Four arrested in two drug store break-ins

By Rose Hooper

That may make it back to back to square one for Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority's sewer treatment plant in Cashiers.

While TWSA waited for years for the expansion permit that was finally granted in May, now the constraint is money, said TWSA Executive Director Jerry King, who stressed the board still has options.

One of those options is support from a private developer. But some board members said that could reopen the controversy that surfaced two years ago when private developers offered to purchase another treatment plant for Cashiers.

Development and expansion in Cashiers has been at a standstill since the treatment plant began operating at capacity. With a moratorium in effect, no new hook ups have been allowed for the past two years.

The new permit will allow the plant to process an additional 100,000 gallons of wastewater per day.

Low bids on the plant expansion, including a sludge pump station and chlorination/dechlorination facilities, came in well over the anticipated budget, King said.

The apparent low bid, submitted by RPB Systems Inc. of Asheville was $1,024,000. TWSA was expecting bids around $800,000, according to King.

TWSA has three months to raise the additional funds, or they can readvertise for bids, hoping submissions come in lower the second time around. At the last TWSA meeting King told the board about two other options.

"We have the possibility of applying for an Appalachian Regional Commission grant," King said. "We also have the option of a developer in Cashiers helping us fund the balance."

TWSA attorney Raymond Large said, "I thought we were steering clear of private investors."

Two years ago TWSA encountered controversy when a group of private investors wanted to put up $1 million to purchase another treatment plant for Cashiers.

Several Cashiers residents voiced their strong objections at TWSA meetings, saying that only the investors would be allowed to hook up to that system. Individuals with failing septic systems would not benefit at all, they told TWSA.

Board members sided with the residents, agreeing that priority should go to those with failing systems and those current systems that need expansion. Several TWSA members said that expecting a developer to help with the plant expansion would put the board back to square one.

"We've got to do something, though, to help out those folks in Cashiers," said TWSA Chairman Mickey Luker. "We have been idle long enough on this project." Even if expansion at the Cashiers plant doesn't take place right away, King said the board needed to address two issues in order to meet code.

"We'll have to work with the existing filters and we'll have to provide additional air to the treatment process," King said.

Two new clarifiers would cost between $300,000-$400,000, estimated King.

In addition to a sludge pump station, plant expansion at the 16-year-old plant would include two circular clarifiers, tertiary filters and a post aeration and control building.

"Plant expansion would take care of these issues, but if we don't expand, we still have to meet code," King said.

Back to Archive: 08/01/02.