NC0036196_Remission Decision_20181008

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality | Division of Water Resources
512 North Salisbury Street | 1617 Mail Service Center | Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1617 919.707.9000

October 8, 2018 CERTIFIED MAIL 7003 2260 0005 5380 6357
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED James Wentz, Public Works Director
City of Newton
P.O. Box 550 Newton, NC 28658

Subject: Request to Remit Civil Penalties - Denied
Decision in Case Number: LV-2018-0185
Clark Creek WWTP NPDES Permit NC0036196 Catawba County

Dear Mr. Wentz:

In accordance with North Carolina General Statute 143-215.6A(f), the North Carolina Division of Water Resources (the Division) has reviewed your request to remit civil penalties in the subject case. We regret to inform you that the
Director has denied your request.
Therefore, your outstanding balance $2,103.29 ($2,000 civil penalty + $103.29 enforcement costs) is due and payable.
Two options are available to you at this stage of the remission process:
1) You may pay this balance.
If you decide to pay the penalty, please make your check payable to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Send the payment, within thirty (30) calendar days of receiving this letter, to the attention of:

Wren Thedford
Division of Water Resources Water Quality Permitting Section - NPDES 1617 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1617

OR

ROY COOPER
Governor MICHAEL S. REGAN Secretary LINDA CULPEPPER Interim Director

Mr. Wentz October 8, 2018 Page 2 of 2

2) You may request the Environmental Management Commission's (EMC’s) Committee on
Civil Penalty Remissions (the Committee) to make the final decision on your remission
request considering your additional oral input, as warranted.
If payment is not received within 30 calendar days from your receipt of this letter, your current request for remission and this letter of denial will be delivered to the Committee on Civil Penalty Remissions for final agency decision.

If you or your representative would like to speak before the Committee, you must complete and return the attached
Request for Oral Presentation Form within thirty (30) calendar days of receiving this letter. Send completed form(s)
to:
Wren Thedford
Division of Water Resources
Water Quality Permitting Section - NPDES 1617 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1617
If you make such a request, the EMC Chairman will review the supporting documents and your request for an oral
presentation. If, in his/her judgment, the Chairman determines that there is compelling reason to require a presentation, you will be notified as to when and where you should appear. If your presentation is not required, the final decision will be based upon the written record.
Please be advised that the EMC’s Committee on Civil Penalty Remissions will make its remission decision based on the original assessment amount. Therefore, the EMC may choose to uphold the original penalty and offer no
remission, they may agree with the DWR Director’s remission recommendation detailed above, or the penalty amount may be further remitted.

If you have any questions about this matter, please contact me at [phone] or via e-mail at [e-mail].

Sincerely,
Derek C. Denard, Environmental Specialist Compliance & Expedited Permitting Unit
Division of Water Resources

Attachments: Director’s Decision; Request for Oral Presentation form
Permittee’s Request for Remission
Waver of Rights to Administrative Hearing and Stipulation of Facts
Permittee’s Justification for Remission Request
cc: Enforcement File w/originals
NPDES Program Files Central Files w/attachments
Mooresville Regional Office w/attachments
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
COMMISSION
COUNTY OF CATAWBA DWR Case Number LV-2018-0185
IN THE MATTER OF ASSESSMENT )
OF CIVIL PENALTIES AGAINST: ) REQUEST FOR ORAL PRESENTATION CITY OF NEWTON )
CLARK CREEK WWTP )
I hereby request to make an oral presentation before the Environmental Management Commission’s Committee On Civil Penalty
Remissions in the matter of the case noted above. In making this request, I assert that I understand all of the following statements:
• This request will be reviewed by the Chairman of the Environmental Management Commission and may be either granted or
denied.
• Making a presentation will require the presence of myself and/or my representative during a Committee meeting held in Raleigh, North Carolina.

• My presentation will be limited to discussion of issues and information submitted in my original remission request, and because no factual issues are in dispute, my presentation will be limited to five (5) minutes in length.
The North Carolina State Bar’s Authorized Practice of Law Committee has ruled that the appearance in a representative capacity at
quasi-judicial hearings or proceedings is limited to lawyers who are active members of the bar. Proceedings before the Committee on Remissions are quasi-judicial. You should consider how you intend to present your case to the Committee in light of the State Bar’s
opinion and whether anyone will be speaking in a representative capacity for you or a business or governmental entity. If you or your representative would like to speak before the Committee, you must complete and return this form within thirty (30) days of receipt of
this letter.
Depending on your status as an individual, corporation, partnership or municipality, the State Bar’s Opinion affects how you may proceed with your oral presentation. See www.ncbar.com/ethics, Authorized Practice Advisory Opinion 2006-1 and 2007 Formal
Ethics Opinion 3.
• If you are an individual or business owner and are granted an opportunity to make an oral presentation before the Committee,
then you do not need legal representation before the Committee; however, if you intend on having another individual speak
on your behalf regarding the factual situations, such as an expert, engineer or consultant, then you must also be present at the meeting in order to avoid violating the State Bar’s Opinion on the unauthorized practice of law.
• If you are a corporation, partnership or municipality and are granted an opportunity to make an oral presentation before the Committee, then your representative must consider the recent State Bar’s Opinion and could be considered practicing law
without a license if he or she is not a licensed attorney. Presentation of facts by non-lawyers is permissible.
If you choose to request an oral presentation, please make sure that signatures on the previously submitted Remission Request form and this Oral Presentation Request form are: 1) for individuals and business owners, your own signature and 2) for corporations,
partnerships and municipalities, signed by individuals who would not violate the State Bar’s Opinion on the unauthorized practice of law.
Also, be advised that the Committee on Civil Penalty Remissions may choose not to proceed with hearing your case if the Committee
is informed that a potential violation of the statute concerning the authorized practice of law has occurred.
This the day of , 20 .
SIGNATURE
___________________________________________ TITLE (President, Owner, etc.)

ADDRESS

TELEPHONE ( )
A'
oRr'
o CITY OF NEWTON
d i+i ;-jga?= P.O.Box 550 • Newton,N.C.28658 • phone [phone] • fax [phone]
1855 f
RECEIVED/DENR/DSR
August 17, 2018 AUG e 4 2018
Water
W. Corey Basinger, Regional Supervisor pefrtfitt gSrce
Water Quality Regional Operations Section
Mooresville Regional Office
Division of Water Resources, NCDEQ
Subject: Notice of Violation and Assessment of Civil Penalty
For Violations of the North Carolina General Statue (G.S.) 143-215.1(a)(6)
And NPDES WW Permit No. NC0036196
City of Newton
Clark Creek WWTP
Case NO. LV-2018-0185
Catawba County
Dear Mr. Bassinger
This letter is to ask for a written request of remission for the Notice of Violation and civil penalty of$2,103.29
against the City of Newton.
On the night of February 7, 2018, which would have been our sample for February 8, 2018, our operators had a
secondary blow out. We had been experiencing rain for the past several days that week causing our solids to be
up. We also received a down pour the night of February 7, 2018 that contributed to the secondary blowing out.
We were already wasting to help get the levels down from previous rains early in the week. When the operators
noticed the issue, they immediately started taking corrective actions by opening one of the aeration basins that
we use as an EQ basin. They also opened the recycle to this basin to help as well. With the flow being up at the
time, this caused the sampler to get more samples of the effluent with the solids in it. They got the blow out
under control,but still had solids into the filters and effluent.
As the operators were diverting flows they noticed filters were also having issues as they were dirty from all of
the rain the night of and the days prior. At his point the operators started back washing them more often. Since
the high effluent solid number was just one day it was traced to the extra rain water.
After working with the filters and getting the secondary solids level back down, we notice that the heavy rains
during that week caused filter media to be less than engineered. Within a week we had several companies come
in and give us quotes to replace the media and clean the filter. The week of September 4, 2018. Kemp
Construction will be coming in take each filter off line and rehab it with new gravel, sand and anthracite. They
will also rebuild all of the sweeps in the filters. This was approved by the City Council at a cost of$69,600.00.
This will help make the actual final filter processing more efficient.
2 P CITY OF NEWTON
ti31,_+:a.t P.O.Box 550 • Newlon,N.C.28658 • phone [phone] • fax [phone]
The City of Newton takes very seriously the protection of our citizens and the environment as you see with the
action take that was just described above. We are asking you to consider reducing or eliminating the fines for
the NOV's of us exceeding our Weekly and Monthly average. If the February 8, 2018 sample had not been out,
which put us out for the week and month; we wouldn't have received both fines. Again if you look at historical
data this was an anomaly for us as it hasn't happened before or after.
Since ,
Eric Jones
City of Ne. on
Clark Cree WWTP—Superintendent
f
JUSTIFICATION FOR REMISSION REQUEST
Case Number: LV-2018-0185 County: Catawba
Assessed Party: City of Newton
Permit No.: NC0036196 Amount Assessed: $2,103.29
Please use this form when requesting remission of this civil penalty. You must also complete the "Request For Remission,
Waiver of Right to an Administrative Hearing, and Stipulation ofFacts"form to request remission of this civil penalty.
You should attach any documents that you believe support your request and are necessary for the Director to consider in
evaluating your request for remission. Please be aware that a request for remission is limited to consideration of the five
factors listed below as they may relate to the reasonableness of the amount of the civil penalty assessed. Requesting
remission is not the proper procedure for contesting whether the violation(s)occurred or the accuracy ofany of the factual
statements contained in the civil penalty assessment document. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 143B-282.1(c),remission of a civil
penalty may be granted only when one or more of the following five factors apply. Please check each factor that you
believe applies to your case and provide a detailed explanation, including copies of supporting documents, as to why the
factor applies(attach additional pages as needed).
a) one or more of the civil penalty assessment factors in N.C.G.S. 143B-282.1(b)were wrongfully applied to the
detriment of the petitioner (the assessment factors are listed in the civil penalty assessment document);
V (b) the violator promptly abated continuing environmental damage resulting from the violation(i.e., explain the
steps thatyou took to correct the violation and preventfuture occurrences);
c) the violation was inadvertent or a result of an accident(i.e., explain why the violation was unavoidable or
something you could not prevent orpreparefor);
d) the violator had not been assessed civil penalties for any previous violations;
e) payment of the civil penalty will prevent payment for the remaining necessary remedial actions (i.e., explain
how payment of the civil penalty will prevent you from performing the activities necessary to achieve
compliance).
EXPLANATION:
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
COUNTY OF CATAWBA
IN THE MATTER OF ASSESSMENT WAIVER OF RIGHT TO AN
OF CIVIL PENALTIES AGAINST ADNIINISTRATIVE HEARING AND
STIPULATION OF FACTS
City of Newton
Clark Creek WWTP
PERMIT NO.NC0036196 CASE NO. LV-2018-0185
Having been assessed civil penalties totaling$2,103.29 for violation(s)as set forth in the assessment document of the
Division of Water Resources dated August 03,2018,the undersigned, desiring to seek remission of the civil penalty,does
hereby waive the right to an administrative hearing in the above-stated matter and does stipulate that the facts are as
alleged in the assessment document. The undersigned further understands that all evidence presented in support of
remission of this civil penalty must be submitted to the Director of the Division of Water Resources within thirty(30)days
of receipt of the notice of assessment. No new evidence in support of a remission request will be allowed after(30) days
from the receipt ofthe notice of assessment.
a
This the 2014 day of Q(.4,,y..3 f 20 0--
SIGNATURE
ADDRESS
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Peo÷va, A)c. A t(A.sY
TELEPHONE
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