Commission Discusses Billing for JCWSA

The county taking over billing for the Jasper County Water & Sewer Authority was the main topic of discussion at the Jasper County Commission meeting Monday.

It started with the citizen comments, when Mary Patrick, said that the public would like to see the intergovernmental agreement that the county reaches with the JCWSA before it is signed. She said everything with JCWSA seems to be a secret.

Then Charles Forsythe spoke, saying if the county would provide an agenda packet for the audience in its public meetings, maybe there would be less question about what the commissioners are doing.

Ms. Degges said the city of Monticello who now handles the billing for JCWSA was hoping to make the change on January 1. However, there are issues that the authority needs to address, such as replacing worn out meters, before the county can form an agreement to take over.

Frank Sherrill, engineer for the JCWSA, said that the concept is that it would be beneficial to the county government and to the authority. The authority will pay the county to do it, and the county can do it for less cash than it receives form the authority.

Ms. Degges explained there would be minimal labor cost as it would be spread across several employees. Presumably one would ride the route and read the meters, and another would produce the bills.

There are only 300+ customers, and the billing is monthly. So aside from the monthly billing, someone is needed to answer calls for emergencies and billing questions. Ms. Degges indicated the work would be spread over several employees amounting to an hour or two a month for them. The meter reading is anticipated to take less than a half-day.

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Mr. Sherrill addressed what had been brought up previously. He had approached the county about backing a Georgia Environmental Facilities Administration (GEFA) loan, and the county was reticent to do that. He said the authority had found another way to fund the meters, and would not seek any assistance from the county.

He said the authority will take on the debt associated with the new meters. And, Ms. Degges had figured postage into her accounting for the service, and he said the authority had previously paid for postage. He suggested the details such as that could be worked out if the county and authority can reach an agreement.

He said the city has expressed a desire to stop doing it, as they don’t have the personnel, and the person currently reading the meters plans to retire. He said n one in the private sector wants to handle public money. He also pointed out that the JCWSA customers are county citizens.

Commissioners voted 3-2 to have the county attorney work on a proposed intergovernmental agreement so the county can handle the billing. Commissioners Doug Luke and Bruce Henry deferred, saying the county does not need to take on more duties, as it has its hands full handling what it already does.

After the citizen comments, commissioners made comments, and Commissioner Doug Luke wanted to be sure other commissioners were aware that a car went off the bridge on Pitts Chapel Road a couple of weeks ago. He said we need to move forward on the bridge replacement…or whatever can be done to make it safer.

County Manager Karen Degges said the county engineer Mark Whitley had called and apologized. He was working with a bridge expert on that project, and the expert had been sick for the last month.

Per previous meetings, the county is hoping to partner with Newton County to improve the bridge on Pitts Chapel Road that connects the two counties. No one is sure where the county line is, so a survey is probably the first step. The county wanted to get estimates on improvements before moving forward with talks with Newton.

Commissioner Bruce Henry said the roads that had been repaired with plate dirt got really bad when it rained so hard on November 23, and asked if the Public Works Department (PWD) was fixing the mess. Ms. Degges said the PWD was aware of the problem and working on it, but she didn’t know how far along they got before the holiday.

Commissioner Carl Pennamon said he was glad to be back, and thanked everyone for the prayers. He has missed the last few meetings after back surgery.