ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
November 16,
1978
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
)
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 78—82
CITY OF ZEIGLER,
a municipal corporation,
Respondent.
MR. REED
W.
NEUMAN, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, APPEARED ON BEHALF
OF THE COMPLAINANT.
MR.
REA
F.
JONES, ATTORNEY AT LAW, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF THE
RESPONDENT.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Werner):
This matter comes before the Board on the March 20,
1978
Complaint brought
by
the Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency
(“Agency”)
alleging that the City of Zeigler operated its public
water supply system without a certified operator from October
10,
1975 until March 20,
1978 in violation of Section
1 of an Act to
Regulate the Operating of a Public Water Supply,
Ill.
Rev.
Stat.
1975,
ch.
111—1/2, par.
501.
A hearing was held on July 11,
1978.
At the hearing, a stipulated set of facts was read into the
record.
These stipulated facts indicate that the City of Zeigler
is a municipal corporation in Franklin County,
Illinois which owns
and operates a public water supply system that serves approximately
1,800 people.
(R.
4).
The City’s public water supply facility
includes an elevated storage tank and distribution system.
The
Respondent’s public water supply system employs
no chemical treat-
ment for its water,
since it receives treated water from the Rend
Lake Intercity water system.
(R.
4;
R.
10).
The parties have also stipulated that during the period from
October 10, 1975 until March 20,
1978, the Respondent did not have
a certified public water supply operator in its employ.
(R.
4-5).
From May
9,
1975 to May 3,
1976,
Mr. Harvey Ensinger was employed
as operator for the Respondent’s public water supply facility at a
32—95
—2—
salary of
$625 a month.
Mr. Ensinger at that time was not a
certified water supply operator.
(R.
5).
From May
3, 1976 to
July 29,
1976,
Mr. Joe Payne served as a temporary water supply
operator for the City of zeigler at a salary
which
at
present
cannot be determined.
Mr. Payne likewise did not possess a
Class A,
B,
C, or D certification as a water supply operator.
CR.
5).
From May 18, 1976 to November
1,
1976,
Mr. Randall
Orlandini was employed at the Respondent’s public water supply
facility
(first as an apprentice operator under Joe Payne and then
as official operator for the supply).
Mr. Orlandini’s salary was
$480.00 a month with $2.75 an hour for any overtime,
and also
possessed no certification as a water supply operator.
(R.
5)
From November
1,
1976 to January 29,
1978,
Francis Calonne
served as general supervisor of the Respondent’s public water
supply facility at a salary of $600.00
a month with $3.46 an hour
for any overtime.
Mr. Calonne possessed no certification as a
water supply operator.
(R.
5-6).
On January 29,
1978, Mr.
Calonne suffered a heart attack which forced him to leave his
position as operator.
From January 29, 1978
to April
1,
1978, the
Respondent’s public water supply facility was without a water
supply operator.
(R.
6).
On April
1,
1978,
Mr. Lawrence Peila was hired and commenced
his duties as water supply operator at the City’s public water
supply facility.
Mr. Peila is a properly certified Class A
public water supply operator.
He will be paid $100.00
a month and
will
work as many hours per week as the City may
require and will
be employed until such time when the city can obtain a full-time
certified operator of its own.
CR.
6).
The City of Zeigler currently employs Mr. David Sims in its
water department.
Mr. Sims is attending classes for certification
and will be hired by the City for its public water supply facility
upon his obtaining certification
(i.e., after completion of the
necessary classes and passing the certification exam)
.
(R.
6—7).
On May 7,
1976,
after learning of Joe Payne’s appointment on
May
3,
1976 as water supply operator, the Agency sent the
necessary “Certified Operator in Responsible Charge”
form to the
Respondent to fill out and return
to the Agency as an official
notice of compliance.
No official notice of Mr. Payne’s hiring
and qualifications was ever received by the Agency.
(B.
7).
On April
1, 1977,
the Agency sent a formal Notice of
Violation to the City of Zeigler which pertained to the lack of
a properly certified water supply operator.
(Complainant’s
Exhibit No.
1;
R.
7).
No response to this Notice was ever
received by the Agency.
(R.
8).
However,
the Respondent
is now
32—96
—3—
in compliance with the Public Water Supply Act,
as evidenced by
the Agency’s letter of May 18,
1978.
(Respondent’s Exhibit No.
1;
R.
8—9)
At the hearing,
the Respondent’s attorney asked that the
Board consider various mitigating factors
in this case.
The
Respondent’s attorney stated that:
(1) the local government of
the City of Zeigler had been
in a highly unstable condition during
the last
3 years due to the death of the Mayor and resignations of
the City Clerk and City councilmen
(R.
10—11);
(2)
since “the
City of Zeigler’s governing body has been
in a state of instability
during this time,” the “business of the City has not been too well
managed..
.“
(B.
14); and
(3) the City of Zeigler
is financially
limited in its income
(i.e., the City’s income
is primarily based
on property taxes and the total assessed valuation of all property
within the City limits
is $2,400,816).
CR.
10,
R.
14).
On the
other hand,
the Assistant Attorney General requested that the
Board take into consideration “the fact that the Agency has been
involved with the Respondent for quite some time
in an effort to
achieve compliance” and that “the Agency’s difficulties
in
achieving compliance and in getting cooperation from the City has
been notable, at least in the past couple of years...”
(B.
13).
In evaluating this enforcement action,
the Board has taken
into consideration all the facts and circumstances
in light of
the specific criteria delineated
in Section 33(c)
of the Illinois
Environmental Protection Act.
Incinerator,
Inc.
V.
Illinois
Pollution Control Board,
59
Ill.
2d
290,
319 N.E.
2d 794
(1974)
On the basisof
the record,
the Board finds that the City of
Zeigler operated its public water supply system without a properly
certified operator from October 10,
1975 until March
20, 1978
in
violation of Section
1 of an Act to Regulate the Operating of a
Public Water Supply,
Ill.
Rev.
Stat.
1975,
ch. 111—1/2,
par.
501.
Consequently, a penalty of $300.00
is assessed in accordance with
Section
1 of an Act to Regulate the Operating of a Public Water
Supply.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
It is the Order of the Illinois Pollution Control Board
that:
1.
The City of Zeigler has violated Section
1 of an Act to
Regulate the Operating of a Public Water Supply
(Ill.
Rev. Stat.,
1975,
ch.
111-1/2, par.
501)
from October 10, 1975 until March 20,
1978.
32—97
—4—
2.
The City of Zeigler shall cease and desist from all
further violations of Section
1 of an Act to Regulate the Operating
of a Public Water Supply
(Ill.
Rev.
Stat.
1975,
ch.
111-1/2,
par.
501).
3.
Within
35 days of the date of this Order,
the City of
Zeigler shall pay a penalty of $300.00
,
payment to be made by
certified check or money order to:
State of Illinois
Fiscal Services Division
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield,
Illinois
62706
I,
Christan
L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, herqby certify the above Opinion and Order were
adopted on the
ILD”
day of
~
1978 by a
vote of
2-~
Illinois Polluti
Board
32—98