13-Resolution authorizing contract with Weaver Boos Consultants

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STATUTORY NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS The MSD statute requires the applicant to provide a letter to notify the parties identified below that an MSD application is to be submitted to the TCEQ. The notice must be completed in advance of, or at the same time as, an application is submitted to the TCEQ. Specifically, the notice letter must be sent to: Each municipality: o in which the MSD property is located, o with a boundary located within one- half mile from the MSD property boundary, or o that owns or operates a water supply well located within 5 mi from the MSD property boundary; Each owner of a"private water well registered with the commission"' that is located within 5 mi from the MSD property boundary; and Each retail public utility2 that owns or operates a groundwater supply well located within 5 mi of the MSD property boundary. In the notice letter, the applicant is required to: . identify the location of the proposed MSD property, . state the reason for the MSD certification, . state that municipalities and retail public utilities can make comments to the TCEQ, . identify the type of groundwater contaminants, and . name the party responsible for the contamination. Notified parties have up to 60 days after they receive the notice letter to file comments with the TCEQ, if they choose to do so. The TCEQ cannot take action to deny or certify the application until 60 days after the notified parties receive those notices. ' Statutory language that means the TCEQ, but also must include the Texas Water Development Board and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. ' Retail public utility as defined by Texas Water Code 13.002. THE CITY ROLE The city is not required by statute to accept, process, or support MSD applications. However, for an MSD to be certified by the TCEQ, municipal support for the application is paramount. Therefore, MSD certification is significantly controlled by the city. For the city where the proposed MSD property is located, the statute allows an MSD application to be certified oniy if that city councii adopts either: an ordinance to prohibit potable use of the designated groundwater from beneath the MSD property and to appropriately restrict other uses of, and contact with, the designated groundwater, or a resolution that supports the filing of a restrictive covenant by the applicant that is enforceable by the municipality to prohibit potable use of designated groundwater from beneath the MSD property and to appropriately restrict other uses of, and contact with, the designated groundwater. The statute also defines a role for cities that border the proposed MSD city within one-half mile of the proposed MSD boundary or that own or operate a groundwater supply well located within 5 mi of the proposed MSD boundary. In these cases, the applicant must also provide a notice to that city of the applicanYs intent to file an MSD application with the TCEQ. Further, the statute allows the TCEQ to certify an application in such situations only if the city council of that bordering city also adopts a resolution in support of the MSD application. As stated earlier, no municipality is under statutory obligation to support an MSD application, but without municipal support, the TCEQ is statutorily required to deny the application because it is incomplete. An application is not complete until the ordinance or resolution and restrictive covenant, as applicable, are adopted by the city where the proposed MSD is located, and by any other cities, when applicable. However, in accordance with the statute, the ordinance, resolution, and restrictive covenant can be adopted after the TCEQ processes and "precertifies" the application. GI-326 Page 3