Oconee County Administrative Officer Asked About Build Up Of Solids At Calls Creek Plant Before Citizen Complaint

Oconee County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko raised concerns about the build up of solids at the county’s Calls Creek wastewater treatment plant at least five days before problems at the plant were exposed by a citizen and nearly four weeks before consultant Bob Sheldon said solids at the plant had reached a critical stage.

Utility Department Director Chris Thomas reassured Benko that “I think everything is ok as far as sludge goes” at the plant.

But Thomas had told Benko late last year about serious violations of the county’s permits to operate its two sewage treatment facilities resulting from faulty record keeping, inoperable monitoring devices, and improper certification of those who were gathering data to monitor the operation of the plants.

At least by Jan. 21 of this year, Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis also was aware of those same problems, for that was when he sent an email messages to the four voting commissioners making reference to problems at the LAS site.

An examination of correspondence from the period offers no evidence that Benko, Davis or anyone else launched an independent investigation of the operation of the sewage plants until April 27 when the citizen--Board of Education member Mark Thomas--presented Davis pictures and videos that seemed to show the discharge of untreated sewage into Calls Creek.

For more on this complicated story, please go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Jeff Benko