Council - workshop

To address the councilman's question, the 2008 comprehensive plan actually projected our current population to be in excess of 6,000. So there was a projection based on the comprehensive plan that would have justified a large population growth trajectory.

RFP proposal originally back approved by council, I believe by January. Does that actually mean that council has approve these projects because this is controlling our growth. This plan will control our growth.

So there will be a vote on whether or not to accept Yeah, we're not there yet.

But this will control our growth for the next 30 to 40 years based on where we run these water lines. and what we do with this money. Because once this plan is approved, this impact fee cannot be applied to any other project other than what is here. Can it be amended?

Actually, we're in a recovery period. We have yet to attain our maximum growth. population. However, you would sell this particular loop as the accessing the 50 acres that's out by Ofre and the 400 acres across it as being potentially new customers. You could not use this fund simply to increase the flow rate. Is that correct? So you would be accessing new customer base with this.

But you have to justify spending that money on this particular line, and you cannot justify it simply by improving the quality of the water.

My question is, so what projects are being identified right now for as growth? Are we looking at industry? Are we looking at residential? All right. So identify.

Okay. So growth-driven, is that residential or is that industry? I think that could be both. Could be both. I think that could be both. That was the answer I was looking for. Yes, ma'am. I think that could be both. Water consumption. Yes, ma'am.

Water consumption, whatever water is being used for, whatever project there is. The need for the line increases water consumption. Okay.

I wanted to be more specific in that that I got it.

My understanding is. Capital improvement plan is 1 issue, right? The other issue is impact, but this list does not necessarily mean these funds would come from. Impact page, we would probably have to find other sources. If we cannot prove growth factor, we would probably have to find funding from other sources. Exactly. This list does not actually would not deplete the total amount, or it may exceed, but it is a totally separate issue. So we're discussing what we need, and then we can discuss whether or not those needs can be paid for by capital, by the impact fees.

The junction with the blue line or the new red line that ties in, is that at the old tie-in with Gilbert Summit?

I'm just looking to determine whether or not the new red line would be an effective bypass of all of the old existing line that has been an issue over the years and will probably continue to be because of the way it was constructed.

So this will eliminate a potential disaster, which is always there.

Is there an overlay available for our service area to see exactly how much of our service area would be covered by these extensions?

We don't run to the Saluda County line, for instance.

That's what I'm saying. How well does this cover our service area? We're doing loops, but is there richer territory? We're digging for gold in this location, but is there more advantage to running instead of looping that way, looping the other way?

So, so we're pretty much in the Eastern half of our service area and. The Western half is not addressed.

Will that water tank open up the possibility of having to have additional chlorination capability or to go stale?

Let me rephrase the question. Scientifically, what is the maximum age of water? before it needs to be re-fluorinated?

So that opens up service to the center fit property.

So, is there a gap? Okay. So currently we. We have a line down liberty, but then it turns left back.

Which would not support 300 or 400 homes.

So we would long-term end up putting that line in anyway if that property was developed.

But it doesn't look like they're expecting much development in that area from what I'm looking at here.

Yeah, I don't see anything coming out there.

I'm just saying we're explaining the people. The councilman's interpretation of the laying of line actually means that we own that property is, in my interpretation, incorrect. We lay them along the roadway.

How to reduce population density. Hi, our concern is congestion related to population.

85% of 85% of our traffic congestion problems come from outside our town limits already.

i feel like uh i feel like they're very closely tied together yeah this addresses water what about sewer because i would assume based on uh the requirements of the property that we were looking at uh the kirk what people used to call kirk which is no longer a realistic requirement but The demand for sewer in these areas out there are adjacent to the lake because of the nature of the soil. The demand for sewer would be just equally as high as it is for water because they're running out of the ability. You put a 200 Uh, unit, uh, high density housing, the sewage problem is very significant. Do w

But they have to pump it on a regular basis.

So then who's going to do the sewer? Yeah, who's going to do the sewer for all these buildings?

We are protected. It's an assignment. Somebody else got to come in here. My understanding is it defines our water district, which we are protected from intrusion by anyone else without our permission. I'm not worried about intrusion.

We're not guaranteed that no one can come into this area and provide sewer. What I'm saying is we've created...

I understand. So we will allow them to have septic systems? So they will be allowed to have their own septic system?

All right, but they're coming into the outskirts. As you said, they were shoestring annexing. So what happens within the city limits where the people are not on the sewage?

Okay. So, Jay, with the first phase of this new development up the street here on 23th, Are they going to be tapped into the sewage? Yes, ma'am. All of the large developments, yes, ma'am, they will all be tapped. What's that, Sheely Road as well, what they're doing over by?

So what I'm looking at, there are quite a few houses, homes going up for sale in my district, and it's on a specific street. I'm, I'm, I'm consciously aware of the fact that we have citizens who've been longstanding moving out of the area. In my district. And I'm looking at, I heard particularly some were moving up to homes that were being built up on that 378 up there where we annexed that shoestring area where we're talking about Harbor Watch. And also up there, they are creating some tiny home communities. So we're talking about water going there and looping them in. I'm concerned about the

The Greg Street Station? Yes, sir. That's the back way to J.B. Martin. How far out is that pump station?

Greg Street cuts across from Lee to Fond Branch or East Avenue, whatever you want to call it.

Some of these are upgrades, except for the two new stations, Bethlehem and Saluda Avenue.

I'm sorry, not as I saw the contract at the binding agreement. It is open as usual. It's an open ended agreement, which does not have a time limit. Or any other restrictions where we could reasonably withdraw.

That's a legal question. I slept that day in law school.

Go ahead. Is there also part of that agreement that they will permit us for an additional two?

So we're currently operating our plant at what capacity?

If I may, the bottom line is that The proposal is for us to increase the impact fee for water and sewer from about $1,300, $1,400 to approximately $5,000. So that is a fourfold, three and a half, fourfold increase per se. So that is what it boils down to, increasing 12 1400 1300 i guess 14 that you said impact fees total for a three quarters 11 43 and now we're going to 48 49 hundred dollars so that's and those fees would be effective when

So that could impact, that could be impact the, have any permits been pulled for?

Permits been pulled or they pull a permit before we approve this, they would pay.

Why, if you may ask? I mean, we could do this in three weeks. We could do this in three weeks. I'm just very discouraged at the momentum that... Our government seems to react.

Well, I understand that state law mandates a process for us to implement an impact fee. Is there a restriction on us reducing an impact fee at a later date?

Basically, we could implement this and when the number came back in for the general fund impact fee, we could say this is going to be a restrictive situation. Let's balance the two and I'd like to go with more money in the general fund impact fee and reduce this. I'm just looking at the fact that as construction goes on, the town is losing revenue.

Well, what my constituents express their concern is that sometimes our government seems to move at a pace that would make a snail look like a roadrunner.

I fail to understand all of them, but I'm an old man and I'm...

Well, impact fees will not affect out of town.

So they actually pay an impact fee out of town, right? Yes, sir. I stand corrected?

border system. I don't know what LCWSC is, but with the exception of joint mutual, these are not cities that we are competing with. What about Aiken? What about Saluda? What about other areas that immediately impact this area. These are, I mean, Bishopville, we have no relationship to Bishopville.

Unless I'm mistaken, if I may, the $1,293 that were imposed in 2004 And the dollar value today would be $2,283. So, therefore, for us to even maintain a buying power for our projects, we would immediately have to increase it to $2,283, where we are currently looking at $4,000.

Yeah, this is one half. Okay, I'm sorry. Yeah, it is one half of the 2583 would have been the original in 2004. Absolutely. We do not want to throttle growth, but we want to actually not lose money on it.

I think we're probably about a third of the way through with all my slides. So if y'all want to go on, take a break for a minute. time. The mayor wants two council meetings a month. I agree. He wants work sessions. And by the way, council needs to schedule work sessions with our agenda, with our agenda, with our agenda. All right.

Mentality. It's his mentality. Cricket. Cricket.

It's the, I will do anything to avoid being wrong.

The question is, obviously, and again, our experience with leaks on the water system number two, and that system is no longer metered. So what do we have in place that would give us a reasonable early detection of if we metered that section two, or system number two? Could that meter be used, flow meter be used,

All right. So we will be looking at whether or not the line could be cleaned and would have a potential to be a portable order line and also whether or not we could use the flow meter to system two. System two just bothers me. In fact, it could run up a very large bill in a very short period of time. And could also force us into a relook at our obligation from joint mutual. It could spike for five days.

And I have to put the baby to bed. So we move.

Okay. But it would be a plus selling feature if we sell the town fine property.

We're going to use the material from demolishing the filter and sedimentation basins to fill the clear wells? Okay, so there would not be a large-scale removal of material to be dumped in?

Okay, Mr. Hendricks, I'm going to bring up something that was brought up many times before we got to this juncture with the water system. We talked about the decommissioning of the water plant. The question that came up many times before, which some people laughed, was in case of a natural disaster, what is our backup system?

We discussed this last year about the decommissioning, and several times it came up, what would be our backup. And some people thought, oh, we won't need that. It's not necessary. You're putting the cart before the horse. Well, the situation that I saw that we see in the news with Gary and Dan, they needed water. They couldn't flush their toilets. Okay, so that's my question. What will we do in the event of something worse than Helene, something worse than Katrina that hit in Louisiana? What does Batesburg-Leesville have in the package or in the plan for the future, Mr. Hendricks, in case we r

I believe these things should be considered in all procedures and processes. And some people may think it's not necessary, but we're not eternal, and we're not the ones who have the final say. So thank you for your answer.

And that really was not something that we thought would be feasible because of the decommissioning back, the process, what was done in December. But yet I needed to ask that question. There are constituents who are watching, who are listening, and they have concerns. And because I'm a citizen of this town, I have divorced their sentiment. Now, it may not refer or apply to any of you, but I live here, too. Absolutely.

Yes, ma'am. About two days worth of order. 1,000,000 at 1,000,000 at the old road tank. What do we have in town? We have three times 450.

Okay, so we have a million four, and we're using about seven.

Yeah, more likely we would see a pipe issue with the 24-inch before we saw a failure of the ability. My other concern is a legal one. The contract with Joint Mutual says we shall not buy. Order from anyone else do we need to amend that contract? We get into it.

Why we should have kept our, but this conversation is centered around 1 major natural phenomena that we lose the lake. There are other interruptions broken lines. Destroyed pump stations or whatever I mean, but we, we have another choke point and that is saluted county water and sewer. And that's the town of rich brand. So if we were going to try to. Do a capital improvement project to make that available. We would have to go into the town of rich spring and increase. I believe this is experience with rich spring. The truck point is rich frame. Not the line between here and there.

There would be no reason for them to refuse.

Now, there is one component of the average customer's water bill that is missing, and that is the base rate or meter rate. And for clarification, the 2023 price increase was divided between a increase in the base rate and an increase in the per thousand gallon rate. The original proposal as proposed to council at the time was to increase the base rate before rate and we negotiated with Mr. Luckadoo to split it between an increase in the base rate because it would hurt the lower income people while people like McDonald's and other people using their money, using water for profit. So we shared i

Then I'll go back and look at my data. All right.

Councilman, that's within the purview of council. We don't need a recommendation to act on that. If you would like to have a work session on that, I'm sure council will be willing to cooperate and And do so.

Decisions made with our condition at this time of night may not be the basis.

That's Chinese math, but that's okay. I don't think anything in our ordinances say that the out-of-town rates are fixed at 150%. It is a fixed rate. So how do we justify to tell our out-of-town customers we're raising in-town rates 2% But we're raising out of that. Well, it would be more logical to go to and across the board.

I am sorry. There is no ordinance that sets the out-of-town rate at a percentage of the in-town rate. It is set by council with a fixed rate. Right.

I agree with Councilman out of seat number one in the fact that I don't think we should bind future councils to a fixed policy. I believe our ordinance should read that the council shall review water and sewer rates on prior to the budget each year. And that way it gives us the option of doing 2%. We may want to do 3% or we may want to do 1% or whatever. So instead of a fixed policy of tying the hands of future council, making them go back and change an ordinance, we should just simply say that the council shall review water and sewer rates too much prior to the budget.

Well, just review it every year where my book would be.

okay mr mayor if i may um most communities have a development policy and that policy establishes who installs the meter and they have provisions that if a outside contractor installs a meter the development process says that the meter must be purchased from the town at whatever rates the town sets and that the meter will be inspected by But we need a development policy. I believe a lot of communities have it. If Mr. Cunningham, I believe Lexington has one. Is that correct, sir? And that addresses these issues of who installs the meter, who services, who whatever. And whether or not are we goin

Well, my understanding is that if the meter is subject to cross-connection, i.e. a lawn meter that is for irrigation purposes for the banks and so forth, a testable backflow preventer must be installed.

We cannot do that. We cannot do that in a work session. It takes an action of counsel, and counsel can only act as a vote. We cannot do a direction without an act of counsel, and counsel can only act in a formal meeting.

And that makes us put in the town is supposed to have a record of every testable meter. Testable backflow preventer. I went a decade without mine being tested, which put me in a situation of liability were it to be found defective. But for instance, Gilbert Summit sends out a notification that you must test the backflow preventer. And also there is a list of certified. I think our county needs to look very carefully at that provision.

I'm just concerned that our town is exposed to a liability, particularly with DES.

And the test can run from $75 locally to $169 for Gilbert Simon. Yeah, we have numerous...

We should be... DES provides a list of certified... Oh, yeah.

The certified technician will return to the town.

So you're saying that it would not make a difference if the line has been there for like 80 years, if the meter will fit? Because my house is like 80 years old plus, and the line has been there since Mr. Otho Sheila was on the... One person talking at a time, please.

So if it's been there like 80 plus years, it should fit?

Okay, so suppose it doesn't fit, then what do I do?

Well, we had one replaced when there was an ice storm. We had a temperature down to seven degrees like in the 80s. But that particular house did not lose a meter. My house lost a meter, but my grandmother's house did not. So it has not been replaced in those years. Actually, it has not really and truly. So we'll see when we get there. Well, you all heard me, so we'll talk about it then.

Why in addition to and just not make it part of the tap fee?

Development ordinance. Who can put in the meter? What kind of meter?

So that's my, my question is, does $500 actually cover the cost of the town? to put a meter into a new house over here. It covers the material cost, it covers so forth, but when I add that up, what is that, $405, $445? You're telling me that we can send someone out and install a meter for 45 bucks, our cost?

We have to tell you what you have to tell us what the real cost is. So you're just trying to cover cost with this price.

That's the reason I ask why we aren't increasing our tap fee.

Across the street. You haven't collected a tap fee. You're going to go over there and put in 400 and something dollars worth of or you're going to require them to put in a meter box, and then we go, who's going to install the meters across the street? We don't have a policy that says they, we don't have a policy, best of my knowledge, or an ordinance that says they can't come along and install their own meter as long as it meets DES requirements.

We have that in writing. We do have a policy that says.

So this is basically... Do you have an ordinance that says that you have that authority?

The authority to specify which kind of meter to be installed.

But by what – if they take you to court – How is the town protected? Is it protected by an ordinance? If they take you to court, because you, they think your demands are unreasonable.

Oh, okay. I mean, we need a developmental. All right, so we'll... All right, so...

You said, I'm sorry, Mr. Councilman, but this is a critical question. Did I say that out loud? You said that a year from now we go out and find a meter that was not changed at AMI. And we're going to charge that person a meter set fee?

What you're talking about, there's a stubbed off line on the property.

Are you talking software, or are you talking creation of a database? My niece?

I think it would be a software, but I will get... You have to have a database in order to... Yeah. So are we talking about a study of our water system and sewer system? And you're talking hundreds of thousands? Yes, sir.

And somebody has to determine what that is. What kind of pipe? What's the flow resistance?

You're going to have to do ground radar to establish the depth and the incline and so forth. You're talking north of a half million.

There's no automatic roundup in the system?