L&M Publications
Merrick Life • Bellmore Life • Freeport-Baldwin Leader • Wantagh-Seaford Citizen

This week the Nassau County Legislature’s Rules Committee voted, 4-3, to hire Morgan Stanley for $100,000 per quarter-year to consult for the county on bids to privatize the county sewage treatment plants.            

Morgan Stanley will receive $100,000 for its contract with the county for the last quarter of 2011, which began in October. The bidders include Veolia, American Water, United Water and Severn Trent.
   
Three of the four bidders are familiar to residents. Severn Trent is a consultant at the county sewage treatment plant in Glen Cove. Veolia was awarded the contract to run the Long Island bus system in Nassau County, and American Water recently bought Aqua Water, the private water company that services many of the communities along the South Shore of Long Island, including Wantagh and Seaford.
   
“The Republicans on the [rules] committee, including Dennis Dunne and Peter Schmitt, voted for the contract,” Legislator David Denenberg told The Leader.
   
“At my direction, the Democrats asked all the questions and voted no. But it passed 4-3. It couldn’t have passed without Dennis’s vote,” said Mr. Denenberg. Mr. Dunne represents the 15th Legislative District, which includes Wantagh. Mr. Dunne said “I must do my due diligence and look at all the options, and that includes doing a study to see if we can save the taxpayers money.”
   
But Mr. Denenberg believes this is the first step to privatization. “I have always opposed privatization, even under [former County Executive Thomas] Suozzi,” continued Mr. Denenberg. “We do not lose any money on the sewage treatment plants and we provide a good service for a nominal cost. This [transaction to privatize] is costly to the taxpayer and the environment. These plants will operate on the fringe of environmental compliance. And, there will be high useage fees, just look at the companies competing for this.”

Rules-only runaround
“This was put on as an addendum and when the item was raised we learned  that this deal with Morgan Stanley began 18 months ago and was held back until after election day,” he said. “It was done as a Rules Committee-only contract.”
   
As a rules-only contract personal services contracts such as the one with Morgan Stanley do not have to be approved by the entire legislature. Additionally, prior to Monday’s vote, Morgan Stanley was hired for $24,500, a sum that does not need full legislative approval.
   
No privatization
Meanwhile, Phil Franco and Mark Salerno, co-chairs of the Cedar Creek Oversight Committee, have been reaching out to other civic organizations to form a coalition to address the issue of privatization of the sewage treatment plants. Mr. Franco stated, “ If we privatize, we have no public control. We don’t want it.”
   
Ralph Spagnolo, a former county  employee who spent his career working in the sewage treatment plants, said he is also not in favor of privatization. In a recent letter to The Citizen, The Leader’s sister paper, Mr. Spagnolo wrote, “Why should the county repair the two plants, bringing them back to full operations with staff trained to run the plants under Civil Service, state and federal laws, and then turn them over to a private enterprise?”
   
County defends its actions
The county has defended its position on the transaction in its multi-year plan, pointing to other “U.S. governments [that] have successfully pursued similar P3 transactions. For example, the city of Indianapolis approved the $1.7 billion acquisition of the city’s waterworks and wastewater systems by Citizen Energy Group,” the county plan states.
   
“It may never happen,” said Legislator Dunne. “But we must consider all options. If the people don’t want it, then I will vote against it. That’s the bottom line.”
   
Meanwhile, Legislator Denenberg said, Morgan Stanley is expected to make its recommendaiton for the contract by the third quarter of 2012. “The sale of the plants must go before the full Legislature,” he said, but “there may be no public hearing other than the day of the contract vote.”

By Laura Schofer

Laura Schofer, staff writer for L&M Publications, has been recognized with several awards for many of her feature pieces published in Bellmore and Merrick Life, The Citizen and The Leader.