Winter Springs continues water investigation

Winter Springs will continue moving forward with its investigation into who knew what about a one-million-gallon-per-day water pumping system at Lake Jesup that has, according to some current officials, never functioned correctly.

The special meeting, originally scheduled for Dec. 6 before it was canceled, will now likely be coming in January, according to Commissioner Kevin Cannon.

During its investigation, launched in August, the city had subpoenaed nearly a dozen former city commissioners, staff and engineering consultants who had worked on the Lake Jesup Reclamation Plant, which began operation in 2013.

“We’ve got to figure out what all took place so that we can make sure it never happens again, and fix processes,” Cannon had said when the city launched the investigation.

Several former commissioners, who served on the commission during the initial implementation of the water reuse plant in question, have so far refused to abide by the subpoenas.

Before the subpoenas were issued, City Attorney Anthony Garganese had mentioned there may be penalties for ignoring them.

“The way the charter reads, technically there are potentially penalties involved,” he said. “We’re going to have to cross that bridge if we get to it.”

At the meeting coming up will be representatives from the engineering firm CPH, which the city consulted with on the project.