Why Is Montgomery, Watson, Harza Even Close to Getting a Third Chance to Fail in Los Osos?

This is kind of fun...

Warren Jensen, from the SLO County Counsel's office, is in the process of putting together a report that deals with former Los Osos CSD Director, Lisa Schicker's complaints about how the engineering firm, Montgomery, Watson, Harza has made the short lists as a contractor to build both the collection system and the treatment facility for the Los Osos wastewater project proposed by county officials.

And, while I was noticing how Schicker's approach to the subject involved several very interesting legal matters surrounding MWH's... um... checkered past in Los Osos, like back-dated contracts, etc., I also noticed how it wasn't really touching on what I thought was even a better argument -- MWH's competency, or, more accurately, incompetency as an engineering firm.

So, the day before she spoke at the Supes meeting for last month's "Los Osos Update," I sent Schicker an e-mail that read, in part, "For me, at least, a HUGE strike against MWH is that they developed the Tri-W embarrassment."

And in that e-mail, I included, what I think is one of the best quotes in the entire community survey that county offcials recently conducted to get a feel for Los Ososans' views on the wastewater project:

"Only (9-percent) of (Prohibition Zone) respondents chose the mid-town (Tri-W) location..."
-- Los Osos Wastewater Project Community Advisory Survey, March 27, 2009

Then, I coupled that amazing quote, with another amazing quote (that I originally dug out of the Tri-W Facilities Report when I was researching one of my New Times cover stories, Three Blocks Upwind of Downtown):

"The size and location of the other sites did not provide an opportunity to create a community amenity. The sites on the outskirts of town could not deliver a community use area that was readily accessible to the majority of residents..."

In other words, according to the recent community survey, MWH wasted six years, and a boatload of cash, developing a "sewer-park" in the middle of Los Osos for no other reason than so residents could easily get to the park in the sewer plant, and, it turns out, as I've been reporting forever, almost no one wanted a park in their sewer plant to begin with, obviously.

The next day, I tuned into the Supes meeting, and heard Schicker say, among her other very interesting arguments, "Plus, they (MWH) built a project that no one wanted to begin with."

When I heard that, I grinned, and took a long chug of beer. (To give you an idea of how nerdy I am, I actually have my own little "sewer parties," where I (just me, of course... trust me, no one else I know is interested) sit at my beautiful outdoor bar, with beer and snacks, and turn on KCBX to listen to the monthly sewer update. Nerdy? Oh yeah. A heck-of-a-lot-a fun? You bet!)

The next day, Schicker e-mailed me and wrote, "I managed to also get in your very good point about how no one even wanted the mwh project - what a waste of dough!"

At that meeting, I also noticed how Supervisor Gibson said that county councel, Warren Jensen, was going to put together a report dealing with Schicker's complaints.

This is great.

So, I hatched a plan. I was going to force Jensen's hand at addressing MWH's seven years of incompetency in that report.

And, I sent him this e-mail:

- - -

Hello Mr. Jensen,

I heard you say at the Supervisors' meeting last Tuesday that you will be creating a report to address Lisa Schicker's formal complaint involving, among other things, the competency of the engineering firm Montgomery, Hatson, Harza, to build both the treatment facility and the collection system for the proposed Los Osos wastewater system.

In her complaint, Mrs. Schicker writes: "MWH is a firm that has already made millions in Los Osos from this illegal contract, for a project that no one wanted (see your recent survey results)"

I would like to add some relevant information to that very important point.

The survey results she is referring to, is this:

"Only (9-percent) of (Prohibition Zone) respondents chose the mid-town (Tri-W) location..."
-- Los Osos Wastewater Project Community Advisory Survey, March 27, 2009

To that quote, I would like to add two other relevant quotes.

As you may know, MWH was also the firm that was selected to design the LOCSD's previous project, that included a proposed treatment facility at the "mid-town" Tri-W site.

In the 2001 Facilities Report for that project, created by MWH, it reads:

"The size and location of the other sites (other than Tri-W) did not provide an opportunity to create a community amenity. The sites on the outskirts of town could not deliver a community use area that was readily accessible to the majority of residents..."

Furthermore, in the (now expired) Coastal Development Permit, issued by the California Costal Commission in 2004, it reads:

"... other alternatives (to the Tri-W site) were rejected (by the Los Osos CSD) on the basis that they did not accomplish project objectives for centrally located community amenities." [Note: I was also the first to dig that amazing quote out of the development permit.]

Here's my question:

In your report, considering those two quotes above, coupled with the recent community survey results, will you be addressing Mrs. Schicker's point regarding why MWH was selected to both of the short lists to build the project, considering that the firm spent five years (2000 - 2005) developing a sewer plant in the middle of Los Osos for the sole reason that the people of Los Osos could easily get to the public park in the sewer plant (designed by MWH), even though, it turns out, more than 90-percent of Prohibition Zone residents, according to the recent community survey, don't want a mid-town "sewer-park" to begin with?

If not, then please consider this e-mail a request to have that specific point -- why was MWH selected to the short lists of contractors by SLO County officials, after displaying apparent gross (and very, very expensive) incompetency in the handling of the previous LOCSD project -- by designing a sewer-park-plant in the middle of town so residents could easily access the "sewer-park," that almost no one wanted.

Considering MWH's previous extremely costly failures in Los Osos (they also, according to the 2000 Oswald report, spent two years [1999 - 2000] developing a "70-acre Resource Park" sewer plant that also failed), their selection to the short lists doesn't appear to make sense.

I'm looking forward to reading your report.

- - -

Then, in a follow-up e-mail to Jensen, I wrote:

- - -

Hello Mr. Jensen...

How's your Lisa Schicker/Montgomery, Watson, Harza report coming along, and, when will it be released?

And, like I mentioned in a previous e-mail to you, please address in your report why MWH made the LOWWP short lists after they were responsible for two colossal sewer project failures, over a seven year span, in Los Osos.

I'm not clear on why they are even close to getting a third chance to fail in Los Osos. That doesn't seem to make much sense.

- - -

He replied, "Due to other pressing matters, I have had to defer completion of the report on Los Osos issues raised by Lisa Schicker and others. I hope to complete the report before the June 2 meeting of the Board of Supervisors."

Montgomery, Watson (as they were known back in 2000) was the "project manager" of the "better, cheaper, faster," "70-acre Resource Park" sewer plant for Los Osos, that was proposed by the initial LOCSD Board of Directors, and it failed. (That was the subject of my first New Times cover story involving the Los Osos sewer story, Problems With the Solution, where I showed how that project was on the verge of failing, and one month after that story was published, that project officially failed.)

Then, Montgomery, Watson, Harza, spent five years, and cashed millions of dollars worth of Los Osos taxpayers' checks, developing an 11-acre "sewer-park" in the middle of town, for the sole reason that residents could easily get to the park... in their sewer plant, when almost none of those residents, it turns out, wanted a park in their sewer plant to begin with, obviously. (And, that was the exact subject of my second New Times cover story involving the Los Osos sewer story, Three Blocks Upwind of Downtown.)

Ummm... Montgomery, Watson, Harza? To quote a certain television billionaire, "You're fired!"

That June 2 report should be very, very interesting... especially if Jensen addresses why MWH is even close to getting a third chance to fail in Los Osos.

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