PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Punta Gorda's City Council held an emergency meeting on Tuesday, to address a draft bill that would transfer potable water service outside the city limits to Charlotte County, a proposal city officials said they had no prior notice of.
Council said the bill, titled the Punta Gorda Utility District Boundary Codification and Utility Transfer Act, is sponsored by State Rep. Vanessa Oliver, and states that Charlotte County would “assume responsibility” for potable water utility operations, billing, management and “associated assets and obligations” immediately upon becoming law.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk report on the bill:
City staff said the bill could affect roughly one-third of the city’s customers, who currently live outside Punta Gorda’s municipal boundaries.
It could also include the transfer of infrastructure such as the city’s water treatment plant, which is also located outside city limits. According to the city, the current system was designed and financed to serve both inside and outside-city customers.
“I don't know why this was written, I don't care who wrote it,” said City Attorney Steven Leskovich at the meeting. “From a legal perspective, this bill is crap as as written, because it leaves open a lot of ambiguities.”
Vice Mayor Jeannine Polk said the city only found out about the proposal last week after seeing a legal notice in the newspaper.
“The city didn’t really know what was going on,” Polk said. “This is all very shocking to us, and we just want to get to the bottom of it, find out what’s going on.”
During the emergency meeting, council members said Oliver told them the draft was prompted by development pressure near Punta Gorda Airport.
Council member Greg Julian said Oliver explained the bill came from developers who felt water issues were affecting projects.
“She basically explained that it was coming from the developers,” Julian said.
Charlotte County Commissioners also met on Tuesday and discussed concerns, and questions over the logistics of the bill.
Read the full proposed bill below:
"I'm going to need to understand what infrastructure we're talking about, specifically the boundaries of what the proposed legislation is talking about," said Chairman Joe Tiseo. "The condition of the existing infrastructure and assets, and I am going to want to know if it's going to have an impact on the city's ability to manage their existing debt service."
"Are they just going to hand us the infrastructure or do does it have to get valued?" asked Commissioner Chris Constance. "And then we have to pay them for the infrastructure, so we're going to be mandated to take on a heavy financial burden to to take it over?"
The city presentation said any transfer of potable water capacity would require substantial long-term planning, permitting, financing and construction, also noting that Charlotte County “does not have immediate capacity or infrastructure to serve the affected areas.”
"In general terms, its not good for the city, or even the county," said Julian.
Council members directed staff to draft a letter to Oliver outlining concerns and requesting changes to the legislation.
We reached out to Rep. Vanessa Oliver and her staff on Tuesday and as of Thursday have still not received a response to a request from Fox 4 for comment on the bill.
