There was a common theme from city residents who came out Thursday evening to address their concerns and ideas to the City Council’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Water Quality Fees. That theme was about the impact the newly-raised fees will have on the citizens and businesses of Chattanooga.

Perhaps the remark that said it best came from the owner of Felts Clutch Service, Chris Maughon, who said, “If I decided to sell you a u-bolt at these prices, you’d be going elsewhere.” Mr. Maughon said his water quality fee had recently gone from $234.15 to $1,036.80. “Where is the money I’ve paid in over the last 20 years? Where has it been spent?” he asked the committee members.

He continued, “It seems like all we can do is stand up and fight, and… unfortunately I don’t see enough people in this room tonight to do that.

“My salary has been cut 50 percent in the past two years. In business I have to make cuts to stay in business and I think it’s about time someone in city government be held accountable and make some cuts there.”

Good news from the committee was not there as committee member Jim Moegling responded, “We just received word that a new monitoring program that should solve our problems in that area will double the cost of what we’re currently budgeting… unfortunately, I don’t see the cost coming down.”

Others felt that the city had been made a scapegoat for Hamilton County, the state of Tennessee and the state of Georgia. In addressing the committee, Bob Hanes, a city resident, said, “The state or Hamilton County should be responsible, as well as the run-off we’re getting from Georgia. Let them pay for what they’re dumping in.”

Church Administrator John Barber said that his congregation received a “very alarming arrival in the form of its water fee notice.” The church's water quality fee jumped from $800 to approximately $6,000. He pointed out that Chattanooga’s budget in this area roughly exceeds other cities throughout Tennessee by 300 percent. He called on the committee to recommend the City Council “reduce the city budget and cost of the Equivalent Residential Unit (currently at $9.60 per residence per month) and to please consider non-profits, especially churches for any exceptions.”

Jim Folkner drew the committee’s attention to a copy of a June 22, 2009 letter from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) which pointed out the city’s most recent inspection and the 51 violations it contained. Mr. Folkner remarked, “I don’t understand how giving the city more money will fix these problems. This letter is a terrible indictment.”

He continued, “Perhaps the city should sub-contract out the stormwater monitoring and testing and reserve the on-site inspections for themselves.” He went on to say, “The mayor’s Cadillac is more of an albatross – and it’s around our necks.”

Another view of the “Cadillac” program was voiced by the gentleman who originally started the stormwater program in Chattanooga, Tom Scott. Mr. Scott, the architect or Head of Stormwater when the federal government mandated cities to monitor pollution and stormwater run-off in the early 1990’s, said of the program, “I would like to describe it as a shiny 1950 Chevy, but it was not the Cadillac – although we might’ve wanted to be that Cadillac. If you wanted to see the Cadillac program you had to visit King County in Seattle, Wash. I had a little over 20 people and a budget of $5 million; they had over 200 people in stormwater and a budget 10 times greater than what we had.”

“They had support and what was amazing was that we had never communicated with them before the visit and we had almost identical programs. Those programs revolved around pollution prevention,” Mr. Scott continued. “Through education and enforcement we were doing something right.”

As for the linch-pin to this issue, Mr. Scott feels that “education is the only thing when it comes to controlling pollution, that and enforcement. It’s not about just educating the children, it’s about educating the entire populace.”

He went on, “You have to work with businesses and teach them about what not to destroy or toss out or set outside that can wash off and pollute, so it really is a matter of pollution control.” He also pointed out, “Remember when we used to pour the oil on the bottom of fences to kill the grass? Well, you can’t do that any longer. We now know that washed off and is detrimental to our creeks. You shouldn’t throw your grass shavings in because that’s a pollutant.”

As to a comment made earlier in the evening by Ron Thomas of Bethel Bible Village as to how their assessment had risen from $1,200 to over $14,000, Mr. Scott remarked, “I have a hard time believing that. They (Bethel) need to appeal that because it’s all based on impervious area and they really don’t have a lot of impervious area out there.”

According to Mr. Thomas, “That $14,000 feeds another 14 children for a year. It costs us approximately $1,000 per year per child to feed them.” He also made the point that, “all of our water runs directly into Chickamauga Creek and does not pass through any city facilities.”

Before retiring from the podium, Mr. Scott offered to work with the committee in any manner they needed. Committee Chairman Bill Raines was quick to ask that Mr. Scott give his contact information to the committee’s secretary.

This is an idea that City Councilwoman Deborah Scott, District One, supports. She said, “I’m not going to turn down help of any fashion, especially when it comes from someone as knowledgeable as Mr. Scott (no relation).” Ms. Scott further said, “As to the direction of the council, we’ve been told we are not in compliance and it’s going to take going in several directions in regards to management and program. It’s going to take having the funds to ensure we can do the monitoring and it’s going to have to be, as Mr. Scott said, in the direction of helping educate people understand how to do the right thing. I don’t think they consider that when they go out in the spring to fertilize the yard that they may be impacting the water quality. I know I’ve learned a lot of things about water quality in the past several months that I’ve never thought of before.”

“My job is to try and figure out the right direction for the city to go in as we try to come into compliance,” she continued. “Only money is not going to solve it, education without money is not going to solve it. It’s going to be multiple things that are required and they’re going to have to be orchestrated together to get us where we need to go.”

Another citizen and business owner to address the committee, Ron Speicher of Pinnacle Services, said, “I hope that the research that led to these fees just incorporated was done several years ago in a different economic climate than the one we’re seeing today.” He went on to say, “Management in my company has gone months without taking a salary just to keep the business afloat. This 400 percent fee increase is like a kick in the shins.”

Pryor Bacon, of Pryor Bacon Realty, echoed these remarks by saying, “This is not the time to take on any unbudgeted increases. If you’ve been aware of this situation since 1996, why are we just now asking for this increase?” Mr. Bacon told the committee that his business had gone from 60 employees down to just 10.

The last to address the committee was Rev. Anthony Baker of Riverside Baptist Church. Rev. Baker asked only one simple question, “Why are we having to pay for their (city fathers') mistakes?” He concluded by saying, “These fines we’re talking about being levied for things not done as required leads to a belief of mismanagement.”

Following the meeting, Chairman Raines had this to say, “I think that the opinions we heard tonight came from the heart. There are a lot of people in this economy who are struggling and this is putting that extra straw on their back. Much of it wasn’t statistical, it was from the heart and I think we heard that and it is obviously something we need to recommend to the council.”

(You can email Dennis Norwood at sportswriter56@comcast.net)