By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Bronson Town Council members voted unanimously Monday to sign an interlocal agreement that makes the town a member of the Waccasassa Water and Wastewater Cooperative despite many unanswered questions about how the town will benefit from being part of the utility.

            Bronson will join Otter Creek and Cedar Key as members of the utility, assuming both of those cities join the organization, and it’s likely they will join, and all three cities will purchase water and sewer services from the cooperative instead of providing those municipal services themselves.

            All three cities will continue to operate their water and sewer systems within their municipal city limits, according to the Suwannee River Water Management District, but the cities will connect to the cooperative’s water and sewer mains to purchase their water and sewer.

            The current plan is for the cooperative, working with the Suwannee Water Management District, to apply for $110 million in grant and loan funding to build the 33-mile system connecting the three cities to a new wastewater plant and wellfield somewhere near Bronson.

            Cedar Key and Otter Creek have bad drinking water quality. Cedar Key also has a wastewater plant at the center of the island that could be toppled by a major hurricane, dumping untreated waste into nearby bays and destroying the multimillion clam industry, according to advocates of the cooperative.

            Bronson has good water.

            Former Mayor Beatrice Roberts questioned the town council on how it expects to make money from the cooperative if it no longer sells water to its residents. She said the sale of water is the biggest revenue generator for the town.

            “Why would Bronson want to buy water when you already got water?” Roberts said. “Next question – we know our water system is the main source of income for Bronson. How are we going to get paid if we buy our water from the cooperative?”

            “Nothing’s going to change,” said Mayor Robert Partin.

            “Oh, something’s going to change if a cooperative comes in, something’s going to change,” Roberts responded.

            Partin said he could explain.

            “We are buying water from ourselves right now,” Partin said. “It costs us to operate, it costs us to maintain, it costs us to have a licensed person here,” he said.

            Partin added that everything in state government is moving toward regional systems like the cooperative, a “large conglomerate.”

            “They are pushing us that way. Everything is trying to move that way,” he said. “To help you with this and put your mind to rest on this, I’m looking for the future. It gives us the ability to maintain a clean water source in the future, it gives us the opportunity for growth. I feel growth is inevitable.”

            Roberts said Partin wasn’t putting her mind to rest with his comments.

            “When is the town going to start benefiting from this because a big corporation (the cooperative) is going to get theirs first,” she said.

            “I fail to see your question,” Partin said. “The future is what we’re trying to prepare us for.”

            Spotlight asked how the town would repay its sewer loan if it had to purchase water and sewer from the cooperative, and how it would pay for a licensed operator to run its water and sewer plants if there was no revenue coming to the town. Advocates say the town would set its own water and sewer rates based on what it paid for those services from the cooperative and what it would need to make a profit.

           Councilwoman Sherrie Schuler said the council doesn’t have the answers at this point. She said the council is joining the cooperative to hopefully answer those questions at some point. She said if the council isn’t comfortable with the answers it’s getting, it can pull out of the interlocal agreement at any point.

            The cooperative started with a series of private meetings involving elected officials from the three towns. In the early stages of discussions, Partin talked about the town selling water to Otter Creek and Cedar Key. At some point, the focus changed to a cooperative that would provide water and sewer to all three cities. The wellfield for the water will be somewhere near Bronson and the wastewater treatment plant will generally be in the Bronson area, though officials say they don’t know the exact locations of either plant at this point.

            Leroy Marshal, chief professional engineer for SRWMD, has been invited to give a presentation to the Levy County Commission Tuesday morning. The water district has expressed an interest in the county commission joining the cooperative and providing water and sewer services to the communities of Sumner and Rosewood. The cooperative’s water and sewer lines would pass by both communities. Three county commissioners would have to vote for joining the cooperative. It’s not clear if a copy of the interlocal agreement for the three cities will be explained as part of Marshal’s presentation at the board meeting.

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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting June 5, 2023; Posted June 5, 2023