By Richard Gaines
Staff writer

Mayor John Bell presented his sewer task force's report to the City Council for the first time, but left the council clueless about what he intends to do with its recommendations.

The report -- written and presented to Bell last Aug. 24 but largely under wraps until Tuesday night -- covers more than 100 pages of draft policies, ordinances, research, maps and footnotes. It was assembled by his experts in engineering, public works, public health, law and finance in October 2004.

Its major recommendations are that the city:

* Run spurs off the new Essex line along the fingers of the Annisquam River to replace failed septic systems in environmentally sensitive areas;

* Declare a moratorium on expanding the problematic septic tank effluent pump (STEP) system in the northern villages;

* Bar private sewer extensions;

* Repeal the ordinance committing the city to paying 25 percent of future betterment charges on new sewer lines.

Bell did not indicate at the council meeting Tuesday night if or when he would send legislation setting sewer policies to the council and took no stand on the major findings.

"We are here to begin the beginning of discussion of the sewer task force," he told the council. "I can't help but underscore it's a draft. It's a draft."

Subsidy in question

At the council meeting, Bell and his administrative assistant, Steven Magoon, skipped over or sought to soften many of the sharp-edged conclusions of the task force report.

Magoon, for example, told the council the task force report only "calls into question ... whether that burden (the 25 percent subsidy) should continue."

But the task force -- with Bell's concurrence at January and February meetings covered by the Times -- was unequivocal that the subsidy had to go.

"You can't afford the 25 percent anymore," Bell told the task force in January.

In one of only three conclusions that the task force chose to underline for emphasis in its report, it recommended "that our city ordinance be changed to reflect the fiscal reality that the city cannot afford to fund additional sewer projects."

The other underlined conclusions urged "no expansion of the STEP system" (in the northern villages) and a prohibition against private extensions of sewers "for the foreseeable future."

Magoon characterized the task force's position on STEP expansion as talking about "to what extent we should or not allow that to happen."

The task force based its recommendation for a STEP expansion moratorium on findings that "the STEP technology presents significant operations and maintenance costs and differs from conventional sewers in its impact on our sewage treatment plant."

Gloucester's is the only major plant in Massachusetts not required to put sewage through advanced chemical treatment. The city is preparing to apply for an extension of the state waiver, which expires this year.

Moratorium or not?

Councilor Bruce Tobey sought clarity on whether a moratorium on private sewer extensions is in effect.

"I don't believe there is a moratorium," said Magoon, but he added that "we are not accepting applications" for private sewer extensions.

"Perhaps they are similar," he said.

Tobey wondered whether a moratorium or the like was legal without council assent.

In the absence of City Solicitor Linda Lowe, Tobey demanded a legal opinion on the question.

Yesterday, Lowe said the mayor had decided against her presence and that of other task force members for the briefing.

Public Works Director Joseph Parisi was present, but he had unrelated business with the council.

Tobey asked whether the city has been sued over the decision not to accept applications for private sewers. Magoon said yes.

Yesterday, Tobey told the Times he believed there were at least three suits against the city for refusing to allow private groups to construct extensions to public lines.

In addition, a group of West Gloucester citizens led by Glen Bresnahan has sued the city over its decision last year to merge the costs of the two parts of the new West Gloucester sewer line -- the homes along western Essex Avenue and those around the Little River -- and distribute a "blended" betterment charge of just more than $10,000 per connection.

Bresnahan yesterday said he was appalled about sewer policy made "behind closed doors" and predicted more litigation from West Gloucester residents should spurs be built without the 25 percent subsidy. The council and mayor each can propose policy.

What's next?

Tobey, the mayor during much of the 1990s when the STEP system was installed in the northern villages and when the Essex and Little River extensions were organized, said he was disappointed that Bell and Magoon did not clearly explain the task force's findings or take a position on the recommendations.

He said the policy debate that began Tuesday needed a clear starting point. Magoon proposed a public meeting with the council on May 9, when "department managers and the council could start deeper discussions about how we come to conclusions."

Magoon told the council the task force was charged with writing recommendations "in the absence of any real policy for the future."

A number of councilors questioned the delay in releasing the report and the onset of debate on the policy recommendations in the report -- none more so than Ward 4's Jackie Hardy. The report was not released to the council until after the meeting Tuesday night.

"We're not allowed to see this until after the meeting?" she complained. "Where has it been since last August?"

Sewer Task Force report at a glance

What: An anthology of sewer policy recommendations intended to organize countless ordinances and polices into a coherent program.

Why: City faces decisions on expanding the system in West Gloucester and elsewhere.

Key recommendations: End city betterments' subsidy; bar STEP expansion and new private extensions; extend Essex line up fingers of Annisquam River system; study citywide facilities.

Timeline: Task force organized by Mayor John Bell in October 2004. Report finished August 2005 but under wraps in mayor's office until released Tuesday to City Council under an order written by Bruce Tobey

Next step: May 9 council meeting, when mayor and task force members begin public, detailed discussion