Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutWQCS00177_Remission Request_20190208 sivr -I yJ ,r1-$1=i - es _f • NORTH CAROLINA Environmental Quality ROY COOPER Go•wutor MICHAEL S.REGAN Secretary LINDA CULPEPPER hi terfrn Director February 8, 2019 CERTIFIED MAIL#7016 2140 0000 4371 0547 RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Dennis Barber, Mayor Town of Newport PO Box 1869 Newport,NC 28570 SUBJECT: CIVIL PENALTY REMISSION REQUEST Town of Newport Permit WQCS00177 Case PC-2018-0028 Carteret County Dear Mr. Barber: The Division has considered the information submitted in support of your request for remission in the subject cases. In accordance with NCGS 143-215.6A(f), the Division has found no cause to remit the original civil penalty assessment of$3,137.75. If you choose to pay the penalty, send payment to the letterhead address within thirty(30) days of receipt of this letter. Please make the check payable to NC DEQ. If payment is not received within thirty(30) days of receipt of this letter, in accordance with NCGS § 143-215.6A(f), your request for remission of the civil penalty(with supporting documents) and my recommendation to deny the request will be delivered to the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission's (EMC) Committee On Civil Penalty Remissions (Committee) for final agency decision. North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality I Division of Water Resources 512 North Salisbury Street 11617 Mail Service Center I Raleigh,North Carolina 27699-1617 919.707.9000 WQCS00177 Remission Decision Page 2 of 3 If you desire to make an oral presentation to the Committee on why your request for remission meets one or more of the five statutory factors you were asked to address, you must complete and return the attached form within thirty(30) days of receipt of this letter. Please mail the completed form to: Ms. Deborah Gore NC DEQ/DWR/NPDES 1617 Mail Service Center Raleigh,NC 27699-1617 Your request for an oral presentation and the documents in this matter will be reviewed by the EMC Chairman and, if it is determined that there is a compelling reason to require an oral presentation from you, you will be notified by certified mail of the date, time, and place that your oral presentation can be made. Otherwise, the final decision on your request for remission will be made by the Committee based on the written record. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. If you have any questions about this letter, please contact Deborah Gore at(919) 707-3624 or deborah.gore@ncdenr.gov. Sincerely, &s,.... .)-e3A..-k --,&-k--Q---- -t.Linda Culpepper Interim Director, Division of Water Resources cc: Enforcement File Wilmington Regional Office Central Files WQCS00177 Remission Decision Page 3 of 3 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION COUNTY OF McDowell DWQ Case Number PC-2018-0028 IN THE MATTER OF ASSESSMENT OF ) CIVIL PENALTIES AGAINST: ) REQUEST FOR ORAL PRESENTATION Town of Newport ) 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 violation of the State Bar occurs. This the day of , 20 . SIGNATURE TITLE(President, Owner, etc.) ADDRESS TELEPHONE ( ) DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES CIVIL PENALTY REMISSION FACTORS Case Number: PC-2018-0028 Region: Wilmington County: Carteret Assessed Entity: Newport Collection System Permit: WQCS00177 ❑ (a) Whether one or more of the civil penalty assessment factors were wrongly applied to the detriment of the petitioner: Permittee States: DWR Response: • 0 (b) Whether the violator promptly abated continuing environmental damage resulting from the violation: Permittee States: DWR Response: 54 (c) Whether the violation was inadvertent or a result of an accident: Permittee States: Relocating from on administrative building to another caused paperwork to become disorganized. Prior inspection reports show that the Town had previously been in compliance with permit recordkeeping. With regards to failure to clean 10%of collection system; at last inspection we were compliant. During 2017 and 2018 the sewer jetter was inoperable and the Town spent$21,452 for repairs. Staff is making a substantial effort to meet maintenance schedule by doing over 4,000 feet per month. The Town does have a map of the collection system but it does not have all of the required elements. There was a compliant map on the Town's GIS system but the server became corrupted and the data was lost. The Town has purchased GIS location equipment and mapping software. The Town stated in their February 2018 collection system permit renewal application that they would be working on an updated map. DWR Response: The Permittee responded to the Notice of Violation without the benefit of having the inspection report that they either never received or it became separated after delivery. Our office provided it to them via email&Laserfiche link after receiving their response that indicated they had no detail on the violations and were asked twice if they wished to amend their response in any way, but they declined. The assessment was based on the lack of complete records or detail, lack of a complete system map, and failure to meet the required 10%annual gravity sewer line cleaning. 2/3 of the assessment was for failure to clean the system. New treatment facility went online in June 2015,therefore,by the time of the inspection in 2018, there was plenty of time for record organization. Records should always be available and kept together in an organized manner. Permittee provided some records via email after the inspection. Based on the permitted system in the 2012 permit the cleaning requirement was just over 10K feet and they met the goal in FY 2015-16 using a contractor,but only cleaned about 4300 ft in FY 2016-17 and had cleaned about 1865 ft at the time of inspection which was about a month before the FY ended. The current permit renewed in 3- 2018 could require as much as nearly 14K feet. Their remission request now states they keep cleaning records by calendar year which is contrary to what was indicated during the inspection. They indicated that both staffing issues and sewer jet equipment failure prevented them from reaching the goal and provided invoices for repair of the jetter,however the Permittee did not provide any information demonstrating that they were making efforts to perform cleaning activities between equipment breakdowns. Repairs are a normal O&M issue and they need a back-up plan; this is why the regional office was being more lenient in the goal allowing an average of 10%over a current 3- year span which they didn't meet either. Their response indicated they were now cleaning over 4K feet/month,but did not indicate when they started cleaning over 4,000 feet per month nor provided any records to that effect. They did indicate that they had lost all their electronic files and maps when they lost their computer system at some point,but it appeared it was all installed on a typical computer workstation and obviously had not been backing up the data. They should have had some older prints of the system map even if not completely up-to-date and admitted that they never had the map fully complete& with all the required elements. The Permittee did not provide any information on the progress of updating the map since the February 2018 permit renewal application. ❑ (d) Whether the violator had been assessed civil penalties for any previous violations: Permittee States: DWR Response: ❑ (e) Whether payment of the civil penalty will prevent payment for the remaining necessary remedial actions: Permittee States: • DWR Response: WiRO does not recommend remission. DECISION(Check One) Request Denied IA Full Remission ❑ Retain Enforcement Costs? Yes 0 No❑ Partial Remission 0 $ (Enter Amount) 2/7// ? Linda Culpepper Date fr Summary of Penalty Assessment VIOLATION VIOLATION PENALTY DATE AREA TYPE VIOLATION DESCRIPTION AMOUNT 6/27/2018 Records Violation detected during Overall recordkeeping/documentation $500.00 inspection needs improvement or kept in any manner. Should have records for any of the questions in this report or the SSO reporting form that are applicable. 6/27/2018 Operation&Maintenance Violation detected during The Town has failed to meet its required $2,000.00 Requirements inspection 10%gravity system cleaning for the last 2 years by a considerable amount. 6/27/2018 Records Violation detected during The Town still doesn't have a complete $500.00 . inspection map of its system and is 3 years past its 10-year grace period.