FLOWERY BRANCH — To illustrate their point, Flowery Branch officials passed the thick notebooks among the gathering of lawmakers and other visitors at their "Hometown Connection" meeting in October.

Wide-eyed audience members shook their heads as they held the volumes, which represented heavy work by the city in complying with environmental rules and regulations.

For smaller cities, particularly growth-minded ones, keeping current in that area can be both time-consuming and expensive — a tricky balance especially in difficult economic times.

"If you want to grow, you’ve got to take care of some stuff," said Catherine A. Fox, a Decatur-based consultant to Flowery Branch and Oakwood, which have slumped somewhat during the recession but were booming before it.

"Oakwood and Flowery Branch want to meet the minimum requirements and they want to do it well," she added. "They’re not going to go more than required, but what they do do, they do well."

The two cities have to make sure their stormwater management is up to snuff, but Flowery Branch is different in that it operates a wastewater treatment plant. As a result, it is required to file an annual report on its watershed protection plan with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

"There are certain activities you have to conduct to verify that the water quality in your area is up to (EPD) standards and included in that is essentially all the same requirements of the stormwater permit," said James Riker, Flowery Branch’s city planner.

The watershed report is due each June and the stormwater report must be submitted in January.

One 48-page report enclosed in the document gives descriptions of monitoring tests and includes charts, sketches and photographs.

Also included is "a commitment from the city of things we will do, a copy of all our ordinances that relate to matters for water protection," Riker said. "Some of this is fairly redundant, but it does take a lot of work putting this together."

He doesn’t dismiss the work’s seriousness, though.

"It’s a responsibility for us to try to identify water quality issues happening in our city and how we can protect the watershed in our area," Riker said. "Are we finding levels of fecal coliform, soil and sediment in our streams and creeks?"

The city has budgeted $12,000 to prepare the stormwater report and $35,000 for the watershed report.

"And the watershed protection plan has biological and aquatic testing that we’re incapable of doing here with our staff," Riker said. "That is a requirement that has to go (to an) outside consultant."

In addition, the city has set aside $2,000 to fulfill a community outreach requirement toward the stormwater permit. That money will go toward a joint educational venture with Elachee Nature Science Center.

"We sought out Elachee to prepare a program that would target students who go to Hall County schools but are likely from the city of Flowery Branch," Riker said. "As a result of that program, (Elachee) documents to us how many students attended and what they learned."

Important work aside, City Manager Bill Andrew said he believed "most cities in our area that are our size aren’t having to produce this kind of information ... because they have a sewer system they are working under."

He cited Gwinnett County as one example of a county with a mostly consolidated system.

When Flowery Branch shows up at a semiannual meeting concerning stormwater issues in the county, it along with Oakwood may have top government officials on hand.

"Gainesville ... may have five or six people there who are mid-level folks and have degrees in biology and chemistry, and they’re actually doing the testing," Andrew said.

"They may have a full-time person who simply works on these reports and we’ve got people (wearing) five different hats.

"We’re not saying it’s not important information — it’s information that the state probably ought to have. It’s just that if a cow gets into a stream that’s causing fecal coliform, why has that become our problem to test for? Why it’s not soil conservation or extension or whoever else, I don’t know."

Lamar Norton, director of government relations for the Georgia Municipal Association, said he hears complaints from governments around the state that they get varying interpretations on environmental standards and are told they "should have spent a little more money on this or that."

Such issues are amplified in "smaller cities that really struggle to make ends meet," Norton said.

"The EPD is a regulatory agency and we understand that. What we really would love to have is a partnership with EPD that says we’re regulatory but here are some solutions to your problem," he added. "That’s the biggest frustration."

David Bullard, the EPD’s unit manager over wastewater permitting, said the agency has some "general guidelines we go by when we’re putting together permits and ... for the smaller plants, we have less frequent monitoring than what we have for the larger plants."

The agency does that "knowing that the smaller plants don’t have as many resources and can’t afford to have as much testing done," he said.

Fox said area cities have to concern themselves with more than the EPD.

"There’s a bunch of different rules, but the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District has a whole set of rules that they impose on the jurisdictions," she said.

"... The EPD does watch it and does audits and all, but that’s at least a third, if not more, of the requirements."

The planning district, which includes Hall County, was created by the Georgia General Assembly in 2001 "to establish policy, create plans and promote intergovernmental coordination of all water issues ... from a regional perspective," according to its Web site.

All the work cities have to do may not be too surprising for some.

Flowery Branch was a sleepy town at one time, but it has started to boom, with a commercial center forming off Spout Springs Road, a 1,000-acre subdivision on one edge of town and plans to expand its sewer plant.

"There should be a way to make sure that the cities are operating its utilities appropriately, but I don’t think a lot of people realize what goes into (compliance efforts)," Riker said.