Water Authority ‘Clears the Air’
Jasper County Water & Sewer Authority board members attempted to ‘clear the air’ Tuesday evening for a few concerned citizens on the proposed Bear Creek Reservoir contract currently being contemplated by the Jasper County Commission.
The authority’s first meeting of the new year was attended by more spectators than usual, largely because of public scrutiny of the reservoir partnership with Newton County.
Non-board members in attendance were Francis Cason, Charles Forsythe, Linda Bernard, Jack Bernard and Ken McMichael. The largest issue concerning the contract that puzzled inquisitors was the 25 percent financial allocation that Jasper County would be responsible for versus the total water usage.
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Consulting engineer Frank Sherill of Hightower Consulting and board members tried to answer the questions posed by the concerned citizens. Inquiries ranged from the lack of environmental impact studies, thus far, to the consideration of other viable options including constructing an independent reservoir within the county or digging wells.
Authority chairman Roger Bell announced the individuals named to the Bear Creek Advisory Committee by the commissioners on Monday. He also urged those in attendance to look at both sides of the issue before drawing conclusions about the proposed project.
[“Don’t believe what you read in anybody’s paper…don’t believe the Taxpayers Watchdog—look at it for yourself.”]
Relative to the County Line Road water project currently under construction consulting engineer Tom Garrett informed the board that a total of 20,500 lines of pipe had been installed thru December 20. The first segment of the project along the northern portion of County Line Road is projected to have water service by mid-month.
Mr. Garrett also informed the board that payments totaling $348,000 had been submitted to Southeast Pipeline for project construction.
Authority secretary Linda Jordan reported that more than 100 inquiries for water had been received from County Line area residents with some 80 households having submitted connection fees.
The authority approved the water eligibility of two preliminary subdivision plats currently being considered in the County Line Road vicinity. Meadow View, a 22 lot subdivision proposed by Lee Durden, and Jones Estate, a 121 lot subdivision proposed by Keith Ellis, were approved unanimously.
Mr. Sherrill informed the board that a demonstration of the touch read meters would be performed at the Hightower Consulting offices in Social Circle Friday, Jan. 9 at 11 a.m. The meters, manufactured by Delta Line, will be installed for the County Line Road project and eventually for all other county water projects.
Water technician Tom Brazil provided a December water usage report that included 104,000 thousand gallons for Yancey Road and 30,000 for Charlie Elliott.
Storage facility committee members Doug Thomas and Don Kelly were authorized to look into possible land acquisition ventures for authority equipment storage, not to exclude county property.
Mrs. Jordan informed the board that requests from the Taxpayers Watchdog Group had been completed. The group had requested meeting minutes from July to the present along with a financial statement.
