Gerald Miller reached into his briefcase Tuesday at City Council, pulled out two Coca Cola bottles, one old and small and one newer and larger, and accused the Public Service Board of lying to El Pasoans.

But Miller apparently was mistaken, and in the end, it was just another show that added confusion to an issue that almost certainly will be near or at the top of the agenda in the next round of City Council elections.

It was one of the more interesting moments in a two-hour discussion that started with a presentation on the process and schedule for developing a stormwater master plan and for bringing the public into the process. The City Council also took action on a 4-3 vote to bill the PSB for the cost, estimated to be under $100,000, for city crews to suck water from roadways.

The stormwater utility faced little public opposition when it was created and, in turn, when it created the initial fees. But a storm of opposition erupted when homeowners and businesses started receiving the bills in March. Since then, the utility has been a consistent topic of discussion and opposition.

The opposition has taken many forms: Anger over the fee, which was reduced; an argument that the way the utility was created was illegal; an effort to recall the mayor; the argument that the city, not the PSB, ought to operate and manage the utility.

Miller, head of the El Paso Car Dealers Association – car dealers have been among the most vocal opponents of the utility, because they are charged so much for their vast parking lots -- represented the last argument, and said he had enough signatures to force the City Council to consider an agenda item to take control of the utility. He anticipated that would fail, which then would trigger another round of signature-gathering to force an election. However, Miller said, he wasn't in any hurry about the matter, and, in fact, he would prefer that it become an issue in the spring City Council elections.

His display of the Coca Cola bottles was meant to show why he opposed the utility – that the PSB could not be trusted, a recurrent theme in the discussion regarding the stormwater utility.

But as with so much else in the battle, the point was not so simple.

El Paso Water Utility Operations Manager John Balliew said the bottle was from a local bottler, and had the date stamped on the bottom. The commercial never said "coke," it states, "we uncovered a bottle made around 1945." Questioned about that later, Miller said the utility may have altered the commercial, but he was convinced it initially said "Coke."

Either way, Miller also piled on the cost -- $35,000 for the ad to run on four stations for a month – and that got the attention of East Side city Rep. Rachel Quintana.

"How do you know (the cost)?" she asked Miller.

"You'd be surprised at what I know," he said, somewhat ominously.

Although Miller took a theatrical turn during the discussion, what really took up the most time was debate over the committee being formed to help guide the PSB through the stormwater master plan process.

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The presentation was very similar to one given by the PSB several weeks ago. The company creating the master plan has collected data, recommended study regions, and by mid-September will provide "modeling and risk evaluation." In mid-October, it will look at "qualitative ranking of improvements," by early December it will look at "alternative development and cost estimation," and a draft of the plan will be ready by late January. In March, in the thick of the City Council races, the stormwater plan will be voted upon.

Meanwhile, a working committee proposed to include about 30 members drawn from local governments, businesses and civic groups will meet at least eight times before February to help vet the plan.

City Reps. Emma Acosta and Rachel Quintana focused on how the members of the advisory commission were picked. They emphasized that they wanted to make appointments -- Acosta framing it as a way to make sure as much of the community as possible was involved, while Quintana said that she wanted someone who would report back to her what was happening.

Acosta said she would put an item on the agenda for next week to give each council member an appointment to the committee.

City Rep. Steve Ortega said he didn't want to have much to do with the process, arguing that the City Council delegated the utility to the PSB, and until the master plan comes to the City Plan Commission and then to the City Council, the PSB ought to be left alone.

He announced he would vote against next week's agenda item to give each council member an appointment. But City Manager Joyce Wilson and El Paso Water Utilities CEO Ed Archuleta said the PSB would accommodate the request if formally asked through council action.

"At the end of the day we want to bring you a plan you can pass," Archuleta said.

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City Rep. Beto O'Rourke (District 8) sits next to Ortega (District 7), but was absent from the meeting. That might explain why the typical 4-3 vote was reversed on city Rep. Eddie Holguin's motion to bill the PSB for work done by city crews on city streets in responding to flooding. [abc-7 kvia story

On the losing end of the vote were Ortega, and city Reps. Susie Byrd and Ann Morgan Lilly.

The conversation shed more light on the details of moving management of storm drainage from the city Streets Department to the new utility. Emergency response, vacuum trucks, pumps – all are elements of response, and Deputy City Manager Pat Adauto explained that although the PSB took over the stormwater utility in March, the city retained some equipment and personnel.

"Things are not black and white," Adauto said. Throughout the next year, she said, the agreement was to "assign responsibilities as issues came about."

It gets tricky, for example, because the city still is responsible for street maintenance. Streets also are used to carry water as part of the drainage system. So one element of the agreement is that the city maintans responsibility for water that pools on streets.

Holguin said, "we're double-taxing people twice," a reference to his argument that the stormwater fee represents an unnecessary tax because of the city debt levied to pay for stormwater damage in 2006 and for some drainage infrastructure.

He then moved to bill the PSB.

The discussion continued.

That's when Miller made his presentation, using the bottles.

He started by showing a still image of the PSB commercial, showing a man holding forth "The Bottle." He asked, what's wrong with this picture?

"It's a little out of focus," said Mayor John Cook.

Miller then pulled out the Coca Cola bottles, and said, focus on these.

After some more conversation, the motion finally was voted upon, and passed.

Archuleta said if the city wants to bill for some drainage control on the streets, it was fine by him.

"If we owe them money we'll pay. If they owe us we'll bill them," he said.

"We have some outstanding bills, too."