Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Utility chief faces scrutiny

A contractor files a complaint accusing the head of county utilities of violations that resulted in fines.

By DAVID DeCAMP
Published October 4, 2006

A contractor has lodged a complaint with Florida's engineer licensing board against Pasco County's top utility administrator because of environmental violations.

If it's valid, Bruce Kennedy, the assistant county administrator for utilities, could be reprimanded or even stripped of his engineering license.

Bill Edgar, who owns FUSE Inc. contracting and a utility employee training company in Brooksville, has asked the Florida Board of Professional Engineers to investigate Kennedy.

At issue is Kennedy's role in county utility problems that will cost to up to $1.8-million in fines by the state Department of Environmental Protection unless the county completes improvements. Those violations included using a secret pipe to send stormwater and partially treated wastewater to a tributary of a major drinking water source, the Hillsborough River; expanding a wastewater plant without a permit; and improperly discharging treated wastewater.

"The decisions and actions taken by Bruce Kennedy to fraudulently and deceptively mislead the taxpayers of Pasco County demonstrate his dereliction in the practice of engineering," Edgar wrote in his complaint, dated Sept. 22.

In previous interviews, Kennedy has said he did not authorize the use of the secret pipe, although DEP notes indicated he did. He also said heavy rainfall triggered wastewater spills, and growth demands meant Pasco could not wait for the DEP permit to expand the Wesley Chapel wastewater plant.

Kennedy is out of the office for family reasons this week and unavailable for comment, utilities business and special services director Robert Sigmond said. Kennedy did not return a message left at his home.

"I've never heard of that - the guy's too straight," Sigmond said, referring to the complaint.

County Administrator John Gallagher said Tuesday he gave Kennedy an average rating in a performance review finished a few days ago. While Gallagher noted Kennedy is hard-working, he said Kennedy needs to keep a handle on compliance with the state order for utility improvements.

As for the investigation into Kennedy's license, Gallagher said, "Anybody can file a complaint."

Gallagher said some of the utility problems occurred before Kennedy - appointed in January 2005 - was in charge. But as for who approved using the secret pipe, Gallagher said, "You know something, that's something I'd like to know, too."

A copy of Kennedy's most recent review was unavailable Tuesday, county officials said. In Kennedy's last review, when he was utilities director in November 2003, he won the highest rating of "exceeds standards" for "leadership above and beyond what is expected."

Asked why Kennedy got such a high rating one time and an average one the next, Gallagher said, "If they tell me a pretty good story when I talk to them, I believe it."

The licensing board does not acknowledge a complaint unless it finds enough merit to investigate it, officials said, and the Kennedy complaint has not reached that stage. Edgar said he has not heard from the state regarding his complaint, which he provided to the Times.

Edgar said he filed the complaint because the DEP oversees utility operators but not engineers.

Melvin Anderson, the chairman of Florida Engineers Management Corp., which oversees discipline investigations for the licensing board, said he was not aware of the case.

Anderson, a professor emeritus in engineering at the University of South Florida, said the circumstances of the Kennedy complaint are not unusual.

Investigators try to conclude reviews within 90 days, although sometimes they go longer, he said.

Edgar and county officials have squared off before. Edgar's company was hired to study how to turn leachate, which is tainted water collected at a landfill, into bleach for sewage treatment. While his studies found Pasco would save money, county officials never acted on the proposal, saying they were uncertain it would work.

Edgar said his complaint isn't a grudge against Pasco. Gallagher said he barely knows Edgar, so he couldn't speak to his reasons for filing the complaint.

[Last modified October 3, 2006, 22:35:22]