Fort Walton Beach Resolution — 2009-20-Wastewater Interlocal Agreement — reading text

of the accuracy of the meter at each Point of Connection by a meter factory certified contractor. The meter readings and calibration reports shall be provided to the City after review by the County within thirty ( 30) days of receipt of meter certification. C) The City shall have the right, upon written request to the County, to have such metering device tested by a meter factory certified contractor in the presence of an authorized and qualified representative of the City. If, as a result of such test, such meter or meters shall be found to be within three percent t30/ 0) of the accurate or true reading, then the costs of such test shall be paid by the City, but otherwise the cost shall be paid by the County. Should any test show such meter to be substantially inaccurate, then all monthly bills for the prior six ( 6) months from that testing or the date of the last annual certification of accuracy by the County, which ever is less, ( the " Reimbursement Period") shall be adjusted to reflect the accurate rate. A variation in excess of three percent 30/ 0) shall be deemed to represent a result or reading which is substantially inaccurate. Such adjustment shall be made if the testing reflects either an underpayment or overpayment by the City and all monthly bills within the Reimbursement Period shall be adjusted accordingly. Where the difference between the testing and the rate charge is found to be substantially inaccurate, the City shall pay to the County or receive from the County the difference between the wastewater bills invoiced during the Reimbursement Period and the recomputed wastewater bills for that period. Such differences shall be paid within thirty ( 30) days of the adjustment. SECTION 10. INITIATION OF SERVICE. The County shall begin providing wastewater service to the City within thirty ( 30) days after the City: A) And the County enter into this Agreement for the lease of the Tertiary System. B) Provides the County with any and all easements, licenses and rights of access necessary for the transmission of treated wastewater to the Tertiary System currently located on City- owned property at 1564 Percy L. Coleman Road in Fort Walton Beach, Florida; and C) Provides the County permit information, record with the drawings, operation and maintenance manuals, and other pertinent information and data as may be required for the operation and maintenance of the Tertiary System.  SECTION 11. EMPLOYMENT. As a result of the assumption of functions by the County, the job functions of City employees, as reflected on Appendix C will be eliminated. As part of this Agreement, the County agrees that those reflected employees on Appendix C will be permitted to apply for vacancies in the County system and will be treated as an internal applicant for employment purposes for a period of one year from the date that service is commenced under this Agreement. Once employed, these individuals will be treated as new employees for all other employment purposes with the County. SECTION 12. APPROPRIATIONS; FUNDING. The parties intend to pay for and support the obligations of this Agreement through monthly customer billing revenues earned from the operation of their respective water and wastewater systems. Each party shall have the right to pursue any other means of financing available to it, including but not limited to bonds, reserve funds, and grants or other assistance funds from the US government or the State of Florida. SECTION 13. TERMINATION, DEFAULT, DISPUTE RESOLUTION. A) This Agreement may only be terminated by notice to and the written consent of both parties. Either party may provide written notice of its intent to terminate this agreement; provided, however, this Agreement may not be terminated, either by the City or the County, while Bonds of the City insured by Ambac Assurance, Inc., are outstanding and in the hands of the holders thereof, unless the City has received the. prior written consent by Ambac Assurance Corporation. Upon notice and consent of termination by the parties, the parties shall jointly determine the effective date of termination. If the parties consent to terminate this Agreement, the parties agree that until the effective date of the termination: 1) the County will continue to receive and treat wastewater delivered to its system the Points of through Connection, except as provided for in subsection ( B) below; 2) the City will not add new connections to their collection system beyond those which were physically connected as of the date the written consent to termination was signed by the last party; 3) the City will continue to compensate the County for its services in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement; and 4) the City and the County will continue to comply with all provisions of this Agreement until such time as the City ceases to discharge wastewater to the County' s system. B) If the City fails to pay any monthly invoice from the County, and that invoice remains unpaid for 90 days from the date of written notice of such nonpayment, the County shall have the right to discontinue service or block the Points of Connection. C) The County and the City agree that any disputes arising from this Agreement, other than as stated in Section 13( B), will not be grounds for a material disruption or cessation of service to the City Service Area. In the event of a dispute as to amounts owed between the parties, each party shall have the right to pay to or receive from the other party any disputed amounts without relinquishing its rights to dispute or litigate any amounts so paid or received. The remedies indicated by this paragraph shall be in addition to any other remedy in law or in equity that the County or the City might have. In the event of a material breach of this Agreement which is not cured within ninety ( 90) days following receipt of written notice of the default, then either party may institute litigation to protect their rights under this Agreement. The prevailing party shall be entitled to a reasonable attorney' s fee and costs of such litigation. D) As a length of this Agreement, it is recognized that result of the events and conditions may occur which could not be reasonably anticipated or addressed by the parties. As such, it is agreed that it is in the best interest of the public generally to include a procedure which would allow the parties to equitably address these events and conditions within the parameters of this Agreement. Therefore, should events and conditions occur, which materially change the obligations of either party under this Agreement, so that the requirement of performance under the Agreement is no longer fair and equitable to either party, then upon written request of either party to this Agreement, the parties agree to mediate this issue and work in good faith to arrive at a resolution of the issue including the possible amendment of the Agreement. For an event or condition to qualify under this section, it must be such that the occurrence was beyond the control of the parties and which could not reasonably be addressed by either party. Acts of God would qualify as such an event or condition under this section. SECTION 14. ADDITIONAL COVENANTS. A) Except for the services provided by the County pursuant to this Agreement, the County covenants and agrees that the City possesses the exclusive right to provide water and wastewater service to the City Service Area and to all revenues produced from those services. The County shall not provide water or wastewater service to any property within the City Service Area without the prior written consent of the City, except for such property as may already be served by the County on the effective date of this Agreement. B) TheCity covenants and agrees that the County possesses the exclusive right to provide water and wastewater service to the County Service Area and to all revenues produced from those services. The City shall not provide water or wastewater service to any property within the County Service Area without the prior written consent of the County, except for such property as may already be served by the City on the effective date of this Agreement. C) The City shall be responsible for all costs of. operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and any and all other costs related to the City' s Wastewater Collection System or the City' s Reclaimed Distribution System and the County shall have no responsibility therefore. The City also shall be responsible for all capital costs of construction, expansion, modification, replacement, and repair of the City' s Collection System as may be necessary to serve the residents of the City Service Area. The City shall be responsible for all costs of operation, maintenance, repair, replacement and all other cost associated with the reclaimed water system downstream of the existing Tertiary System discharge point.. D) The County shall be responsible for all costs of operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and any and all other costs related to the APWRF and up to and including the existing Tertiary System, including all associated upstream effluent piping from the APWRF. The City shall have no responsibility therefore, except for the payment of charges and fees as provided in Sections 3 and 4 herein. Responsibility for the capacity expansion of the Tertiary System shall be governed by Section 5( E). The County also shall be responsible for all capital costs of construction, capacity expansion, modification, upgrade, replacement, and repair of the APWRF, as is necessary to provide service to both the County Service Area and the City Service Area in such time and manner so as to servethe best interests of the affected residents. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if during the term of this Agreement the County shall come under any order of any state or federal agency that requires the County to limit or restrict construction of or connection to the APWRF because of conditions or operations at the APWRF, the City agrees to enforce and abide by such limitation or restriction as long as the same shall be binding upon the County and its other customers. The County agrees to take all steps reasonable, in the County' s discretion, to cure on a timely basis any defect resulting in the limitation or restriction imposed by the state or federal agency. E) The City shall continue to promulgate and enforce rules,