In a surprise announcement at last week’s Tri-City Regional Sanitary District (TRSD) board meeting, representatives from Gila County revealed a plan to study wastewater countywide in an effort to address many problems with substandard treatment systems throughout the region.

The announcement gave pause at a meeting that was largely devoted to a handful of local taxpayers voicing concerns about the project’s cost — estimated to be $69 million for three phases — and claiming they have not been given information, despite reports in local media for several months.

Some said the first they heard of it was when the district recently posted signs along the proposed route of the system, a legal requirement to move forward with the project.

The District was required to post extensive legal listings in the local newspaper of record for two weeks in addition to posting signs every 300 feet along the route of the proposed sewer system. Residents who want to stop the project are required to file a formal protest with TRSD that must be notarized to be valid. Anyone who does not vote, votes yes or does not properly file a protest will be considered a vote in favor of the project.

The protest period began at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 4 and residents who want to register their objections have until midnight, Dec. 18, 2018 to do so.

It was at the public comment portion of the meeting though, when the county weighed in after a long-held silence on the issue.

During the public meeting’s comment period, Second District Supervisor Tim Humphrey and Gila County Manager James Menlove made an appearance to stress the importance of the project.

While the county cannot influence the project due to jurisdictional boundaries, both Humphrey and Menlove stressed the need for regional wastewater solutions and announced the county’s intent to fund a wider study through an independent third party.

“As a supervisor I have no jurisdiction over the Tri-City board, over the City of Globe or its council or the Town of Miami,” Humphrey said. “My stand is that I do believe we need a sewer system because we have a lot of people abandoning their properties because of failed cesspools or septic.”

He added that he has tried to get reports on water, septic and cesspools in the area because “It has to be affecting our groundwater.”

Humphrey said there are people for and against the project and he is not trying to influence them, but “there has been a lot of speculation.”

He asked Menlove what the county could do so there is good information to know what is really going on with water in the region.

“We decided we could contact an engineering firm that has no dog in the race,” Humphrey said. “One that has never worked with TRSD to do a regional study: take a look at the region.”

Menlove contacted all three entities — Globe, Miami and TRSD — and was able to get everyone to the table to talk about intergovernmental agreements to address the wastewater infrastructure throughout the region, “for all the constituents involved.”

While there has been no official request for proposal (RFP) sent out for the work, Menlove said that he was surprised at how low the cost for the study might be.

In a subsequent interview, Menlove stressed that the county “can’t tell [TRSD] in any way, shape or form what to do.”

“We have to be neutral, but we’re interested in what happens,” he said. “Infrastructure is a big issue in this county.”

He added that he wants to do his due diligence to get the “product” the county wants.

“Hopefully, we can get some facts out to the community as a whole,” he said. “I’m very much anti-silo. Together, we can utilize our strengths.”

The next meeting of the TRSD board will be Jan. 19, 2019 at the IBEW building, located at 1383 N. Hwy. 188 in Globe.

Anyone interested in protesting the project can contact the TRSD at 928-200-4219.

There are also tax exemptions available through the County Assessor’s Office. For information, call 928-402-8714.

TRSD estimates all three phases of the project to be in the $69 million range, with $33 million of that potentially in the form of loans, while the balance would be federal grants.

The timeline for the first phase would be in the one to two-year range, and the cost of removing existing or failing septic systems or cesspools is figured into the cost of building the system.

For previous coverage of this issue, go here.