The installation of big \u2013 and without question ugly \u2013 generators at two shallow-well injection pumps for stormwater management has some\u00a0 residents questioning the motive.<\/p>\n
A council member \u2013 and a former one \u2013 accuse Village Manager Steve Williamson of trying to dissuade the public from an alternative to the Big Dig infrastructure plan. The generators have been the talk on social media channels dedicated to the island for the last week.<\/p>\n
The alternative plan by GIT Consulting envisions a number of shallow injection wells to deal with heavy rainfall flooding rather than replacing the entire whole system and digging up Key Biscayne\u2019s roads.<\/p>\n
The generators are located halfway down Heather Lane and at the end of Ocean Lane Drive. Both are funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.<\/p>\n
Williamson and his public works director \u2013 Christopher Miranda \u2013 say these generators have been in the works for two years and have nothing to do with the GIT proposal by engineer Giorgio Tachiev. The timing, though, has drawn suspicions and accusations since the GIT concept was presented to Council on Jan. 8. A full plan is months away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGiorgio is going to propose probably eight underground, what we call shallow injection wells,\u201d London told the Independent. \u201cThey all have electric pumps. So if he (Williamson) is going to say, well, \u2018You know what? Now we need generator stations, each one.\u2019 This is just one more way for management to try and kill another program.\u201d<\/p>\n
London said occurrences where the shallow injection wells would be without power due to an electrical outage during a severe flooding event is so rare it does not justify the generators. He voted against them in early 2024, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf\u00a0 you had a standby generator, and you\u2019re doing heart surgery, that\u2019s pretty important,\u201d London said. \u201cIf you\u2019re taking this chance on the storm sewer pump working, the worst thing you\u2019re going to have is a little inconvenience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Council Member Luis de la Cruz also lambasted the administration for the generators at the Council meeting on Tuesday, saying grant or not grant, it\u2019s still wasted taxpayer money. He called the generator on Ocean Lane \u201ca horrendous structure that has absolutely no logical reason to be built.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He said he feared \u2013 like London \u2013 that the administration would put a generator at every shallow injection well for the GIT concept.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s absurd. Absurd. You can\u2019t do that. Please don\u2019t do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After the meeting, de la Cruz said he agreed with London that the administration is setting the precedent to say, \u201cWell, we can do GIT, but we have to put a generator. Bullshit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williamson asserted that FEMA requires the backup generator. Shallow injection wells slated for the Garden District, also funded by FEMA, will also require generators, he said.<\/p>\n
The manager has proposed the Resilient Adaptation and Infrastructure Program \u2013 better known locally as the Big Dig \u2013 that would replace all stormwater pipes, build pump stations, a water treatment component and new outfalls. The price though for Zone 1 around the elementary school more than doubled last year and the Council is now entertaining the GIT concept in hopes of saving money.<\/p>\n
Williamson did agree with a London proposal made at the Council meeting, that a risk assessment could be done to determine if a generator is needed for a GIT injection well.<\/p>\n
Council Member Francisco Vazquez also wondered if the generators would increase the price of a shallow-injection well system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just adding too many contingencies, too many costly contingencies to handle the situation that would technically in the context of a major storm event, would not be at the highest priority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Williamson has had his way with this Council save for London. It has very much been the Council of yes and no one has been a bigger champion of Williamson than Mayor Joe Rasco. He did not appreciate de la Cruz\u2019s comments, apparently, during public comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need people to not shoot from the hip all the time,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of a sudden, everything is corruption and there\u2019s problems. No, these are these things that have some institutional memory to public works directors ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then did a public service announcement, saying residents should reach out to the administration if they have questions. \u201cThey\u2019re very open. They will take your phone call. All your Council people will take your phone calls so that you get answers and not speculate why the manager is in love with generators.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council Member Nancy Stoner suggested that the public needs to know what type of landscaping is planned for the generator site at Ocean Lane Drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we could publish some kind of rendering of what it might look like, it might calm people down,\u201d Stoner said.<\/p>\n
Miranda, though, said it would be faster to install the landscaping than to produce a rendering.<\/p>\n
And the Council again approved a work order \u2013 this one for $308,000 \u2013 for engineering firm Black & Veatch to oversee the Big Dig project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Again, London was the only no vote for the first work order to come in front of the Council since the GIT proposal was presented.<\/p>\n
London said more than $2 million of taxpayer dollars have been allocated to the engineering firm. He has suggested that with that kind of money the Village should hire its own project manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s throwing good money after bad for a system you\u2019re not going to use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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