Jazz, Jabs Mark Sewage Plant Dedication : Oxnard: Expansion of the city’s waste-water treatment facility is completed. Officials gathered for festivities trade pointed political remarks.

Oxnard officials dedicated the expansion of the Wastewater Treatment Plant on Friday with jazz, a barbecue and political jabs.

The dedication culminated a seven-year, $59.3-million project largely financed by a $55-million city bond issue. But it is unclear how the bonds will be repaid.

The plant’s capacity was expanded from 22.6 million gallons per day to 31.7 million gallons per day.

The plant now can serve 313,000 residents--enough to accommodate Oxnard’s planned growth until 2020. The plant serves Oxnard, Port Hueneme, the Point Mugu Naval Air Station and the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme.

The project also upgraded existing facilities, including replacement of worn pipes and pumps.

About 100 public officials and plant employees attended the dedication at the facility at 6001 S. Perkins Road. They celebrated with a band playing soft jazz, a catered barbecue lunch and speeches by contractors, construction company representatives and Public Works Agency officials congratulating each other for a job well done.

The politicians who attended, on the other hand, appeared more interested in campaigning for the November elections.

Councilwoman Dorothy Maron, who has campaigned as a maverick slow-growth candidate in a pro-growth city, fired the opening salvo. “If you want growth, this is the way go,” she said with a wry smile. Maron is up for reelection.

Mayor Nao Takasugi stepped up to the microphone and cheerfully replied: “Yes, the new growth is coming and there’s nothing like being prepared for it.”

Takasugi, whose campaigns are heavily financed by developers, is considering a run for Supervisor John K. Flynn’s seat on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Then it was Flynn’s turn. He commended the City Council for its role in the expansion and “especially the mayor, whom I hope continues to lead this city in this exemplary way.”

The inside jokes drew laughter and cheers from the city officials and state representatives near the podium, but got a quieter response from workers.

“They hate each other,” said a plant worker, nodding toward the podium.

“They can hardly sit in the same room,” agreed another. “That’s why we always get the shaft.”

After the ceremony, the plant’s acting supervisor, Robert Montgomery, took visitors on a tour of new sludge tanks and water pools. Along the way, he explained that waste water is not treated with a bombardment of chemicals.

“We just let nature run its course,” he said. The sewage sits in tanks until scum rises to the top and the solids drop to the bottom. Then the materials are removed with brushes.

“It’s like skimming foam off a beer,” Montgomery explained.

Microorganisms take care of the rest. The water is then treated with chlorine and discharged into the ocean, Montgomery said.

The solid waste is compacted, mixed with wood chips and taken to landfills, where it is used to cover trash.

The process gives off methane gas, which is used to generate enough electricity to cover 60% of the plant’s needs. The plant also uses treated water for landscaping, Montgomery said.

Left unresolved is the question of who will pay off the bonds for the expansion. About one-tenth of the cost will come from an increase in residential sewage fees, which went up from $15.02 to $17.04 in July. Port Hueneme and the military bases will pay their share of the upgrade costs.

But 83% of the cost must come from fees charged for future development, city officials said.

To raise the money, the city in June proposed a 30.8% increase in developers’ sewage fees. But developers complained bitterly that the fees were too high.

A compromise was struck and on Oct. 8 the Oxnard City Council approved an 8.6% increase--far short of what is needed to cover the costs of the expansion.

Under the new fee structure, the developer of a single-family home, for example, would have to pay $1,744 for a sewage connection, up from $1,502, said city Management Analyst David Bailey.

Bailey said under the compromise the remaining funds would come from the future annexation of the El Rio and Nyeland Acres neighborhoods just north of the city.

However, just when or if Oxnard will annex these working class communities remains unclear. “I have no idea when the annexations could take place,” Bailey said. “We just don’t know.”