Understanding the Consequences - Part 2
Letters to the Editor
Below is a copy of the email that I sent to the Mayor and City Council on July 5th expressing my concerns if the Black Castle contract for constructing the WWTP treatment plant is cancelled. After publicly criticizing previous administrations for project mismanagement, the Mayor appears to be significantly changing the project scope with no confirmed data. In my email I listed several items that need to be confirmed prior to cancellation. I have received no confirmation from any of the addresses that they have read my email. Except for item #3, there has been no apparent action on any of the other items. For item #3, the Mayor has received written notification that the Way Grant will be retracted if the Black Castle contract is cancelled.
Mayor and City Council,
Attached is a copy of my letter I sent to the Wimberley View for next week’s edition. In my letter I outline several concerns about possible, very negative outcomes, that will result if the Black Castle contract is cancelled prior to confirming every possible scenario that might occur. Failure of any item will result in failure of the project (only option may be new sewage delivery system to Aqua Texas) and exposes the city to a large debt, possibly no place to send the sewage, several lawsuits, etc. If the only recovery option is a new delivery system to Aqua Texas, via Winter’s Mill Pkwy, it will cost more than the current collection system - compare lengths of piping required.
Mayor: I just read your July 4th/5th Mayor’s Corner column. I was both surprised and disappointed. Half way through your column you highlighted all of the failures of the previous administration while managing this project, ie. incomplete engineering, incorrect estimates, permitting not complete, R-O-W easements, etc. Now you are proposing actions that are the same as what you called failures of previous administrations in your column. The only difference is that there have been no engineering reviews, no permit applications or permits, no professionally prepared cost estimates, etc. Do you feel a few individuals can pull together an engineering package, obtain permits in a few weeks? I see a recipe for disaster. You will have added numerous additional unknowns to the project while expecting no surprises.
City Council: Consider your vote carefully. Many individuals do not like how we reached this point of the sewage treatment solution - but we are here. You better have a 100% understanding of what “we are here” will mean if the Black Castle contract is cancelled. Every item in my note must have a positive result or you are exposing the City to a large debt, no funding sources, several lawsuits and possibly a sewage collection system with no place to go. If the Black Castle contract has been cancelled prior to completing all of the engineering details, what is your backup plan if sending the sewage to Aqua Texas turns out to not be an option? Do not make your vote one that is based on the “trust or hope” that all the presently unknown issues that will arise can be resolved in a few weeks effort. Not going to happen. Just look at the collection system as an example of what to expect and the collection system was technically and professionally engineered. Below are questions you need to ask and answer, to your 100% satisfaction, before you vote. Failure to do so may be viewed as “willful neglect” if the lawsuits start flying. “Willful neglect” can lead to individual liability. Remember, if you are taking advice from anyone else for making your decision, they are not the individual who will face the consequences for a wrong decision.
1. Is a document in-hand that confirms the TWDB agrees to continue project funding after project scope change? Cancelling the Black Castle contract without prior approval by TWDB would be a violation of the bond agreement with TWDB as that agreement clearly states that TWDB must approve any material change to the project.
2. Is a document in-hand that confirms the EDA grant is still available if the treatment plant is cancelled, ie. can the funds be diverted to the collection system? If not, EDA is going to want the funds allocated to the treatment plant back - $700,000 and counting.
3. Is a document in-hand that confirms the Way grant would still be available?
4. Are the permits to cross Cypress Creek from all agencies (TXDOT, TCEQ, TWDB) in-hand?
5. Are the engineering design documents complete? Without these documents in-hand, you cannot possibly know the cost implications of such a major scope change?
6. Is there, in-hand, a negotiated cancellation agreement, signed by both parties, that defines the cost to cancel the contract and states that Black Castle will take no future legal action?
7. Has an independent, experienced, Board Certified Contracts lawyer provided a documented opinion to the City Council of the potential consequences, to the City and individual Council members, by cancelling the Black Castle contract prior to reaching a negotiated settlement?
If you cannot answer “yes” to every question above, you are doing the exact same thing that the Mayor criticized previous administrations of doing - except you are knowingly doing it.
There are additional questions you need to answer for yourself that I haven’t thought of, but maybe the most important questions to answer are:
8. Can I face myself and the citizens of Wimberley if a hastily conceived plan with minimal, if any, engineering feasibility review goes “south” and costs the City million/s of dollars?
9. In the event of a lawsuit and litigation, am I prepared to defend, in depositions or under oath in a court of law, my justification for cancelling the WWTP treatment plant contract as it currently stands.
William H. Bowman