Union Sanitary District recently received statewide recognition for our “Leadership School” in-house training program. The California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) presented USD with its Organizational Excellence Award acknowledging the District’s efforts to educate staff about the responsibilities of management and other critical roles while providing training and mentoring to support them in promoting to those positions.

“Like many organizations, the District is continually faced with the retirements of seasoned staff – both management and non-management employees,” says Laurie Brenner, Organizational Performance Program Manager.  “These employees fulfill roles that are critical to our protection of public health and San Francisco Bay. USD’s Leadership School was conceived as an opportunity to develop internal candidates who could not only fill these positions, but like their predecessors, become strong industry leaders.”

The Leadership School’s curriculum is a blend of learning opportunities. Participants complete external college-level business management coursework, attend in-house classes focused on USD-specific policies and processes, and are paired with an executive team mentor to gain insight into what a management role at the District entails.

“The proof of Leadership School’s success is that many graduates have received promotions into management and other positions with higher levels of responsibility – some more than once,” says Brenner.

This is the second statewide award received by USD for the Leadership School program. In 2015, the California Special Districts Association (CSDA) highlighted the value of Leadership School by presenting USD with its Innovative Program of the Year Award.

General Manager Paul R. Eldredge notes that “Leadership School has resulted in promotions from within that provide significant savings in training time and maintain our high productivity levels. This helps us to continue providing customers reliable, cost-effective service.”

USD recently honored 33 Tri-City Industries that achieved 100% compliance with water quality requirements in the 2015 calendar year. The District annually awards Certificates of Merit to those permitted industries within its service area that maintain 100% compliance with all wastewater discharge requirements. In addition, these industries consistently comply with and implement pollution prevention measures, maintain a cooperative working relationship with the District, and demonstrate continuing awareness and understanding of environmental issues and requirements. Several of the recipients received this honor for consecutive years of continued compliance. Read more on USD's Certificate of Merit Program page.

The District is responsible for permitting, inspecting and monitoring certain industries that discharge to its sewer system to ensure compliance with Federal, State and Local environmental regulations. This is done not only to protect the treatment plant from toxic discharges, but also to protect the water quality of San Francisco Bay.

On April 25, 2016, the Union Sanitary District Board of Directors adopted Ordinance No. 35.22 with a vote of 5-0 in favor (Boardmembers Fernandez, Handley, Kite, Lathi, Toy), 0 in opposition, and 0 absent. Ordinance No. 35.22 set Capacity Charges to be charged in the District beginning in Fiscal Year 2017. The ordinance sets forth the Capacity Charges for new and existing users to buy a share of the District's system's capacity for the discharge of their wastewater. The purpose of the Capacity Charges is to provide revenue to recover costs for existing and future facilities that are of proportional benefit to the person or property being charged. The Capacity Charges will increase each Fiscal Year from 2017 thtough 2020 to the amounts specified in the ordinance. In addition, the ordinanace provides for the payment, dispostion, and administration of the charges.

The Capacity Charges were discussed and approved by ordinance following the noticed public meeting held at the Union Sanitary District Board meeting of April 25, 2016. A copy of the ordinance, which sets forth the Capacity Charges adopted for Fiscal Years 2017-2020 may be found here, or may by obtained at our offices located at 5072 Benson Road, Union City, CA.

April 15, 2016 - Restoration of a sinkhole area on Alvarado Boulevard was completed by Union Sanitary District and the roadway opened to traffic yesterday. Final activities such as painting curbs may require one westbound lane to close today near New Haven Street, but the lane will re-open by 3 p.m. Crews are scheduled to return for completion of final lane and crosswalk striping on Thursday, April 21, weather permitting.

The sinkhole appeared the afternoon of October 14, 2015, and quickly grew, causing extensive damage to a 33-inch diameter sewer pipe that runs 20 feet below Alvarado Boulevard in Union City. A manhole in the area was also damaged when the sinkhole occurred, as were other utilities.