Chairman calls treatment of volunteers ‘inexcusable’
Local legislation that passed through the General Assembly and did not get vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal gives the Peachtree City Council control of the Peachtree City Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) on July 1.
Above, Peachtree City Mayor Vanessa Fleisch. Photo/Ben Nelms.
City Council members last August unanimously adopted a resolution asking for changes to WASA’s enabling legislation.
The August vote came after a July 20 review of options available to the council to retain control over WASA’s ability to expand service beyond the city limits. The council expressed an interest in pursuing two of the four options presented.
Those two options contained in the resolution included: petition the General Assembly to amend the WASA enabling legislation to expressly require council approval of extra-territorial expansion; and amend the WASA enabling legislation to reconstitute the WASA board with a majority or all of its members constituting the membership of the City Council.
With the passage of the local legislation and the lack of a veto by Deal, Mayor Vanessa Fleisch on May 10 said the City Council will become the WASA board of directors on July 1.
“The council doesn’t see any major changes as a result of the council becoming the WASA board,” Fleisch said.
WASA Chairman John Dufresne weighed in on the legislative change that eliminates the current WASA board, likening the August resolution to going “straight to the nuclear option.”
Dufresne said the current WASA board is comprised of volunteers appointed by the council.
“We took our duty seriously. We had a responsibility to manage WASA in a manner that considered the effective and efficient operation of the system, our obligation to the bondholders, and providing a quality service to our ratepayers, some of whom are outside Peachtree City.
“Council’s treatment of the board and final action is inexcusable,” Dufresne continued. “Not once did council ask for a meeting to discuss the issues they had with WASA. Instead, they commissioned a study about WASA’s ability to provide service outside PTC. The study was significantly flawed and resulted in a wrong conclusion, but used it anyway to justify their final action.”
Commenting on the study flaws, Dufresne said WASA wasn’t asked to provide input to the study, and more importantly the study failed to consider key sections of the Sewer System Agreement, specifically the Definitions section.
“Council’s manner in presenting the study was contemptible and cowardly,” Dufresne added. “The mayor invited the WASA board to the meeting, but didn’t provide an advanced copy of the study to the board. We had to ask for a copy after the presentation. And the mayor had the gall to ask after the presentation if we had any comments.”
