The Tri-City Regional Sanitary District (TRSD) became a high-profile story in the pages of the Silver Belt in June 2018, when the district announced a 41 percent tax increase to residents within its designated management area (DMA). Following is a review of the district from the pages of the Silver Belt.

Background

Although Miami and Globe both have functioning sewer systems — Miami is in the midst of a $25 million, 14-month upgrade — there is a swath of unincorporated land between the two towns that runs on septic systems and cesspools, which were outlawed by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in 1976.

TRSD is a tax district formed in 2011 through the merger of the Cobre Valley Sanitary District (CVSD) and the Pinal Sanitary District (PSD), both established in 1968 to manage wastewater treatment and disposal in the unincorporated areas.

In 1972, the Gila County embarked on a campaign to fund the Greater Globe-Miami Wastewater Project, but that project stalled “when contractual issues arose among parties involved.”

Since public utilities were seriously lacking, copper mining interests built the Holgate wastewater treatment facility, turning it over to the City of Globe in 1974.

In the ensuing years, studies were completed and plans created, but neither the CVSD nor the PSD were able to implement a regional system. In 2011 the districts merged to become TRSD.

In 2013-2014, the towns proposed collaboration with TRSD, as both Globe and Miami are only utilizing about 50 percent each of their sewer treatment capacity. TRSD soundly rejected an offer by former Globe City Manager Brent Billingsly and former Miami Town Manager Jerry Barnes to enter into an agreement to treat sewage.

As of 2015, approximately 1,300 operating cesspools and 300 substandard septic systems were still in use, many either failing or on the verge of failing. Between 2007 and 2015, 75 parcels had known failed sewage systems and it has continued to get worse.

Part of the problem is that the infrastructure for the DMA has to be built — estimated to be 85- to 90 percent of the cost — and there are numerous impediments from topography to resistance from some residents to paying for a sewer system, many of whom are not fans of taxation, even for vital services.

Some public resistance has come from residents who invested in new septic systems and will lose the money spent fixing them.

In March 2018, the TRSD received its Environmental Assessment, concluding the project would have no adverse environmental impacts. The announcement did not draw much attention to the goings on with the district, but in June that changed.

Truth in Taxation

In late June, TRSD announced its required Truth in Taxation public hearing to discuss a 41.6 percent tax increase and to adopt its 2018-2019 budget.

The district board approved its $6.2 million budget, contingent upon USDA-Rural Development funds that were approved later in the year.

According to the district’s legal postings, the tax increase will raise $44,082 annually for operations, meaning the tax for a home valued at $100,000 will go up from approximately $70.28 annually to $101.33.

The dozen or so residents in attendance at the June meeting were against the tax increase, and at the time, the TRSD board had few answers to many questions.

That changed once the USDA-RD funds were approved.

It was at this time the TRSD meetings began to attract the attention of residents, who showed up in larger and larger numbers, requiring a more spacious venue than the Tri-City Fire Department in Claypool. The meetings were eventually moved to the IBEW building in Globe.

USDA funding

Funding for Phase I of the 3-phase project was approved in the form of a $28 million loan/grant, with $16 million in grant funding and $12 million a 40-year loan. As the district waited for a Letter of Conditions from USDA basic questions from the public largely went unanswered.

Finally, TRSD received its Letter of Conditions, accepting the document at a special meeting on, Aug. 23.

From that point on, the district, USDA and PACE Advanced Water Engineering released information in a rush to get approval from the community.

There were still many issues though, as some in the TRSD DMA will not be served by the system and there are jurisdictional problems with both Miami and Globe that have to be ironed out.

The TRSD must also get approval of a Section 208 Water Quality Management Plan Amendment from Central Arizona Governments (CAG), an organization of 26 municipalities throughout the Copper Corridor and the Valley.

Criticism of TRSD

Among the most vocal critics of TRSD has been local contractor Fred Barcón, whose offices are north of Highway 60 and likely will not be served by the district.

Barcón was the first engineer for the district but was replaced with AMEC by longtime board member Bob Zache early in the process.

Much of Barcón’s criticism surrounds the lack of information that marked a large portion of the district’s existence, and fundamental mistakes he believes the board has made.

Others, such as a handful of residents in the area known as Vertical Heights, requested formal removal from the TRSD as they would not be served due to topography and location of the homes.

Prior to September, the TRSD board was not able to answer many questions, either because they were not on the agenda or knowledgeable individuals, including lead engineer Mike Krebs or USDA-RD State Director Jeff Hayes, were not in attendance at the meetings.

Informing the public

About 45 people were on hand on Sept. 4 for a rapid-fire question and answer session lasting nearly two hours.

Hayes reported that the cost of removing existing or failing septic systems of cesspools is figured into the cost of building the system.

Jake Garrett, manager of wastewater for the Gila County Community Development Department, discussed at length the reasons for the project and the consequences associated with failed systems.

Garrett said that when a septic system stops working, the owner has to address it immediately, particularly if it starts to “surface.”

“If you don’t, it’s my job to see that you do,” he said. “It’s my job to shut you down, to red tag your home and to take whatever appropriate action at that point in time, including turning off your water to your home.”

Hayes also addressed the sewer related to the economic development of the region.

He added that fixing up homes could lead to future partnerships with USDA and other entities that provide low-income housing.

“We see it as a long-term economic fix — not only a sewer fix — both on the economic and housing side because it’s needed,” he said. “If we don’t do something now, it’s going to be another 10 years down the road.”

Support for the project

In the wake of several public outreach meetings since November, support for the system has become more vocal. The meetings consisted of detailed explanations of the preliminary engineering report (PER) and extensive question and answer sessions.

The district even rolled out its website devoted to the project at trsdwastewater.org, featuring project background, maps and documentation including the PER, the project’s environmental assessment and the USDA-Rural Development Executive Project Summary.

“The district has not been able to really do [these] presentation (s) because we didn’t have all the information,” Krebs said. “We had a lot of that information done for nine months, but the most important information was USDA and how they were going to support the project and what they were going to bring to the table.”

In a vocal show of support, members of the Globe-Miami multiple listing service (MLS), a group of local realtors, attended the meeting en masse to describe housing problems faced in the region and the need for modern infrastructure if there is any hope of a viable financial future for Globe-Miami.

“If they pass it, it will open the door immediately,” Stacey Herrera Murry, a Miami native and owner of Kachina Properties in Globe, said. “It would be light at the end of the tunnel.”

The door that could potentially be opened, is economic activity that could result in increased home values and investment in the community.

“It would change everyone’s perspective on the area,” Eric DuFriend, a longtime area realtor and associate broker with Oak Realty, said. “Some of those neighborhoods would do a total 180-degree turnaround.”

Both DuFriend and Herrera Murry believe that a functioning sewer system would increase home values and make it more attractive to people wanting to move to the area. Additionally, the county would see increased revenues through higher home values and have an easier time addressing blight.

Representatives from Gila County weighed in as well, announcing its intent to fund a study for regional wastewater. Due to jurisdictional boundaries, the county cannot get involved with the TRSD project, and can only provide information for future phases.

Second District Supervisor Tim Humphrey and Gila County Manager James Menlove made an appearance at the same meeting to stress the importance of the project.

“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.”

Menlove contacted all three entities — Globe, Miami and TRSD — and was able to get everyone to the table to talk about intergovernmental agreements.

Questions arise about TRSD protest process

The year ended on something of a sour note for the district, as questions arose about the protest that served in lieu of a ballot vote that would have held the project back another year at least.

When the question of a vote came up at the regular October meeting, the board explained the “Assessment District Process,” whereby every property owner in the district would have the opportunity to protest the project.

“The fact of the matter is, every property owner will have the opportunity to say, ‘I don’t want this,’ or ‘I do want this,’” longtime board member Mary Anne Moreno said. “It’s not a ballot issue like you would have in a general election.”

She added that if the issue went to vote, it would not take place until November 2019, which would push the project back another year. Additionally, the people who could vote in such and election “are not necessarily the property owners,” but “qualified electors residing in the district.”

To reach as many residents as possible, TRSD was required to advertise in the local newspaper of record and send mailings to each landowner in the district.

Additionally, about 700 signs were posted 300 feet apart along the pipeline’s route. Once that happened, there were 15 days for residents to file notarized paperwork that described their property and indicate they did not want the project to continue.

The vote is based on the frontage of each property: If the property has 50 feet of frontage, that will equal 50 votes. If it has 100 feet of frontage, 100 votes. All the footage will be added up and if the protestors come up one foot above 50 percent, the project will not go forward, and the funding will go back to the USDA.

The protest period came to an end at midnight Dec. 18 and so the TRSD board called a special meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 19.

Amid the confusion and frustration of residents upset about the way the district went about collecting protests, the TRSD board and its legal counsel, Bill Clemmens, was unable to say with any authority whether all protests had been counted.

At issue was whether the deadline for submitting protests meant the actual documents in-hand or whether protests postmarked prior to midnight Dec. 18 would be collected and counted. There were also several complaints from residents who said they did not receive notifications in the mail.

After the reading of the list of names of the protests received, members of the public called out names of people they knew who filed protests, and complained about many people not receiving notices of the protest period or instructions on filing.

“We will address that issue when we review them,” district counsel Bill Clemmens said. “I don’t want to address that tonight.”

One protest of note came from Globe City Councilmember Charlene Giles, who explained her reasoning in a text message subsequent to the TRSD meeting.

“I never received any notice, paperwork or anything. Many others have said this also,” she said. “[The notices] should have been sent registered mail. Also, the protest instructions were not clear: property owners should not have had to provide maps and frontages when the sewer district already had them.

“Secondly, Globe and Miami are both at half capacity, and could easily take the effluent and it would cost one-third the money,” Giles concluded.

The next meeting of the TRSD will take place at the IBEW building, located at 1383 N. Hwy. 188, in Globe on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 5:15 p.m. Newly elected board members Stephen Palmer and Bill Tower will be seated at that meeting.