Frauds, Fakes, Or Fabulous
Sep 30, 2009 9:35 pm US/Eastern
I-Team: Dust Up Over Marathon Dirt
MARATHON (CBS4 I-TEAM) ―
Reporters are often called upon to dig up the dirt on an individual or an organization, but in Marathon, it's the dirt itself that is the story.
"People have been asking me that for the last three months," said Marathon City Councilman Pete Worthington. "Did you find the dirt yet? Where did the dirt go? Who's got the dirt?"
Worthington has been burrowing his way through the issue for nearly two years.
The dirt in question comes from construction of an $85 million sewer system and a $30 million storm water project.
As workers install the sewer lines, dirt from the trenches was being carted off to locations around the city.
"I asked the city staff, 'why aren't we selling that fill?' And I was told the fill belonged to the contractor; its part of his contract that he gets that excess material," Worthington said, adding that he heard the contractor was selling the dirt for up to $400 a truck load.
"There is a lot of material there," Worthington said. "I'm figuring that possibly on an $85 million contract there could be anywhere from a half million to a million dollars worth of in excess material that we could sell off."
Worthington thought that if the city could sell the dirt, they could use the money to set up a special fund to help low-income families pay for the cost of hooking up to the sewer lines.
So Worthington had an idea – why not write into the contract that the city gets the dirt? After all, in the Florida Keys, where land is scarce, excess fill is a valuable commodity. His fellow council members agreed and the city's first sale of dirt was a huge success.
"We actually rang the cash register to the tune of $120,000 on February 10," said Worthington. "I was extremely happy and the council was extremely happy."
Worthington assumed that as more dirt was excavated, the city would continue making money. But after selling that first batch, city officials decided to get out of the dirt business and go back to the old system where the contractor kept the dirt.
Some residents, like Dave Maimon, were surprised.
"This is a substantial amount of money, it's owned by the people of Marathon and it should be of benefit to the people of Marathon," said Maimon.
Why would the city of Marathon suddenly stop a program that made them $120,000 and had the potential to make even more?
Councilman Dick Ramsay argues the dirt was more trouble than it was worth. Permits, fees, trucking costs were going to cost the city in the long run. Not to mention how ugly the mounds were.
"We depend on tourism, we don't want our town looking like junk," he said. "And where do we put this stuff? It piles up and citizens complaining and that's a big issue."
Local businesses complained at every city commission meeting about dust from the dirt piles.
Fed up at the complaints, Ramsay said a majority on the council had one simple directive for the city manager, Clyde Burnett.
"I don't care what you do with this fill, get it out of here, just get it out of here," Ramsay recalls the council declaring.
The city sold some of the dirt at a reduced rate to the school district which was trying to fill a large hole next to Marathon High School. They let the contractors have the rest.
"I think the city council has acted properly," Ramsay said.
Pete Worthington voted to continue his program to sell the dirt. Now he's left to wonder how much money the city could have made on all the dirt they gave away.
"Yeah, I would like to know who got it. How much they paid for it? How much it ended up getting sold for?" he said. "You drive around Marathon, you see piles of it scattered around town. Seems like somebody is still using it."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Real Or Fake?
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
