TWSA, towns, county need to plan together

By Lisa Majors-Duff

Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver called for the meeting during a joint session of the towns and county in February, expressing concern then that some areas of the agreement may need to be updated to address changes since it was adopted in 1992 by the county and the towns of Sylva, Dillsboro and Webster.

Facing a 1993 deadline to conform with new state standards for testing drinking water, Jackson County and its muncipalities in 1991 formed a committee to review its options. After reviewing several options, officials decided the creation of a water and sewer authority was needed.

They proceeded to draft a 12-page consolidation and transfer agreement with attachments outlining the equipment each entity would give to the authority. The agreement also spelled out how the authority would be organized, and how it would make decisions concerning operation, maintenance, repair and rehabilitation and any extension of water and sewer systems throughout Jackson County.

In approving the agreement, the political subdivisions also agreed to contribute to TWSA's startup costs. In addition to equipment, both Sylva and Jackson County gave the authority $750,000; Dillsboro provided $3,630; and Webster gave $14,213.

TWSA's first order of business was to build a water treatment plant with an intake on the Tuckaseigee River. Until that project was completed in 1996, drinking water for many TWSA customers continued to come Sylva's Fisher Creek watershed.

The agreement also established and outlined the duties of the Water and Sewer Planning committee. The WASP committee was directed to develop a capital improvement plan for the "rehabilitation of existing systems, construction of new facilities, consolidation and linkage of new and existing systems and the overall improvement of the entire water and sewage system together with recommendations for its funding."

The WASP invited participation in its planning from the towns and county.

"I think (the creation of the authority) was a good idea," Oliver said Tuesday. "There's no way we could have accomplished separately what we have accomplished together."

Concerns expressed by both Oliver and Lynda Sossamon, the town's appointment to the review committee, centered around language in the agreement that defines how TWSA makes funding decisions, especially for projects not included in its capital improvement plans.

"The authority shall have no obligation to expand or improve any system or to give priority to expanding or improving any one system," the agreement says. "The decision as to whether or not the authority is to construct or provide financing for extension or expansion of any system shall be in the sole discretion of the authority with due consideration given the capital improvement plan. Should the authority agree to construct extensions not included in the capital improvement plan, the cost of such construction or financing, including any debt service, shall be paid by the political subdivision which requested such construction or financing.

"The authority may share in the costs of expansion or improving any system with a political subdivision. If so, the authority at its sole discretion shall determine its level of financial participation..." the agreement says.

Sossamon objected to the agreement's wording that the authority "may" contribute to the cost of projects.

"That gives (the authority) a way out (of participating)," she said.

"It's a safeguard for TWSA," said Jerry King, the organization's executive director.

King pointed out that the authority's ability to pay is one factor TWSA must take into consideration before it agrees to contribute fanancially to a project. Other factors include economic feasibility of a project, public health considerations, and economic and community development influences.

"Even if you say (TWSA) Œshall' contribute, if we don't have the money, then we can't do it," said J.C. Alexander, TWSA board chairman.

"If we need to do something, we have to raise taxes," Sossamon said.

And therein lies the difference between a town and an authority, King said. The authority's only revenue-generating avenue is the fees it charges its customers for services. He used the example of TWSA being asked to fund a $30,000 water line, then being given the responsiblity to maintaining the line and collecting only $20 a month in fees from the line.

"From a business standpoint, it doesn't make good sense," he said. "I don't want to get into a situation where we raise rates just to expand."

TWSA mission for nine years has been to repair and maintain the system it inherited, according to both King and Alexander. Only one expansion project has been undertaken to run water and sewer lines along Skyland Drive to the new Scotts Creek School and Addie community. That project was a join effort of TWSA, Jackson County, the school board and the N.C. Rural Development Commission.

The growth of towns in the form of annexation was another concern raised Tuesday. "I don't know about you, but the lack of planning in this county is scary," Oliver said. "We don't have a county planner, we don't have a town planner, and we are growing. I see infrastruction as an important part of that."

The mayor went on to say that TWSA should consider growth areas as locations for expanded water and sewer services, including areas annexed by the county's muncipalities. Sylva, she said, agreed to provide these services to two areas recently annexed - Moody Bottom and the N.C. 107 corridor.

"But (Sylva) does not currently provide water and sewer to its residents, so you don't have to provide it to your new areas," King said. "The expansion of water and sewer is the responsibility of TWSA; the town should not make an agreement to provide water and sewer to its annexed areas.

"Besides," he continued, "I can't think of many areas surrounding towns that don't already have water and sewer services."

The meeting concluded with a tentative agreement to reactive the WASP committee, with appointments directed to report to their respective boards and bring to TWSA requests for projects.

"I see (the WASP committee) as a way for the cities, county and TWSA to sit down and have their individual plans included in the overall plan," Oliver said.

"We can reactive that committee," Alexander said, "as long as the information (gathered from the towns and county) is included with everything else TWSA has to address."

Some of what TWSA is currently addressing is a projected $4 million expansion of its main sewer treatment facility in Dillsboro and a 20-year plan, which includes $60 million worth of expansion projects prioritized by projected county growth, King said.

A second meeting of the review committee has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, at Sylva Town Hall. That meeting will be followed at 5:30 p.m. by a regular meeting of the TWSA board in its Sylva office.

Back to Archive: 05/10/01.