Manatee County Commissioners are weighing a public-private deal that would have CIP Solutions finance, build and run an advanced wastewater treatment plant at the Lena Road Landfill, with the county paying up to $4.5 million a year to have leachate and biosolids treated, according to a Your Observer report published 11 September 2026. The Sept. 1 commission meeting ended 5-1 to delay the vote until the county attorney's office reviews the final contract, and staff have already flagged a $2.75 per-customer monthly utility rate increase as the funding path.
Key takeaways
- Manatee County Commissioners delayed a 5-1 vote on Project Wolf on Sept. 1, sending the contract back to the county attorney's office, per Your Observer.
- CIP Solutions would build and operate the plant, and the county would pay up to $4.5 million a year to treat its leachate and biosolids, per Your Observer.
- Staff told commissioners the Solid Waste enterprise fund can support the program, but the recommendation is a $2.75 per-customer monthly utility rate increase, per Your Observer.
- Project Wolf grew out of the earlier Project Viking pilot, which was approved on the Dec. 16, 2025 consent agenda and pays CIP $1,000 per job created in 2026, up to 10 jobs, per Your Observer.
- A separate Wausau wastewater plant has already exceeded Wisconsin's proposed PFAS limits, foreshadowing the compliance pressure driving the Manatee project, per Wausau Pilot & Review.
What happened
CIP Solutions brought Project Wolf to commissioners on Sept. 1 as an advanced wastewater treatment plant to be sited at the Lena Road Landfill, with the goal of reducing PFAS in the biosolids and leachate that the landfill currently does not treat, according to Your Observer. Director of Utilities Patrick Shea called PFAS an "emerging contaminant" in the meeting, per the same Your Observer report.
Under the proposed structure, CIP would finance, construct and operate the plant, lease a quarter-acre at the landfill from the county for $1 a year, and treat the county's leachate and biosolids for up to $4.5 million annually, according to Your Observer. CFO Claudia Campos said the Solid Waste enterprise fund can support the program, but the staff recommendation is a $2.75 per-customer monthly utility rate increase that would still need a commission vote, per the same Your Observer report.
Commissioners voted 5-1 to delay the contract pending another county attorney review, with Commissioner Mike Rahn dissenting, per Your Observer. The county attorney's office had first reviewed the deal in July, when the project was still titled Project Viking, and found the proposed contract to be "legally insufficient," according to the same Your Observer report. Deputy County Administrator Stephanie Garrison said staff worked through those concerns line by line but treated the resulting changes as "business decisions" and did not resubmit the revised contract; a clean version of the revised contract was sent to the CAO eight days before the meeting, per Your Observer. County Attorney Pamela D'Agostino received a phone call from County Administrator Charlie Bishop letting her know Project Wolf would be on the Sept. 1 agenda, and Bishop said "(CIP) has expended an enormous amount of money. Time is money, and (CIP's) request was to move this along," per the same Your Observer account.
CIP is already a known supplier to the county: the company operates Manatee County's Buckeye Road (Piney Point) Pre-treatment Facility and Underground Injection Control Well Operations, according to Your Observer. Its chief revenue officer, Courtney De Pol, served as a deputy county administrator from June 2022 through April 2026, per the same Your Observer report. The presentation to commissioners said "The pilot demonstrated PFAS/PFOA reductions greater than 90% on Manatee County's own water streams," per Your Observer. Abbey Tyrna, executive director of Suncoast Waterkeeper, told the outlet the rush makes her wary that the county could be purchasing "snake oil" again and asked whether the work "has been scrutinized by the right group of people, like engineers and scientists, or is it just a company trying to profit off of the environment ethic of the county?" per the same Your Observer report.
Why this matters beyond Manatee
For utilities weighing their own PFAS exposure, the Wausau case shows what early noncompliance looks like. Under a WPDES permit that took effect May 1, the Wausau wastewater plant must test its treated effluent every two months and its biosolids annually through a five-year permit term ending March 31, 2031, per Wausau Pilot & Review. Both compliance samples so far have exceeded the state's proposed 8 ppt PFOS limit, with the May 7 sample at 9.44 ppt PFOS and 9.83 ppt PFOA and the June 15 sample at 10.8 ppt PFOS and 11.8 ppt PFOA, according to the same Wausau Pilot & Review report.
Specification read
Reporting a contract value, not a treated volume: S1 cites a $4.5 million-a-year county payment to CIP for treating the landfill's leachate and biosolids on a quarter-acre site, with no daily flow, BOD/COD, or population-equivalent figure attached (general industry range, not from the sources). For context, full-scale PFAS-rejection trains in this class sit downstream of screening, primary clarification, biological treatment (A2O, MBR, MBBR, SBR or UASB), tertiary polishing and disinfection, with DAF sludge treatment handling the biosolids side that Project Wolf is built around. This event bears on the tertiary/PFAS-removal and biosolids stages, not on raw or biological capacity.
If your plant looks like a small-to-mid Florida municipal landfill operation handling tens of thousands of cubic metres of leachate a year with biosolids co-mingled in, and you are under state pressure on PFAS in effluent or biosolids, a privately financed advanced treatment skid on or near the landfill, with the host utility underwriting a $2.75-style monthly surcharge, is a workable model to benchmark against when sizing your own PFAS retrofit envelope. Cross-reference DAF vs Clarifier for Industrial Organic Chemicals Wastewater in Greenwich, Township Of: 2026 Factory Guide and DAF vs Clarifier for Cincinnati Chemicals Wastewater: 2026 Factory Guide for the upstream clarification choices that feed such a train, and route the chemical dosing decision through your own bench- and pilot-scale PFAS data before signing.
FAQ
What would the Manatee County plant cost ratepayers?
County staff have recommended a $2.75 per-customer monthly utility rate increase to support the Solid Waste enterprise fund contribution to Project Wolf, per Your Observer. The increase would still require a separate commission vote.
How would the private partner be paid?
CIP Solutions would finance, construct and operate the plant, lease the quarter-acre site at Lena Road for $1 a year, and be paid up to $4.5 million a year by the county for treating its leachate and biosolids, per Your Observer.
What is the current status of the contract?
Commissioners voted 5-1 on Sept. 1 to delay the vote until the county attorney's office reviews the final contract; a clean version of the revised contract was sent to the CAO eight days before the meeting, per Your Observer. The earlier July review, when the project was still called Project Viking, found the contract "legally insufficient."
How long does a PFAS compliance pilot usually take to validate before a full contract?
Manatee's prequel pilot, Project Viking, was approved on the Dec. 16, 2025 consent agenda and pays CIP $1,000 per job created in 2026, up to 10 jobs, per Your Observer. For similar landfill-leachate PFAS work, owners should plan a multi-quarter pilot with side-by-side treated and untreated samples against the binding limit before signing a long-term treatment-offtake (general industry range, not from the sources).
