Editor's note: Ninth in a series of stories on the people, places and events that made news in northern Michigan in 2008. To read past newsmaker articles, see record-eagle.com/newsmakers.
TRAVERSE CITY -- Chris Buday still has Jan. 18, the day officials promised to complete Grand Traverse County's septage treatment facility, posted in his office.
He only wishes he had written the year on it.
"Was it one, two, three years ago? Honestly, I don't remember," said Buday, head of the county's Department of Public Works that oversees operation of the troubled plant.
The $8 million facility opened in May 2005. A month later a tank collapsed and released 150,000 gallons of partially treated waste. An independent investigation found thousands of pieces of structural steel missing from three of the facility's four main buildings, as well as design deficiencies and shoddy workmanship that required over $2 million in repairs.
The plant shut down completely only for two weeks, but more than three years later it's still not fixed. The estimated completion date promised by the design-build team of Gourdie-Fraser Inc. and The Christman Co. is now February 2009.
The septage plant was constructed to end the practice of spreading septic tank waste on farm fields; this October, the county spread almost 400,000 gallons of treated septic tank sludge on local fields.
Buday said final equipment upgrades planned by Gourdie-Fraser, some tweaking of the process, and final state approval should get the county producing a pathogen-free, class A biosolid it can sell.
Getting the plant to run correctly, however, may be the least of the problems for taxpayers in Elmwood, Garfield, East Bay, Peninsula and Acme townships. Their boards guaranteed annual bond payments for the plant.
The facility will lose $3.4 million by 2014, according to an independent analysis recently crafted by accounting firm Plante & Moran and engineering firm URS.
Analysts called for wholesale changes in the way the plant is funded, including annual fees on septic tank owners and special tax assessments levied on property outside of sewer districts.
The basic problem, according to the report, is the plant doesn't receive nearly enough waste to operate efficiently. At the current 12 cents a gallon rate, the plant would need to take in 19 million gallons of septage annually to remain solvent.
The plant currently accepts about 4.5 million gallons of septage each year.
The analysis recommended several cost-cutting options, some of which the county is pursuing, said Wayne Kladder, Acme Township supervisor and chairman of the county Board of Public Works.
The county board, BPW and the townships will meet with the analysts on Jan. 14 to go over the report.
"What happens with that report is extremely important. It just can't sit there," Kladder said.
Buday said volume and revenues were both up this year and he's optimistic the report will help guide them out of the financial hole.
"Are we ending the year perfect? No, but I think the future looks brighter than it did two or three years ago," he said.
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