Winter Springs looks to new wastewater vendor to replace Veolia

With hurricane season fast approaching and the memory of an October wastewater spill following Hurricane Milton fresh, the future of the city’s wastewater systems is back on the horizon as the Winter Springs City Commission voted to move forward with pursuing a new vendor contract during its May 12 meeting.

Utilities Director Clete Saunier said the city began accepting proposals in February for the operation of its wastewater facilities, receiving bids from three vendors for vetting by a city staff-led advisory selection committee.

Saunier, one of the committee members, said after his years of local government experience he considered the wastewater contract vendor review to be one of the most “robust public vetting processes” he’s ever undertaken. 

“For the last hundred days, it’s gone through intensive scrutiny,” Saunier said. 

That intense “scrutiny” of the selection comes after the contract termination by the city’s contentious previous vendor, Veolia Water Technologies Inc., which stated its intent to withdraw from operations in a letter submitted April 10. 

Veolia has come under fire in recent months for how it managed the city’s wastewater systems over the last six years, following recent issues such as a FDEP warning letter for potential wastewater compliance issues sent to Winter Springs in January.

Services provided by Veolia for the city’s east and west wastewater plants will stop effective Sept. 30, 2025, after sending a letter addressed to city manager Kevin Sweet stating it was now the “appropriate time for Veolia to step aside.”

Of the three new wastewater contract proposals submitted, Saunier said the vendor submission from Woodard & Curran “stood out from the rest” and was consistently ranked the highest by the committee. 

“They really did their homework,” Saunier said. “…They addressed transitioning with the new contract operator. They also specifically addressed much of what they would do during maintenance of plant operations during construction of the new facilities, I thought they did a very good job on that. They also have a strong record of compliance with FDEP.” 

Vendors were asked to present on how they would address the city’s ongoing wastewater treatment plant regulatory issues, transitioning from Veolia’s services and how plant operation maintenance would be handled during the construction of the new wastewater facilities. 

Saunier said that during the review process vendors were also given the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of the city’s wastewater systems. 

“Carollo engineers did a very robust overview of all of our facilities, going through the details of those,” Saunier said. “Then we conducted an on-site inspection of our two wastewater treatment plants with city staff and the interested qualified contractors, [as well as] our water treatment facilities.”

Woodard & Curran also currently serve as the water and wastewater management partner for the City of LaBelle, located east of Fort Myers. Saunier said he recently spoke with LaBelle Mayor Julie Wilkins who said the city’s wastewater situation had once been “identical” to that of Winter Springs.

“They had dealt with about 18 months of making the hard decision to go from in-house staff operation to their first contract operator, that being Woodard & Curran,” Saunier said. “She also mentioned the fact that they have an in-house team of grant consultants on board that actually found them a lot of money to be able to build [their] new facilities. They’re also currently engaged with ramping up maintenance of plant operations during the installation of those facilities, and [she] spoke very highly of them.”

Saunier added that in addition to Woodard & Curran’s history of acquiring nearly $600 million in federal and state grants for its clients, he was also personally impressed by the vendor’s hurricane response approach. 

“[That includes] how they would stage staffing in preparation for [storms], and also in post recovery methods and being able to address all our needs,” Saunier said.

“Simply put, I think they just really put that extra touch…no matter what the situation is,” Saunier added. 

Excluding Deputy Mayor Cade Resnick who was absent from the meeting, the dais appeared to be in agreement on the proposal of moving forward with Woodard & Curran as the city’s top wastewater candidate. 

Commissioner Sarah Baker attended the advisory selection meeting presentations and said she was “impressed” and “glad to see” the group be recommended by staff.

In an email to OCN, Baker said the commission is “eager” to begin contract negotiations with Woodard & Curran. 

She said the group has a personal connection to the city, as the representative overseeing operations is a long-time Tuscawilla resident who once worked at the east plant.

“[Woodard & Curran’s] presentation addressed all the areas they would be graded on and personalized the presentation to correlated needs of Winter Springs,” Baker wrote in her email. “Their clients ranged in size, but being a multi state company, they also have the manpower to address major needs, like hurricane preparedness and response.”

Commissioner Paul Diaz motioned staff to come back with a contract for approval, seconded by Baker, which passed unanimously. The negotiated vendor contract will be presented to the Commission at a future meeting date.

But the city still has a ways to go with its wastewater issues, as both its east and west treatment plants are currently in critical need of replacement, according to city staff. 

In a presentation to the Commission on March 13, both plants were found to be “well beyond their useful life” by at least a decade, with a history of challenges that have occurred over the last five years such as a wastewater spill at the east plant following impacts from Hurricane Milton in October.

With that history in mind, the Commission’s latest meeting saw approval of the preconstruction scope of services provided by Wharton-Smith, the city’s Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) for the construction of its new wastewater facilities. 

The preconstruction timeline for the east plant is estimated to take about 11 months. The scope of services provided by Wharton-Smith outlines staff and labor costs for the preliminary construction tasks needed before physical construction of the plant can begin.  

Main tasks include project coordination efforts, preliminary cost estimates, design and constructability reviews, schedule development, bidding and procurement which are estimated to cost around $413,000. 

An additional task for allowances including items such as electrical estimates, lead and asbestos testing and emergency work services are billed at around $172,000, bringing the estimated total for preconstruction services of the east plant to $585,000. 

The city’s immediate focus is currently on east plant construction, which is estimated to take place over a two-year period with completion expected by about mid-2028. Design processes for the west plant are anticipated to start later this year.

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