Special Town Board Meeting
held this morning at...
THE SEWER PONDS!
A Special Town Board Meeting was held this morning 11:00am at...
at...THE SEWER PONDS!
That's a great place for a special Town Board Meeting, isn't it?
The meeting was called to order shortly after 11am. In attendance was Casey, the DEQ water quality inspector who is going to approve or deny Buffalo's plan for wastewater treatment, the Town's hired gun/engineer and good ole' Joe, Buffalo's Town Manager, ooops, administrator elite, along with all the Trustees of the Town of Buffalo.
It was an uneventful meeting consisting of trudging through thigh-high weeds while traversing berms between sewer lagoons/cells as the group closely observed the DEQ representative checking out the waste water management system. It was a scene out of the Pied Piper with Buffalo Trustees (sans one) and Joe, following, like chicks with a mother hen, the DEQ rep around the facility.
Inside Buffalo followed some and stayed back too. We're glad we stayed back as you'll find that the information we got by staying and not following was much more interesting.
The DEQ rep asked a few questions and Joe answered a few with responses like: I don't recall, I'll check on that and some generalizations while tossing in some 1/2 truths and statements which didn't actually answer the questions but appeared to make Joe feel good about his answer. When asked exclusively about an item referred to in the DEQ Consent Agenda, Joe mentioned that the Town was working on that in the next couple years, er, uh, ummm, the next coupla months.
Good answer Joe (while the crowd applauded - good answer - good answer - as if from an episode of Family Feud)
The DEQ guy, Casey, asked about why certain sewer ponds weren't being utilized as lagoons wherein he received an answer like this: uh, we're sending it all to the last lagoon back there. That response by Buffalo's Town Manager didn't answer his question, and by the look on Casey's face he knew he wouldn't get a straight answer, so he simply moved on.
One shrewd Trustee remained behind (Inside Buffalo was there too) conversing with the engineer. Good choice! Who better to get answers from than the guy responsible for meeting DEQ standards? Yes, the engineer! This is who was hired for his expertise and because he's well educated in the requirements necessary for a properly run sewage treatment facility.
The information shared by the engineer with the Trustee aforementioned, regarding the wastewater system itself and State standards, which Inside Buffalo was privy to, could be quite costly to the Town of Buffalo if the DEQ denies their request. Let's all hope that things go smoothly and they can get to work on the situation out there a.s.a.p.
The lagoon system fails miserably in meeting standards. The engineer mentioned specific items he was worried about. Wouldn't you know? It was the same things DEQ addressed in their consent agenda and we reported about way back in November 2008. Check it out HERE
We're talking EXACTLY! He spoke of the issue of Buffalo's population and lack of enough lagoon surface area. He spoke of the need to address the depth of the lagoons. He spoke of the slope on the banks of the lagoons and way more.
DEQ Report Here
Additionally, while the other Trustees were tailing Casey from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality as he traversed the treatment lagoons, the lone Trustee and the engineer discussed the issue of false DEQ reports, raw sewage flowing into Buffalo Creek (Photo Found HERE) and lots of other juicy tidbits of 'stuff' like State standards, failed pumps, new designs and once more, State standards. The engineer expressed his concern that the DEQ may not approve their plan without making the Town meet current standards. That would be devastating.
Of course, it all could have been avoided if the lagoons had been maintained and the raw sewage flow had been avoided.
The engineer mentioned that the raw sewage bypass into Buffalo creek is what caused the entire mess and involvement with DEQ. The Town had to make a report of the sewage bypass to the DEQ (Found HERE) that led to the expenses and mess at the sewage treatment facility which we reported about.
Did you read what was just written? All you naysayers who have attacked the blog and Inside Buffalo can sleep well tonight knowing that it was the Town of BUFFALO who caused the problems and NOT Onside Buffalo the BLOG or Inside Buffalo Magazine and website.
Reassuring isn't it?
The Special Town Board meeting was adjourned after motion at 11:35am.
