By Jack Chavez, Staff Writer

FILE PHOTO
The Ocean Pines Association is closely watching how Worcester County handles the fiasco at the Ocean Pines Wastewater Treatment Plant in which an employee neglected to remove a rake head from floating debris, clogging a pipe and subsequently costing the county $540,000 in state fees for nitrogen release limit breaches. The County Commissioners voted 5-2 last month to pay the fees using an intergovernmental grant.

(Oct. 6, 2022) The Ocean Pines Board of Directors last Saturday grappled with the fallout from a misplaced rake head at the Ocean Pines Wastewater Treatment Plant that caused the county hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Earlier this year, a county employee at the plant neglected to report that the head of a rake had broken off in the process of clearing floating debris. The rake head clogged a pipe, causing the plant to miss the state of Maryland’s discharge permit limits for the release of nitrogen.

In turn, roughly $540,000 in fees racked up against Worcester County before the problem was discovered and resolved.

Last month, the Worcester County Commissioners approved a $540,000 intergovernmental grant for the Public Works Department to pay fees levied against the county by the state because of the issue. The money had been earmarked for Ocean Pines to pay fees to the state.

Commissioners Chip Bertino and Jim Bunting, who represent Ocean Pines, were the only opponents in the 5-2 decision. They argued that the money should come from the county’s general fund.

“Since March, meetings and discussions have been taking place at the county level to see OPA compensated for processing of trucking in sewage,” Director Monica Rakowski said. “More details will be available in the coming months but at this point, no further discussion is warranted until we get that additional information.”

Director Colette Horn asked how the deficit would be paid for, and Rakowski responded that, at the least, there won’t be any quarterly rate increase for homeowners.

General Manager John Viola said that, to his understanding, the county has a plan on how to cover the cost.

“I’d prefer that the commissioners … did say it wouldn’t be a part of a rate increase, which Monica heard. I believe what I heard … is about charging for the work (the Ocean Pines plant) is doing for Glen Riddle,” Viola said, adding he needs to confirm the last detail.”

“They did mention some ideas. One was the waste that they’ve caught over from Glen Riddle, that would replace it, by billing for that.”

Seeking clarification, Director Steve Jacobs asked how they knew all this if the meetings were strictly at the county level. Viola responded that he, Rakowski, and a couple of staff members tuned in remotely from the General Manager’s office.

“In the future, if you’re going to have these sorts of meetings, I’d like to know,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs added that everyone must understand that the board has nothing to do with the operation of the wastewater plant.

“If something happens like losing a rake inside a piece of operating equipment and it causes something to go south, whether we like it or not up here or as ratepayers, we can do nothing about it,” he said. “Our commissioners (Bertino and Bunting) did exactly what, in my opinion, as a voter, they should have done. They went to bat for us and said look, nobody in Ocean Pines caused this problem and they shouldn’t (be held responsible.) The other commissioners said that ‘Yes but outside of Ocean Pines nobody in the county should pay for it.’

“I think it’s important to understand that this is one deal that it’s kind of like, what goes on in Snow Hill stays down there. It’s out of our lane. … I don’t want anyone leaving thinking the board is thinking of telling the commissioners to do anything because that ends up in a canyon with a rockslide falling on us.”