STOKES
COUNTY WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY
MEETING
JANUARY
11, 2007
The
Stokes County Water and Sewer Authority met on Thursday, January 11, 2007, with
the following members present:
Wayne
Smart, Chairman
John
Hawkins, Vice Chairman
Ron
Clifford, Member
Arzell
Montgomery, Member
Ron
Morgan, Ex officio
Jay
Kinney, Public Works Director
Julia
Edwards, Finance Director
Brenda
Carter, Secretary
Absent: Worth Hampton, Member
Mr.
Smart asked for approval of the minutes of November 2, 2007. Mr. Ron Clifford made a motion to approve
the minutes, seconded by Mr. Arzell Montgomery and the motion was approved with
the following vote:
For: Mr. Clifford, Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Hawkins
and Mr. Smart
Absent: Mr. Hampton
GOLDER AND ASSOCIATES
Mr.
Kinney presented each member with a copy of
a Water Resource Assessment Outline that he had received from Mr. Charles Pippen of Golder and Associates
and asked Mr. Pippen to review this outline with the members.
Mr.
Pippen gave an update of this Assessment.
Mr. Pippen also noted that the water projection looked pretty good and
should meet the demand as time goes by until about the year 2030 at which time
there might be limitations. Mr. Pippen
noted that the project was about one-third of the way completed and they were
in Phase One.
Mr.
Kinney asked the Board if they had any questions for Mr. Pippen and Mr.
Clifford noted that it seemed that they were right on schedule.
Mr.
Kinney informed the Board that he and Mr. Smart had met with the Town of Walnut
Cove Board and they were favorable and not in a negative mode to work with the
SCWS Authority Board with their projects concerning running sewer from
Germanton to Walnut Cove.
Mr.
Smart informed the Board that it was his opinion that the Walnut Cove officials
were willing to work with the SCWSA Board, but the Walnut Cove manager had
resigned, the interim manager had resigned and a board member had also resigned
since Mr. Kinney had met with their Board and that Mr. Kinney and any SCWS
Authority Board member would need to meet with the Walnut Cove Board when a new
manager and board member were selected.
Mr.
Montgomery noted that running sewer down Highway #65 from Germanton would be
very expensive. The Board agreed with
Mr. Montgomery, but noted that with regionalization of the towns would help
with this funding. Mr. Smart noted that
there were sewer problems along Highway #65 and there was interest in sewer
lines run from Germanton to Walnut Cove.
Mr. Smart noted that he had approximately twenty signed copies of
residents wanting sewer along Highway #65 from Germanton to Walnut Cove and
that he would be handing out more forms for residents to sign that were
interested in this sewer line.
Mr.
Clifford noted that the Board needed to seek an agreement with Walnut Cove to
treat this sewage before getting a grant.
As
there were no further questions for Mr. Pippen, Mr. Kinney thanked him for
coming before the Board and Mr. Pippen exited.
Mr.
Clifford asked about an update on the Town of Danbury . Mr. Kinney asked Mr. Smart if he had heard
from Mrs. Charleville. Mr. Smart noted
that he had not heard from her, but the project located across from the
Government Center looked impressive.
Mr. Kinney noted
that Mrs. Charleville had asked that a member of the Town of Danbury be on the
SCWS Authority Board. Mr. Kinney noted
that he would submit Mrs. Charleville’s request to the Stokes County Board of Commissioners. Mr. Kinney noted that the Bylaws of the
Authority required that there be at least four (4) meetings per year and the
Board met seven (7) times last year.
Mr. Kinney also noted that he would submit this information plus a list
of each Board member and the date they began to serve.
Mr.
Kinney asked the members if they wished to remain on the Board and if they
wished to elect new officers or to keep the same as are now serving? After discussion, Mr. Arzell Montgomery made
a motion to reappoint the same officers for the upcoming year, Mr. Wayne Smart
as Chairman and Mr. John Hawkins as Vice Chairman. This motion was seconded by
Mr. Ron Clifford and the motion was approved.
Mr. Kinney noted
that the members are appointed for one, two and three year terms, but he does
not know who was appointed to serve what terms, but if the present members
would like to continue to serve he would submit their names to the Board of
Commissioners. He also noted that Ron
Morgan, Economic Development Commissioner was serving on the SCWS Authority Board as ex-officio member, Julia Edwards
as Finance Officer, he as Public Works Director, and Brenda Carter as Secretary
to the Board. Mr. Kinney noted that he
appreciated each member serving on the Board for the length of time that they
had served.
Mr.
Kinney informed the Board of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) dropping
the threshold on the radium content in the water in the Danbury Water
System. It was noted that the Town of
Danbury had drilled a new well. Mr. Kinney informed the Board that if the SC
Board of Commissioners and the SCWS Authority Board signed off on it that the
EPA would continue to allow the Town of Danbury to add high levels of radium to
the packaging plant. Mr. Kinney noted that Mrs. Charleville is working with a
group to install a 5,000 gallon tank to run the water through to treat the
water and a 1000 to 2,000 gallon tank would be needed to bleed off from this
5,000 tank. Mr. Kinney noted that if
the testing levels are below the State’s threshold, it might be acceptable once
the State has signed off on it. Mr.
Kinney noted that it should not be accepted as there are no options and this
should be addressed. Mr. Kinney noted that Mrs. Charleville and her Board are
trying to work through these issues.
Mr.
Kinney noted that he has not heard if the Town of Danbury will turn the system
over to the SCWS Authority, but they do have a new operator for their
system. Mr. Kinney noted that he would
keep the Board posted on any changes in the Danbury issue.
Mr.
Kinney informed the Board that there was another group interest in the RFP that
the Board had discussed for Germanton Project and they had also stated that if
the Danbury system is turned over to the Board they would also be interested in
it also and price it for the Board. Mr.
Smart noted that the Town of Walnut Cove might also be interested in taking
over the Germanton System.
Mr.
Montgomery had a question concerning the water rates that were raised in the
past for the residents of Germanton and along Highway #65 and that these rates
did not include raising the rates for the Town of Walnut Cove. He noted that
this must have been an oversight of the Board.
Mr. Smart noted that it was probably because it was hard for the Town to
commit to using the water.
It
was noted that the Town of Walnut Cove had opened the valves and used the water
and was not charged the new rates, but paid the same rates as did the Authority. Mr. Smart noted that at one time the Board
had discussed letting the Town use the water at cost, but the Town did not
agree to do this.
After
further discussion, Mr. Montgomery made a motion to go up on the rates for the
Town of Walnut Cove as everyone else was being charged. Mr. Clifford seconded the motion and the
motion was approved with the following vote:
For: Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Clifford, Mr. Hawkins,
Mr. Smart
Absent: Mr. Hampton
Ms.
Edwards will check on the rates now being charged the other rates and will give
this information to Mr. Kinney and he will write a letter to the Town of Walnut
Cove advising them of the decision of the Board.
Mr.
Edwards noted that a meter reading should be obtained and Mr. Kinney stated
that MLP Construction was getting these readings. He noted that this was how they knew that the valves had been
opened. Mr. Montgomery knew they were
checking these as he saw them checking the meters near his home two or three
times a week. Mr. Kinney noted that he
had the charts if anyone needed to see them that MLP had sent to him.
Mr. Smart asked if there were
further business, as there was none, Mr. Montgomery made a motion to adjourn,
seconded by Mr. Clifford and the motion was approved.