$35,000 Fine Over Sewage Violations Irks Avalon Officials

Officials in Avalon are upset over what they called a “grossly unfair” fine of $35,000 levied against the city by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board for sewage discharge violations, even though the fine is less than the board initially recommended.

In a March hearing, the board recommended a fine of $100,000, but reduced that on appeal after considering the city’s ability to pay and Avalon officials’ stated intent to keep the Avalon waste-treatment plant in compliance, said David Gildersleeve, the board’s supervising engineer.

The fine was levied despite explanations by city officials that mechanical failures and employee turnover contributed to violations of the city’s sewage discharge permit at the plant in November and December of 1988.

Before a session in May, city officials had offered a compromise settlement of $20,000 to the board, including $10,000 in penalties and $10,000 in staff costs, City Manager Chuck Prince said.

“We think the facts indicated a much lower fine or no fine at all would have been reasonable,” Prince said.

Rejected Recommendation

The board’s staff recommended that it accept the $20,000 offer, Gildersleeve said, but the board believed the city had been noncompliant about half the time during the two-month period in 1988 and wanted to ensure that the city adequately monitors its plant.

The $35,000 fine is at the higher end of the $2,000-to-$40,000 range for fines levied by the board for first offenses by cities and other public agencies for waste-treatment violations, Gildersleeve said. The board began levying such fines in 1985, he said.

Avalon officials said the $35,000 fine is too high for their small city.

Prince said the board did not take into account either the size of the Santa Catalina Island city, which has a population of about 2,200, or the city’s ability to pay.

Gildersleeve said the city has 30 days to appeal the regional board’s decision to the state Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento.

City officials said a decision on whether to appeal would have to weigh the cost against possible benefits.

Mayor Hugh T. (Bud) Smith said the city is “not going to spend $50,000 to get $35,000 back.”

Smith called the fine “an excuse for a big entity to jump on a little entity. I thought that they didn’t listen to the facts and rationale and reasons behind the discharge. I think the fine was excessive and the reason why the fine was even levied was unreasonable and unfair.”

Employee Turnover Blamed

Officials in Avalon have maintained that the waste-treatment plant has been in compliance except for two occasions when machinery broke down, and for several weeks in December, 1988, when a Gardena waste treatment management firm--Operations Consultants--permanently took over operation of the plant from the city, resulting in a period of high employee turnover.

The plant underwent a three-year expansion, completed in October, 1988, which increased its capacity from 500,000 to 1.2 million gallons a day, Prince said. “To demonstrate a good faith effort to the board,” the city began making $80,000 in repairs and improvements to the plant after the March hearing, Prince said.

The plant is one of the few in the country that uses saltwater in the waste treatment process, which requires more careful monitoring than fresh water plants, city officials said.

A board report in March stated that the plant did not meet permit requirements on 29 days in November and December, 1988, when levels of suspended solid waste or biochemical oxygen demand exceeded amounts allowed in the permit.

The city and the board separately monitor discharge levels at the plant.