STOKES
COUNTY WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY
MINUTES
JUNE
9, 2005
The Stokes County Water and Sewer Authority
met in regular session on June 9, 2005, in the Commissioners Chambers of the
Stokes County Administration Building with the following members present:
Wayne
Smart, Chairman
Ron
Clifford, Member
Worth
Hampton, Member
Arzell
Montgomery, Member
Ron
Morgan, Ex-Officio Member
Jay
Kinney, Public Works Director
Julia
Edwards, Finance Director
Brenda
Carter, Secretary
Absent:
John Hawkins, Vice Chairman
Mr. Smart opened the meeting at 3:10 p.m.
instead of 3:00 p.m. to await the arrival of Mr. Hampton and Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Smart then asked for approval of the
January 27th minutes. Mr.
Ron Clifford made a motion to approve the minutes with the correction to his
name in the members present from Ron Clifton to Ron Clifford, Mr. Montgomery
seconded the motion and the minutes were approved.
Mr. Smart asked if Mr. Tory Wagoner with Cavanaugh
and Associates would be in attendance at this meeting and Mr. Kinney advised
that he was out of town and would not be, but Mr. Wagoner had asked that Mr.
Kinney or Mr. Smart bring the members up to date on the project, that nothing
had really changed on the Walnut Cove Project.
Mr. Smart noted that there had been a meeting with Mr. Doug Saunders and
asked Mr. Kinney to bring the Board up to date on this meeting.
Mr. Kinney stated that the Board had asked
that he meet with the Assistant County Manager and Utilities Director of
Forsyth County and Mr. Smart had also attended this meeting. He noted that there was a favorable response
by Mr. Saunders in supplying water to the citizens of Stokes County and selling
water at a cheaper rate than is now being charged ($2.76/thousand) to the
Highway #65 and Germanton residents.
Mr. Saunders stated that this cheaper rate would have to be approved by
his Board. Mr. Saunders also noted that the residents of Stokes County are
paying less for their water than what the residents of Forsyth County are
paying.
Mr. Kinney noted that Stokes County also
has a partnership with Forsyth County in solid waste and they have reduced
these rates because of volume. Mr. Pat
Swan formerly with the Public Works Department of Forsyth County now serves on
the Finance Board and he wishes to work with Stokes County in a positive
way. Mr. Kinney informed the Board that
he, Rick Morris, the County Manager, Mr. Smart, Pat Swan, the county manager
from Forsyth County, and two of their commissioners had a meeting to discuss
issues between Stokes County and Forsyth County and that things seem very
favorable for a close working relationship in the future for both groups.
Mr. Clifford noted that the Board should
hold off on the Walnut Cove Project and see how things develop.
Mr. Smart introduced Mr. Jack Gardin, the
Town Manager for Walnut Cove and then he noted that Walnut Cove has a hook up
in front of the Walnut Cove Fire Department for the citizens to get water to
fill up tankers for their swimming pools. He noted that there was a meter and
the citizens would pay for this water according to the meter reading. He noted that maybe a valve could be put
onto the water line from Germanton where a citizen could pull off the road and
fill up their tanks as they are doing in Walnut Cove and the Authority could
benefit from this income. This would
help with the water being flushed and wasted and would help the Town of Walnut
Cove by not using their water.
Mr. Montgomery asked who would monitor this
water withdrawal and Mr. Smart noted that it would be on the honor system as it
is now. A citizen comes in signs up and
returns and states how many gallons they pumped and are charged for this
amount.
Mr. Smart asked Mr. Jack Gardin if there
was a key issued for this water withdrawal and Mr. Gardin said that it was not,
but in the future a meter would have to be installed on the tanker trucks to
record these withdrawal amounts. Mr.
Gardin noted that someone would need to be there to monitor this.
Mr. Montgomery noted that he would prefer
to purchase water from the Town of Walnut Cove than from the SCWS Authority as
it would be cheaper, but Mr. Smart noted that there could possibly be a cheaper
rate to help with the flushing of the lines and that waste. Mr. Gardin noted that with the well
situation, at present, water could not be bought from the Town of Walnut
Cove.
Mr. Kinney noted that Mr. Saunders did not
state when he would be back in touch concerning this working relationship, but
he would be speaking with Mr. Saunders and would give an update at a later time
to the Board. Mr. Smart noted that it
was a very good meeting with the officials from Forsyth County.
Mr. Smart noted that he had talked with Mr.
Gardin concerning the Town of Walnut Cove using some of the SCWS Authority
water. He noted that in an emergency
when the valves had to be opened, the pressure could break pipe lines. A steady flow would benefit the Authority
and the Town of Walnut Cove.
Mr. Clifford noted that it may not burst
the lines, but an altitude valve would be needed. Mr. Smart noted that the lines in front of Ingles Shopping
Center, there was so much pressure that it blew up several times until a repair
was made and three dump trucks loads of gravel was dumped on it to help this
problem.
SAURATOWN PROJECT UPDATE
Mr. Smart asked Mr. Kinney to bring the
Board up to date on the Sauratown Project. Mr. Kinney informed the Board that
in February the money was about to be lost to run the water line to the
Sauratown Fire Department. The Chairman
of the Board made some calls and Mr. Kinney had talked with representatives
from The Rural Center and had the project put on hold. The new City Manager of King, Scott Buffkin,
put together a resolution that was approved by the Stokes County Board of
Commissioners on February 7th. This
resolution was to provide funds to the matching grant to extend the water lines
from the City of King to the Sauratown Fire Department.
Since that time, Tory Wagoner with Cavanaugh
and Associates and officials from the fire department, the town engineer, the
new city manager, the county manager, members from the water/sewer authority
board and Mr. Kinney have met on two occasions to include certain items on the
original contract.
Mr. Tory Wagoner was to revise cost
estimates, do an update and go back to The Rural Center then bring the Board up
to date on this project.
Mr. Scott Barrow, City Engineer for the
City of King, is also doing a cost estimate to see if there would be a savings
from the inspection to installing the lines if this was done by the City of
King.
Mr. Kinney asked Mr. Morris, the County
Manager, to bring the Board up to date on this project. Mr. Morris noted that Mr. Scott Barrow had
put together two out of the three estimates that would be needed. At their last
meeting it was agreed to have another meeting (a working meeting) when these
estimates were obtained to see the current policy and what would be done and
then to go to The Rural Center to get their endorsement of what was to be
done. He also noted that the working
group meeting would probably be the following week and after that meeting,
there would be a meeting with The Rural Center to get their approval of the
project.
Mr. Clifford asked if the money would have
to be spent by September and Mr. Morris noted that it would have to be under
contract by that date.
Mr. Kinney noted that the City of King is
excited about this project and are moving along pretty fast. Mr. Clifford noted that if it goes to bid
and that takes a month and then must
receive the bids, then July would be the deadline.
Mr. Smart recognized Ms. Edwards who
presented the 2005-06 SCWS Authority budget to the Board for their approval, a
financial report, and a report of what the water is costing, etc. Ms. Edwards noted that there were several
citizens paying tapping fees. After Ms. Edwards explained to the Board the
different line items, Mr. Montgomery made a motion to approve the budget,
seconded by Mr. Clifford and the motion was approved by the following vote:
For:
Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Clifford, Mr. Hampton, Mr. Smart
Absent:
Mr. Hawkins
Mr. Smart noted that the Board should think
about the election of officers and table this until the next meeting. Mr. Kinney agreed and noted that the seats
were set up as three, two and one year terms.
He asked that the board members consider staying on the board, but if
anyone needed to step down, the board would need to know and have someone
approved by the Board of County Commissioners.
Mr. Kinney stated that there should be
another meeting before August for this election of officers and that any member
wishing to step down should contact either himself or Mrs. Carter, the
secretary. Mr. Hampton noted that he
wished to stay on the SCWS Authority Board, Mr. Smart, Mr. Montgomery and Mr.
Clifford all agreed that they wished to stay on the Board. Mr. Kinney noted that he would be in touch
with Mr. Hawkins to see if he wanted to stay on the Board.
Mr. Montgomery noted that he had two things
to bring to the Board’s attention.
First, he noted that the last time the Board met, Mr. Smart and he were
the only two members present. He felt
that if a Board member could not be present they should call and let Mrs.
Carter know and if there were not enough for a quorum, she would notify the
other members that the meeting would be cancelled. He also noted that it was a 30 mile trip and he did not wish to
drive to Danbury unless there was a meeting.
Secondly, Mr. Montgomery noted that he
wanted to make a correction in the minutes of April, 2003. A motion was made that the hook up fee for
Fiddlers Creek would be ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000.00) by the time the contractor
started the work. Any one that hooked
up at that time or later would pay ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS
($1,500.00). Mr. Montgomery noted that
it was not in the minutes at that time and he wanted to make a motion that this
be added to the minutes at this time, that this was the way it was going to be,
this was the way it was agreed on before, but it was not included in the
minutes.
He noted that he and Mr. Smart and the
Board had discussed this and agreed on this amount. The sign up fee had been discussed and in the beginning the fee
was set at TWENTY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($2,500.00), but came back and said this
was not being fair and to reduce the amount to FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS
($1,500.00). Mr. Montgomery reiterated
that his motion be to set this hook up fee amount to FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS
($1,500.00), seconded by Mr. Clifford and the motion was approved with the
following vote:
FOR:
Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Clifford, Mr. Hampton, Mr. Smart
ABSENT:
Mr. Hawkins
Ms. Edwards noted that citizens had been paying
one thousand dollars for this hook up fee.
Mr. Clifford noted that if they signed up when building the project this
was correct and after the project was completed it was fifteen hundred dollars. Mr. Smart noted there were fourteen people
that signed up for this project and he had given this list to Cavanaugh and
Associates. Mr. Montgomery asked Ms.
Edwards about the recent ones signing up and if she had accepted one thousand
dollars from these and Ms. Edwards noted that she had. Mr. Montgomery noted
that the Board would have to accept this amount as the minutes did not reflect
the fifteen hundred dollars. It was noted that these might have been the ones
that had signed up when the project was started and Ms. Edwards noted that she
had the list of citizens that had signed up at that time.
WALNUT COVE ASSESSMENT
Mr. Smart noted that as Tory Wagoner with
Cavanaugh and Associates, was not present he would speak on this matter and the
Board had already discussed some of the issues at the beginning of this
meeting.
Mr. Smart noted that he had talked with Mr.
Jack Gardin, the Town Manager of Walnut Cove about the water issues and asked
Mr. Gardin if the Board could get the price right did he think the Town Board
would use some of this water. Mr. Gardin
agreed that they would be glad to take a look at this.
Mr. Smart noted that the Walnut Cove Town
Board would pay half the fee and the SCWS Authority Board would pay the other
half of a cost estimate. Mr. Smart
noted that to his knowledge this had not been presented to the Walnut Cove Town
Board. Mr. Clifford noted that the
Board was waiting for renegotiations from Forsyth County.
Mr. Smart noted that the Board would look
at this matter at a later date and see what price Forsyth County would give the
Board for their water. Mr. Kinney noted
that he would give Mr. Saunders a call
concerning this matter.
Mr. Smart asked if the Board had any thing
else to discuss.
Mr. Kinney noted that the Perkins Group was
represented today, Mrs. Kim Joyce and Mr. Bill Stover and asked if they wanted
to speak to the Board. Mrs. Joyce
informed the Board that the leak on Highway #65 had been repaired.
Mr. Smart asked Mr. Montgomery to speak to
the Board concerning this leak. Mr. Montgomery noted that the water line was
across the road from his property and the water had been turned on and had been
on six or eight months. He had been
working in his yard the day the workers came to work on the valve. He knew the water had been turned on and
thought the water had been turned off.
Mr. Montgomery noted that now the valve is off, the repair has been made
and the leak is fixed.
He also noted that the New Hope Baptist
Church sign was splattered with mud by the workers and did not know who would
clean it up. He also wanted to inform the Board that the workers did a
fantastic job in smoothing the ground, sowing seed and putting down straw where
the repair was made.
As there was no further business, the
meeting was adjourned as the Board decided to hold their next meeting on July
14, 2005.