COUNCILWOMAN TO SEEK REDUCED T.O. TREATMENT PLANT UPGRADES.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Saying that an independent audit's conclusions warrant it, Councilwoman Elois Zeanah will ask today for a new scaled-down plan for the Hill Canyon Waste Water Treatment Plant upgrade.

But other City Council members say that the request may be premature and that the council should wait until the Dec. 17 meeting - when the city staff is expected to come back with a report incorporating the Price Waterhouse LLP audit's findings - to make any decisions on the proposed $75 million upgrade plan.

Specifically, Zeanah is requesting a new plan that cuts about $30 million by eliminating all improvements that are not health- and safety-related or not required by state or federal law. She also wants to see a dewatering odor-removal facility eliminated from the plan.

She also said that the council, not staff, should decide how the costs of capital improvements are distributed.

``The reason that a decision must be made by this council is that the following week, on the 17th, the staff plans to bring back a recommendation for an increase in residential rates,'' she said. ``I wanted to pre-empt that and not wait until the 17th to give everyone sufficient time to look at the issues before us, and one of the issues is getting the costs down.''

According to Mayor Judy Lazar, however, city staff has been working with the Price Waterhouse audit, which was released in October and recommended engineering studies to determine whether parts of the ambitious, 15-year improvement project could be scaled down or eliminated.

The staff should be allowed to present its findings so that the council can make an informed decision, she said.

``At that point in time the council will have a full, five-member discussion as to what we wish to do and how we wish to do it, or if we want to do it,'' Lazar said. ``So this is in my opinion premature - I would much prefer to wait and see what the full council discussion yields.''

Along with former Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski, Zeanah has adamantly opposed the upgrade project, saying it goes far beyond what the city needs. She and Zukowski refused to approve a $7 per month hike in the residential service charge to help fund the project. The issue needs four votes to pass.

The city was recently warned by the State Water Resources Control Board to submit by year's end a timetable for the plant improvements and documents outlining how the project will be funded or risk losing millions of dollars in federal aid.

According to Price Waterhouse, the city could shave about $28.5 million from the cost of the project by using cheaper alternatives in some parts of the project or reducing the scale of other parts.

Zeanah wants to eliminate an ultraviolet disinfection system, a nitrification/denitrification system and the dewatering facility to remove odors for golf course use at the proposed Hill Canyon complex.

Lazar said the council should wait to see how the Public Works department report prioritizes elements of the plan. ``I want us to move ahead on the items that must be done and maybe we can't get full consensus on all the items on the full plan,'' she said. ``Fine, but let's agree on the things that should happen.''