TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Dade City well vote raises questions

ADVERTISEMENT

By LAURA KINSLER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 20, 2009

DADE CITY - When City Commissioner Camille Hernandez made a motion last week to repeal the city's ban on private irrigation wells, she said it was about conservation and property rights.

It was wasteful to force homeowners to use city's potable drinking water to sprinkle their lawns if they could afford to drill a well, she argued. She was convincing, winning a 3-2 majority vote to repeal a decades-old ordinance.

Hernandez left out one relevant detail: that she has been accused of having a well that is in violation on her Bougainvillea Avenue property.

City Manager Billy Poe and Engineer Lennie Naeyaert are investigating the allegation, which came to light after the vote. The former city manager and utility director apparently were aware of the possible code violation but neglected to deal with the situation.

"I told staff they need to look into this," Commissioner Curtis Beebe said. "This was all pre-Billy and pre-Lennie, so they were not aware of the issue. I would like to think that personal issues are not affecting policy decision."

Poe said he had heard rumors about an illegal well on the Hernandez property. "But I'd never seen anything in black and white until last week."

Officials in the water department turned up a letter from former City Manager Harold Sample, who retired on July 1, 2007, written on his last day in office. The letter, addressed to the commissioner's husband, David, indicates that Sample had been aware of the well for six months.

"This is to confirm and document a conversation we had a few weeks ago concerning a non-City water source on your property," Sample wrote.

The Hernandezes had a separate irrigation meter for their sprinkler system but had the meter shut off in November 2005. The city became aware of the well after the couple asked the water department to move the meters as part of a landscaping project on their 1.8-acre property.

"We're researching whether it's an illegal well," Poe said. "It depends on whose side you listen to. One side says it was dug in 2005. The other says it was an existing well that was on the property before it was ever subdivided, back when it was still agricultural."

Camille Hernandez did not return phone calls for this article. Poe said that neither she nor her husband ever provided documentation to the city to prove the well existed prior to 2005. The couple had an irrigation meter at least as far back as 2001 – when the city began computerized water billing.

"I don't understand why you would have an irrigation meter if you had an active well," City Attorney Karla Owens said.

Though city code prohibits private wells, there is no criminal penalty. "It's a code violation," Owens said. "The property owner would be cited, and we would probably request that a judge order them to cap the well."

The issue has raised questions about whether Hernandez had a conflict of interest that should have prevented her from voting on the ordinance. "That's the question of the day," Owens said. "It's conflict if you stand to gain something financially. If it's a grandfathered well, then it would be a moot point."

It also has raised questions about why Sample allowed a sitting commissioner to violate a city ordinance for months and why there are no records prior to the June 29 letter.

"We had been trying to gather information from Swiftmud (Southwest Florida Water Management District) on that matter," Sample told the Tribune. "We couldn't get a definitive answer, and there were other people who wanted to do the exact same thing. We were researching whether the city should change its position on shallow wells."

In the letter, Sample assured Hernandez that the ordinance would probably come up at City

Commission in the next few months because "the city has had several requests to change this prohibition."

Sample said he wrote the letter on his last day "so there would be some documentation." It was filed away under "Miscellaneous Correspondence," and no one ever followed up on the matter.

One person who has lobbied for the city overturn the well ban was the Hernandez's next-door neighbor, Pasco County Property Appraiser Mike Wells.

"He wants a well, and he brings it up every couple of years," Poe said.

The ban was enacted in 1982 and withstood a court challenge in 1985. Owens said the item was placed on the Oct. 13 agenda because Swiftmud had asked the city to make a few minor revisions to the language to make it consistent with other municipalities in the water district.

But what seemed like a routine vote escalated to a lengthy debate. Instead of updating the ordinance, commissioners voted 3-2 to direct staff to repeal it.

"The ironic thing was, this was all just a semantic exercise by Swiftmud," Owens said. "To me, it was just a housekeeping issue."

Commissioners Steve Van Gorden and Eunice Penix voted with Hernandez to repeal the ordinance.

Penix said she voted to repeal the ordinance to help lower water bills for city residents. She had no knowledge of the Hernandezes' well. "If it's an illegal well, then she has a conflict," Penix said.

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 259-8109.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT