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Friday, Oct. 03, 2008

Veteran MWA chairman facing opposition from inspector

Thirty-two year Macon Water Authority veteran Frank Amerson is defending his seat this fall from a challenge by Republican Daniel Bumgardner.

Known for his financial savvy and gruff demeanor, Amerson has chaired the board for more than 20 years. Though Bumgardner, 62, has no previous political experience, the Vietnam veteran has spent 34 years working in utility construction and sees room for improvement at the water and sewage utility.

On Bumgardner's list: better customer service, probably an increased pay scale for middle and lower management at the authority, greater coordination with local schools and colleges on training and education programs, and perhaps an overhaul of the utility's maintenance and operations plan.

Bumgardner inspects work on new sewage treatment plants but says he risks no conflict of interest because his company, O'Brien & Gere, has done no work for the water authority and has no plans to do so.

He says he has prepared for the job by reading the authority's extensive operation and maintenance plans, minutes of Macon Water Authority meetings and even minutes of meetings of the Henry County Water and Sewerage Authority to use as a comparison.

Bumgardner, who spent 22 years in the U.S. Army Marine Corps and Reserve, said he agrees with Amerson about 90 percent of the time. But "I just feel like there needs to be some new ideas instilled down there," he said.

Bumgardner expressed concern about the lack of emergency generators at many sewage lift stations, which pump sewage uphill toward the authority's sewage treatment plants. Generators are needed to keep the pumps running during power outages and avert sewage spills. The authority struggled following this year's May tornado to keep stations operating when many without generators couldn't be reached. But no major spills resulted.

"Are we ready if we have another several-day outage?" Bumgardner asked. "My question is, why weren't those (generators) put there in the first place?"

Amerson, a Democrat, said generators already were being added and replaced before the storm. At the end of 2009, about 40 percent of the authority's lift stations will have them, according to authority records. The authority has budgeted to add three generators a year for the next five years, plus four more during scheduled lift station overhauls.

When Amerson joined the water authority as its youngest member, the Clean Water Act was relatively new and Amerson saw that the authority would need help to meet its standards, he said. Today at age 79, he is seeking another six-year term. But Amerson, who can invariably rattle the authority's financial details from the top of his head, says his health is good and he's up to the challenge.

Amerson takes pride in his role in improving the authority's finances during his most recent term, honing a capital improvement plan that was funded without borrowing. The result was a boost in the authority's credit standing with two major rating agencies.

Both Amerson and Bumgardner say they would expand water authority service outside Bibb County, but only if it won't increase the bills for Bibb residents.

One of the looming issues during the next term is likely to be storm water. Under new state rules, the authority won't be able to renew its sewage treatment plant permits without extensively testing runoff and streams for chemicals, bacteria, plant and animal life, and more. The authority is in an unusual situation because usually city or county government is responsible for drinking water, sewer service and storm water, but in Bibb County these duties are split between the authority and local governments.

For years, officials have expressed interest in starting a storm water utility, but it hasn't happened.

Bumgardner said he wouldn't want to see the water authority become Macon's storm water utility.

"I would hate for the authority to get involved in storm water, because the city and county have basically neglected that over the years," he said. "So why should the water authority be stuck with that liability and the financial drain?"

Amerson said he'd favor the county taxing residents to pay for the storm water program and then contracting with the authority to conduct the testing, since the authority has the expertise and a lab.

If Macon and Bibb County don't take responsibility for the testing, he said, then Macon won't be able to expand its sewer capacity to accommodate new industry.

To contact writer S. Heather Duncan, call 744-4225.