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Report: No one tried to bury sewer study, but St. Petersburg's public works department is dysfunctional

 
Signs posted at St. Petersburg’s North Shore Park in September warned people to stay out of the water due to contamination from sewage released by the city’s sewer system after it was overwhelmed by Hurricane Hermine. On Friday a report found that the city did not bury a 2014 consultants report that explained how closing the Albert Whitted treatment plant could backfire on the city. St. Petersburg closed the plant in 2015, and has since released 200 million gallons of sewage. [LARA CERRI   |   Times]
Signs posted at St. Petersburg’s North Shore Park in September warned people to stay out of the water due to contamination from sewage released by the city’s sewer system after it was overwhelmed by Hurricane Hermine. On Friday a report found that the city did not bury a 2014 consultants report that explained how closing the Albert Whitted treatment plant could backfire on the city. St. Petersburg closed the plant in 2015, and has since released 200 million gallons of sewage. [LARA CERRI | Times]
Published Dec. 10, 2016

ST. PETERSBURG — A city-commissioned report concluded high-ranking sewer officials did not bury a consultant's 2014 report that predicted St. Petersburg's sewage woes if the city shut down the Albert Whitted treatment plant — which is exactly what the city did in 2015, setting the stage for the current crisis.

However, the investigation highlighted dysfunction and discord inside the departments responsible for the city's sewer system, which are managed by Public Works administrator Claude Tankersley.

City employees thought "leadership was lacking," according to the report released Friday, which was prepared by forensic auditor Laura Brock of the accounting firm Kerkering, Barberio & Co.

Water Resources director Steve Leavitt and Engineering Department director Tom Gibson were placed on unpaid leave in late September after Mayor Rick Kriseman said he was troubled by their leadership during the time period in which the city dumped and spilled about 200 million gallons of sewage.

They were suspended after Craven Askew, the Northeast plant's chief operator, raised questions about the 2014 consultant's report. Had city officials heeded that report and kept Albert Whitted open, he said, the city could have avoided its recent mess.

When the city shuttered the Albert Whitted plant last year, it removed 20 percent of the city's sewage capacity. The plant's closure, officials have since conceded, worsened the sewage discharges that resulted since August 2015.

The consultant's report was prepared by the firm Brown and Caldwell — the city employs many consultants to help run its sewage system — and explained that the city's sewers could be overwhelmed during storms without Albert Whitted online. Kriseman and the City Council said they never saw that report until Askew sought whistle-blower protection in September.

In mid October, Brock was selected to find out if the 2014 report was deliberately hidden from city officials. The cost of the report was set at $25,000.

The conclusion in her 10-page report released Friday: It was not. That backed up Leavitt's contention that the consultant's report was widely circulated in Water Resources and Engineering departments. That report was never shared with the mayor or council members.

"It is our belief that there was no intent to hide (the report)," Brock wrote.

But Brock's interviews revealed the rift between management and workers in Public Works.

While upper management thought "things got done, within budget and all was good," the report said, lower management felt their concerns went unaddressed.

"We sensed a disconnect between upper management and lower management in the Public Works Department," the report said. "Several comments were made that indicated staff did not feel their comments and recommendations were being heard or considered."

Instead, city employees said management had already made up its mind on matters, declaring it was "my way or the highway." The report added: "Others thought that the leadership was lacking and often times they had to make decisions on their own in order to move things along."

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The report said the recordkeeping system in the Engineering Department doesn't work, either.

Tankersley joined the city in February, in the middle of the sewage crisis. His plan to hire a state investigator involved in the state investigation of the city's sewage woes to a job in the city sewer department was vetoed by the mayor on Thursday. Kriseman also gave Tankersley a verbal reprimand.

Public Works spokesman Bill Logan said officials are reviewing Brock's conclusions.

"We are looking forward to digesting the report more fully," he said. "We take the report— and its findings — seriously as we work to create a more transparent and approachable Public Works department."

Kriseman has said in the past that the status of Leavitt and Gibson wouldn't be resolved until the report was complete. A busy schedule Friday kept the mayor from reading the report, said spokesman Ben Kirby.

One unanswered question in the report: whether city officials deliberately kept the report's cost below $100,000 to avoid council scrutiny. At the time, city outlays of less than six figures didn't require council approval. The council has since lowered that threshold to $50,000.

City Council chairwoman Amy Foster said she's been trying to hold the myriad wastewater consultants employed by the city to higher standards of transparency.

"I'm disappointed that Brown and Caldwell didn't participate in the investigation," Foster said.

The council will discuss the report Thursday.

Contact Charlie Frago at cfrago@tampabay.com or (727)893-8459.