Dawson City Council members say they knew nothing of environmental violations

DAWSON — The Dawson City Council planned a meeting Wednesday night to discuss a lingering enforcement order from the state Environmental Protection Division in response to 32 effluent violations and seven spills of raw sewage into state waters dating back to July of 2020.

Some members of the council were expected to submit a letter to Mayor Robert Aaron at the meeting that calls for him to apologize to the citizens of Dawson for allowing the environmental issues to persist.

“Documentation in small cities like Dawson is tenuous at best,” Dawson City Attorney Tommy Coleman said Wednesday morning. “What appears to have happened is that a notice of the spills was sent to the mayor’s office. With many governments like Dawson’s, the mayor may hand such a notice off to the city manager, who is expected to follow up.

“I don’t know if that’s what happened in this case, but it appears the notices that were sent to the city by EPD were ignored. EPD apparently got tired of the nonresponse and issued the enforcement order.”

The EPD’s website contains the following information related to the city of Dawson:

Cause of Order: 32 effluent violations and 7 spills of raw sewage into water of the State.

Requirements of Order: Submit spills reporting standard operating procedures, perform short-term maintenance at facility, submit a corrective action plan on upgrading facility and collective system, submit quarterly reports.

Proposed Settlement Amount: $5,016.00

Legal Authority Water Quality Control Act: Publication date for proposed order, 30‑Sep‑2024; date comment period closes, 30‑Oct‑2024.

Coleman said EPD’s original fine was more than $10,000 but he negotiated the $5,016 settlement.

“What the EPD does in a case like this, when there is no response to a consent order is file a lawsuit,” Coleman said. “If we don’t show that we’re doing the things they require of us by the period they set, they could fine us up to $100,000 a day.

“The council members who will present the letter to the mayor at Wednesday’s meeting said they want to make sure the public understands that they didn’t act on this directive because they didn’t know about it.”

Aaron was unavailable for comment, and Coleman noted that former City Manager Tracy Hester is no longer with the city, having been released from his contract three months ago. Current City Manager Morris Williams has been with the city only six months and only recently became aware of the environmental concerns. He said the city does have an initial plan to meet EPD requirements, and that plan calls for work to start as soon as two weeks.

“We’ll deal with it,” Williams said. “This is just something that comes with being a city manager.”

The letter that was to be presented to Aaron Wednesday night reads:

By letter of July 26, 2024, Mayor Robert Aaron received a proposed consent order from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. The consent order referenced numerous notices of violations of the city’s permit to operate a wastewater treatment plant going back over three years. The consent order alleged 32 effluent violations of the law, seven spills of raw sewage into the waters of the state and two noted overflows of raw sewage onto dry lands. There were apparently seven spills at Don Foster Road and two overflows of raw sewage at Pool Road.

The undersigned members of the City Council had no knowledge and were not informed of these violations until informed by the current City Manager.

The city requested a record of communication between EPD and the city. The city received back notices of violation to the city manager and the mayor dating back to July 1 of 2020. Apparently, notices were sent both to the city manager and the mayor. The mayor received the notice of violation on June 30, 2021. That letter reported 18 permit limit violations. This letter notified the city of six spills that occurred at Don Foster Road, which they said were chronic. The council was not informed of these letters.

To the best of our knowledge, the city manager hired Carter & Sloope, an engineering firm, to develop a corrective action plan and begin plans for correcting the effluent violations. The City Council was not informed, nor did they authorize the hiring of Carter & Sloope. Carter & Sloope developed a corrective action plan which was forwarded to EPD but was never forwarded to or approved by the City Council. The mayor received another notice of violation on Oct. 5, 2023. This letter was a Notice of Violation for Continued Effluent Violations from the wastewater treatment plant and chronic raw sewage spills at Don Foster Road. Apparently, the city had taken no action or at least inadequate action, to remedy the violations provided in the June 30, 2021 letter to Mayor Aaron.

Neither the mayor nor the city manager informed the city of the numerous violations over a four-year period. In our judgment, City Manager Tracy Hester and the mayor failed to perform their duty to inform the council of these important violations. Neither did they remedy or take sufficient action to correct the continuing and chronic problems at the city of Dawson wastewater treatment plant. Consequently, members of the council were surprised and angry when confronted with a consent order for violations and spills.

It is the intention of the undersigned council members to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the city. We operate under a city manager system. It requires the mayor and city manager to inform the City Council of all aspects of the operation of the city. If the mayor and the city manager fail to inform the council, the council cannot perform its duty on behalf of the citizens of Dawson.

The city’s response to the various letters from EPD was inadequate at best. It reflected a complete disregard to the city’s responsibilities to operate the wastewater treatment plant in a manner that protects the environment and the health of the citizens of our city. It is clear that the mayor and city manager did not do their duty and jeopardized the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of our city.

The undersigned call upon the mayor to apologize to the citizens of Dawson for his failure to lead our city and keep not only the council, but also the citizens of Dawson, informed. It is impossible for the council to do its duty if the mayor and city manager fail to do theirs.

“The recurring spills just were not addressed, and, as noted, the City Council members were not informed,” Coleman said. “This information became known to us through a whistleblower, and now we are in a position where we must take corrective action.

“As the EPD noted, we could be subject to significant fines if action is not taken within the timeframe they put forward. A comment period on the matter will end Oct. 30, and the clock starts after that. Some of the corrections are expected to be finished within 30 days, others 60 days.”

Terrell County Commission Chairman T. Gamble said that he too was not aware of the city’s environmental issues, but that he was aware of an issue involving land that was to be deeded to the county. The land, which housed the Yale Rubber Co. that Gamble said at one time employed between 800 and 1,000 people, was presented to the county by its current owner, Dawson Manufacturing Co., a Michigan company. 

But the land has been listed among the state’s Hazardous Site Inventory, so Gamble told his fellow commissioners the county should not take on the property until the environmental issues — which include hazardous waste on the site and contaminated drinking water — are resolved.

“That land could be beneficial for the county, but we do not want to deal with hazardous waste,” Gamble said. “We don’t want to end up having an ‘Albany radiator plant,” a ‘gift’ accepted by city officials that ended up costing them millions of dollars in a hazardous material clean-up.”

Special PhotoFile Photo: Tom Seegmueller