Back in March, the City of Youngstown had asked a federal judge for the modification of a decades-old agreement to reduce sewage flows citing rising costs as well as changes in circumstances and cheaper alternative routes that were not available when the agreement began.

Now, the United States has filed a motion opposing that modification, but the city is firing back slamming the city for allegedly painting the city in a bad light and "mischaracteriz[ing] facts."

The city is seeking a modification to an agreement reached in 2002 to spend $100 million over the next 20 years to develop and implement a long-term sewage discharge plan.

Since the agreement, however, the cost of one of the projects, referred to as the "Wet Weather Facility" (WWF) Project has "skyrocketed" from $62 million to $240 million according to court documents from the city. 

In a response to the filing from the feds, the city claimed that the United States is has not presented any evidence to dispute the drastic increase in the WWF project, but instead ignores the overall structure of the proposed modification and seeks to obtain "unreasonable monetary penalties" from the city.

In its response, the city addressed several allegations made against them in the feds' filing regarding the timing of the approval of the city's Long Term Control Plan (LTCP), the balance of its sewer fund and a fish kill in Mill Creek Park.

"While none of these allegations are relevant to the substance of Youngstown’s Motion, it is obvious that the United States is attempting to paint Youngstown in a bad light before the Court," the document reads.

In particular, the city states that the allegation regarding the Mill Creek fish kill is based off of news reports from an isolated incident in 2015 and an initial incident report from the EPA.

"However, readily available data from an investigation of the incident demonstrates that it is highly unlikely that Youngstown’s [combined sewer overflows] were the cause of the fish kill. ... This is further supported by the fact that there were no other fish kills reported prior to, or subsequent to, the lone 2015," the document reads.

In regards to the allegations regarding the sewer fund balance, the city states that the feds' filing makes it appear as if the city does not have the cash on hand to pay for the WWF project.

However, the city states that it is required to maintain a minimum balance equivalent of two months of operation and maintenance expenses, which equates to about $4 million.

The remaining balance is dedicated to paying for debt service of completed projects and to pay for the engineering fees for the Mill Creek Sewer Project.

In other words, the current balance will be depleted by those expenditures meaning the WWF project is not cost effective in its current state.

In its original filing, the city had highlighted more cost-effective measures to get the project done that were not available during the initial stages of the project.

Additionally, the city proposed a modified schedule for its LCTP and the Mill Creek Sewer Project in its original filing, which the feds' filing described as a “delayed phantom schedule for proposing one of several possible unbaked replacement projects.” 

The city fired back stating that the feds ignored the detailed schedule provided in the original filing, which gave specific enforceable modified deadlines for the project.

You can read more about the initial modification request from the city in our related coverage below.

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