City Hall Hustle: Cole on Water

Sheryl Cole seems to have laughed off the free advice we gave her.

Last week, the Hustle was rhapsodizing about that perennial nexus of Austin politics, Water Treatment Plant No. 4. (Spoiler alert: Where do you see this week's column going?) At its close, we wrote the "third way" Mayor Pro Tem Cole was attempting to chart with regard to the waterworks, while laudable, might not "get her much of anywhere," with feelings over the plant predictably polarized in favor and against.

Or to put it more succinctly: In Austin, there ain't nothing in the middle of the road but dead armadillos.

"I do not fear information or transparency," Cole responded, regarding the motion she offered July 28. It allowed for a stoppage of issuing "Notices to Proceed" with new construction phases at the plant (while leaving ongoing work, well, ongoing) but set Sept. 2 as a firm date for their resumption while city staff tabulated the cost of shuttering the plant for either five or 10 years. It also called for an estimate of what it would cost to boost current conservation measures by 20% in that same five- or 10-year period – trying to tabulate the cost of boosted water reclamation (which should please WTP4 opponents) while waiting for the estimate of plant stoppage costs (which, should it approximate the $100 million-plus estimate council heard two weeks ago, would no doubt encourage plant proponents).

We spoke to Cole a few days before council's latest WTP4 dalliance, a special-called council meeting at the plant site itself, Wednesday, Aug. 10 (as we go to press). It was called by Mayor Lee Leffingwell, council's prime plant proponent, and its impetus – a one-item agenda consisting of a construction update – seems to mirror Austin Water's recent PR offensive, whereby it invited the media to tour the plant site, the implicit message being that progress is so far under way that to shutter the plant now would be the height of folly. And despite Cole's support of Kathie Tovo, (declared) WTP4 agnostic, over incumbent plant supporter Randi Shade – and her own recent election as mayor pro tem seemingly signaling a power shift from the Leffingwell/Mike Martinez faction to a constituency dominated by past WTP4 nays – Cole still reiterates her support for the plant.

"There's no doubt in my mind that my colleagues – including the opponents and proponents of the plant – want to do and will do what is best for the city," Cole says. "We need to stop defining our objectives in either/or propositions. We can be true to our environmental values yet maintain adequate water treatment supply. We simply have to plan how to get there like anything else."

"I still believe in the need of that plant," Cole declares, "and the financial information would have to show that we can't afford it at this time; absent that, I still support it." But her position highlights a disconnect in the latest chapter of the decades-long debate over WTP4: The recent item solely couches the argument in fiscal terms, asking for the cost of a (supposedly) temporary shutdown. While that's fine and good, what difference should it make to plant opponents who still want to mothball WTP4, since, pointing to downward-drifting water usage rates, they claim the city doesn't need the additional treatment capacity? Environmental opponents have admittedly muddied the waters here themselves, arguing for conservation in one breath while railing against increased water rates in the next.

There's also the outstanding debate over whether council's WTP4 measure was made in good faith, or whether, as Martinez argued at its passage, it was simply "political theatre." "That's the question that I think everybody is asking: Is this being cloaked deceptively?" Cole says. But, she maintains, "There's a difference between the City Council temporarily suspending some operations to examine financial information and saying that we have to shut down the plant." Regarding Martinez's rhetoric, she states, "I just didn't share that view, obviously, because we voted differently."

Still, Cole thinks the estimate of a construction shutdown, due Aug. 18, will "speak for itself." She also seems to agree with the theatre of the WTP4 site meeting itself, saying: "We can see the status of the project and how much has been invested thus far. That visual may give cause to pause and help us evaluate the options once we receive the information we requested."

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