Arnold Stulce
Officials of the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority (WWTA) were called overbearing and arrogant during the second of a circuit County Commissioner Tim Boyd is making about the agency.
Former Rep. Arnold Stulce, during the meeting Thursday night at the Soddy Daisy City Hall, said he was told by WWTA officials that the homeowner was responsible for the line all the way to the middle of the road. He said he worked with former Rep. Jack Sharp to pass a bill that said the homeowner was only responsible to the property line.
Of an $8 monthly fee charged by WWTA to its customers, Mr. Stulce said, "We are paying for somebody else's mess. I think that's atrocious."
Mr. Stulce told of an incident in which a garden hose in his backyard got a major leak and ran his water bill way up. He said he explained the situation to the local water company and was not charged. He said when he made the same plea to WWTA he was told "sorry" that he would have to pay the high fee. He said, "That's the kind of treatment I got from the WWTA. And the water never went into the sewer. It went into my back yard. They're not interested in you or me."
Ronny McNew of Twin Cities Motors said he tried for many years to get sewer service and finally got it installed at his business. But he said he was left with a manhole that stuck seven inches above the ground. He said he was told he was supposed to pave the lot around it.
He said he looked out recently and the top of the manhole was gone. He said it was replaced with a flimsy flat cover. He said, "It's an absolute death trap. It's 12 feet down. Ain't no kid going to survive it."
Plumber Bill Shipley said the fees charged by the WWTA make it twice as expensive to do an installation in the county as in the city of Chattanooga.
He said city inspectors are plumbers, but WWTA inspectors are not.
Mr. Shipley said he spent some $25,000 on WWTA permits last year. He said those where grinder pumps are involved cost $4,240.
He said on one job he found that no tap had been installed so there was no way to hook the new residence onto the sewer. He said he called the WWTA and was told he would have to pay $100 to get an inspector out "even though the problem was their bad map."
He said a builder found that he also was without a tap, and it cost $2,500 for him to make a cut and go down 10 feet to the sewer in the middle of the street.
Mr. Shipley said the WWTA "requires you to buy the grinder pump from them."
Soddy Daisy Commissioner Gene Shipley, who is also a plumber, said, "We need a sewer authority, but we want one that is friendly to the people."
He said his firm was among 27 local plumbing outfits that signed up with the WWTA to fix lines to homes. He said, "They got down to seven companies and now it's three. We got out. We couldn't deal with them any longer."
Commissioner Shipley said, "They've got all the work you want. But they are not going to treat you right and they are not going to pay you on time."
He said the WWTA was designed to help sewer the outlying areas of the county and promote economic development. But he said "the only way to get new sewers is to have the builder put them in or get a government grant."
Mike Keef, another longtime plumber, said, "We also could not get along with the WWTA. It is a one-way street with them. It is their way or the highway."
He said the homeowner should have the right to choose which plumber to use.
Mr. Keef said, "They are out of control. They are rude and overbearing."
Commissioner Boyd said he started holding the meetings because he gets so many complaints about the WWTA. He said, "I wanted to see if the problems were just in my district or were elsewhere."
He said County Mayor Jim Coppinger "says we don't have any authority over the WWTA. I'm not buying that anymore."
County Mayor Coppinger came to the meeting a short time later and stayed until the end.