round of negotiations with Key Largo that the council set in motion two weeks after the IntegraWater presentation as well as a detailed sewer cost analysis that he has promised will be ready next week.

Self was less than shocked by the news.

"Surprise, surprise. I don't think he wants to work with any private utility," he said of Fields.

rsilk@keysnews.com