Editorials - 02/27/03

Sylva leaders, TWSA officials need better communication

Given the slowness of consultation between the two boards, one might be forgiven for thinking that emissaries from Sylva's City Hall faced a long, arduous journey before arriving last week to plead their case at the water and sewer authority's headquarters less than a mile away.

Sylva officials, who meet monthly, voted in October to proceed with constructing sewer lines in the Moody Bottom area and settled on an engineer in November. Yet it was February before Mayor Brenda Oliver and Manager Richard McHargue appeared before TWSA's board, which also meets monthly, to ask the authority to pay half the cost of constructing the new sewer lines, which will become part of TWSA's system.

It makes sense for Sylva leaders to ask the question, and we're glad they did. After all, it is TWSA who will receive monthly payments from Moody Bottom residents who tap on to the new sewer line, and it seems reasonable for town leaders to expect TWSA to help fund capital projects that enlarge its system and increase its revenue.

But we do have one question for Sylva officials: What took you so long?

Planning was under way for the line by late summer, and a commitment to construct it was in place by early fall. This is late winter.

Why did town officials not seek TWSA's involvement in all aspects of the project - planning, development and funding - when discussions first began?

On the other hand, while the authority is under no legal obligation to help fund town projects, we think it should pay part of the cost of extending water and sewer service whenever it is financially able to do so.

Sylva and TWSA have managed to share funding on a few projects, but the road to cooperation has generally been bumpy.

REACH succeeded in persuading the authority to contribute some $25,000 toward the cost of the N.C. 107 sewer line, which extended service to the organization's transitional housing project. REACH secured a grant that paid about $55,000, and the town of Sylva supplied the remainder of the money necessary to fund the $251,000 project.

And TWSA paid one-half of some $300,000 required to replace the 70-year-old sewer line under Main Street during the 1998 Streetscape project, although much public pressure was required to convince the authority to participate in the beneficial project and pay this share.

No one ever asked them for money in advance of the project, TWSA leaders said at the time.

While this newspaper was one of TWSA's harshest critics in 1998, the authority did and does have a point. How can they be expected to be a funding partner in projects if they are not consulted during the planning stages?

TWSA has a long-range plan, and its leaders do an admirable job of sticking to it. We think Sylva needs to learn the lessons of the past and ask for TWSA's help sooner rather than later so that mutually-beneficial projects can be incorporated into TWSA's financial planning process.

Sylva and TWSA need to work together to define their respective roles in extending water and sewer service to all who need it.

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