Arnold City Council Considers Sale of Sewer System

The Arnold City Council is considering selling the city’s
 municipal sewer system to a private service provider.

City council members will consider a resolution Thursday to
 issue two requests for proposals (RFPs). The first will alert bidders to the opportunity to submit bids for the purchase of the sewer utility. The second will seek proposals from engineering or accounting firms to provide an estimated value of the sewer utility.

The RFPs are separate but will be included in the same resolution.

Arnold Mayor Ron Counts said the city received an unsolicited inquiry several months ago from Missouri American Water Company about purchasing the utility and has since been reviewing options for the possible sale of the utility.

Counts said the sale of the sewer system would have to be approved by voters.

“The only way that I would even contemplate the idea is this
 needs to go to the voters,” Counts said. “They’ll look at it, and they’ll make a decision whether they want the City of Arnold to take care of their sewer system or if they want a privatization of the sewer system.”

Counts said any sale would have conditions to protect the jobs of the city’s eight sewer employees and would provide a rate ceiling
 and other devices if a sale is authorized.

He said the entire process could take up to a year to complete.

Arnold’s sewer system dates to the 1960s in some areas and needs repairs and upgrades to meet state and federal environmental
 standards, Counts said.

The needed repairs, he said, will cost sewer system customers whether the city does the repairs itself or sells the system to a
 private utility.

Counts said a nearby sewer district could take over management of the Arnold the utility.

“One of the things is good infrastructure, it has to be done,” Counts said. “There are bonds and different things you can do to make things happen, but as time goes on there are different things that are going to have to be addressed, and people are going to have to pay to have them addressed.”

Counts said selling the utility could provide the city with revenue to pay off Pomme Creek Golf Course or pay down the bonds on the city’s
 Recreation Center, thereby freeing money for other projects.

“We’re going to set it out for bid, and we’ll see where it comes out,” he said.