Kenn Sprague

He's just finishing wrestling with the complicated and sensitive issue of converting to automated refuse pickup.

Now Sprague, 58, if confirmed by the City Council, will deal with an even larger headache as the city prepares to embark on $1 billion in renewal projects for its aging wastewater system.

"I've got one foot in the garbage dump and the other in a cesspool right now," Sprague quipped during a recent interview.

About 85 percent of the city's 150,000 homes that get garbage pickup are targeted for automated refuse. About half of those homes have been converted, with the rest expected to be automated by 1999.

Every automated route saves the city $160,000 a year, Sprague said. "Plus, I'm not crippling anybody," he said.

Sprague's transfer to wastewater management director had some wondering if Mayor Jeremy Harris was pressured into the move by the United Public Workers union, which had concerns about some of Sprague's decisions, including the schedule for implementing automated garbage collection.

Harris, Sprague and UPW chief Gary Rodrigues scoff at that suggestion, and Sprague noted that he wanted the wastewater job three years ago.

Sprague and Rodrigues acknowledge they've had disputes over employee management.

Rodrigues said Sprague is "a nice guy" but could not control his division heads.

Sprague said he backed his subordinates when he thought they were correct. And he believes it's only natural that the switch from the old "uku pau" garbage collection arrangement - where workers leave when their work is done and are paid for a full day - to an automated system would cause some disagreement.

But Rodrigues and Sprague also note that the workers in the wastewater department are also UPW employees. "I'm hoping he will do much better," Rodrigues said.

Harris said he tapped Sprague to head Wastewater Management because he wanted his best engineer to oversee what is forecast to be a $100 million annual construction budget over the next 10 years.

Felix Limtiaco, whom Sprague is replacing, believes the biggest asset for a wastewater management chief is leadership skills.

He said Sprague has those skills.

Rodrigues agreed the job is critical. "Wastewater can either cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars or make us pay hundreds of millions," he said. "If you don't do it right, you're gonna get sued by the Sierra Club for millions."

"We're not in crisis in Wastewater Management," Sprague said. "But we are at some critical decision points in what we're going to be doing for the next 10 to 20 years."

Decisions need to be made on shoring up the existing system and on sewage water reuse, he said.