ESG, the Georgia-based company hired to operate and manage the city’s water treatment plant on Haining Road, has been hired to operate and manage the wastewater treatment plant.

The Board of Mayor and Alderman at a special called meeting Wednesday accepted a recommendation from the city’s wastewater treatment plant committee to hire ESG, which has managed the water treatment plant since 2015.

Under the contract with ESG, the city will pay the company $512,800 per year to run the plant, plus a $50,000 annual repair fee to handle the cost of repairing equipment.

“ESG has in-house engineering on staff and will save us money on contracts in the future,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said, adding supply costs will be absorbed by ESG.

“ESG has done a good job operating the water treatment plant and has saved the city $165,000 in operating costs,” he said.

Flaggs said the change to privatization will affect eight employees at the plant, and seven employees will have the opportunity for jobs with ESG at the wastewater treatment plant on Rifle Range Road. He said he will meet with the employees June 14 to discuss the transition “so they can tell us for themselves if they want the opportunity to go to work (with ESG). We will take everything into consideration like we did (with the water treatment plant), but our intention is to negotiate a good contract for a good transition, making sure the employees are taken care of first.”

Four companies, ESG Operations, Veolia North America-South of Tampa, Florida, Maintenance Systems Inc. of Florence and Inframark of Katy, Texas, submitted proposals to operate and manage the wastewater plant.

ESG, Flaggs said, was selected as the best company based several criteria, including price, an understanding of the plant’s operation, its maintenance plan, transitional approach, including hiring existing employees, and performance and compliance history.

“I think the committee did a great job looking into the four companies,” he said.

“We thought the time had come that we look at contracting out the operation and maintenance of the wastewater plant for any number of reasons,” he said. “One was it had come to my attention that it had become very difficult for us to retain certified employees, and have them trained and be able to operate (the plant).

“If we’re going to meet the growth of this city and meet all the needs of this city, we are going to have to have first class quality service, and wastewater treatment is essential,” Flaggs said, calling ESG “the type of corporation you want to have on board.”

And while some people are critical of privatizing city services, “There comes a time when government cannot provide the services as good or better than the private sector. What we ought to do is provide the best amount of service at the least amount of cost to the taxpayer.”