JOINT SPECIAL CALLED MEETING

There was a joint meeting held by the Spalding County Board of Commissioners and Board of Commissioners of the City of Griffin on Wednesday, August 16, 2000 in their office in the Courthouse Annex in the City of Griffin, Spalding County, Georgia, beginning at 6:00 o’clock p.m. Those present from the County Commissioners were Commissioners Johnie McDaniel, M. Michael Kendall and Merrill Massengale. Commissioners Martha McDaniel and Earle Childres were absent. Also present were County Manager Mike Ruffin, Deputy County Manager William Wilson and Executive Secretary Phyllis Doane.

 

Those present from the City Commissioners were Commissioners Anthony Dickson, Joanne Todd, Mayor Carlton Imes, Geraldine Jackson, Dick Slade, Rodney McCord and Tom Perdue. Also present were Acting City Manager Lisa Hutcheson, City Attorney Drew Whalen, Water & Wastewater Director William White and City Engineer Ron Harris.

 

Chairman Kendall called the Special Meeting to order for the County.

 

Mayor Imes called the Special Meeting to order for the City.

 

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the short-term and long-term water plans and to see if there is some ability or willingness to expand the entities that are at the table and allow the county to play a role in the future water needs of Griffin, Spalding County.

 

Chairman Kendall commented that the County did not have a specific proposal but suggested to the City that the door be opened for discussion.

 

Commissioner Johnie McDaniel stated he was interested in knowing what the City’s long-range plan is and hopes that the two (2) Boards can work together.

 

Commissioner Massengale stated that water has become the most precious resource on this plant and he is very concerned about the water situation. He too would like to see the City and County work together to handle this situation. He suggested that maybe there should be another source of water. He said that he feels like we have been a little bit remiss in looking out for the future.

 

Mayor Imes asked William White to give an update on the water situation. He said that our reservoir was at an all-time low when we called for a "state of emergency" but with recent rainfall it has come back to 21" below normal so the reservoir has not filled back up. He said in the last few days we have not been able to pump from the Flint River and we have had to start pumping from the reservoir and the level has dropped to 22 ½" below normal and part of it is due to evaporation, which dropped one million gallons a day. He said that we are using the Clayton County connection, which provides 400,000 gallons per day to our system, which is serving the area west of the 19/41 Bypass. The Henry County connection was completed this week and is now operational and is ready to place in service, if needed, providing 500,000 gallons per day. The Butts County connections should be completed this week and can be operational the latter part of next week. He said that the City has also installed some wells and with the ones at Spalding High School and the City Park there will be a total of six (6) wells, which will provide 1.6 to 1.8 million gallons per day. All the alternate sources would provide approximately 3.3 to 3.5 Million gallons per day. He said with this supplement of our supply we would be drawing as little as possible from the reservoir.

 

Mayor Items commented at the current usage, with no rainfall and with no other sources, the reservoir would run dry October 10, 2000. The City has spent $750,000 in steps to upgrade the water system. He said that our situation is not as critical as it once was but we still need to be conservative with our water usage.

 

Mr. Ron Harris, Engineer Consultant for the City of Griffin, addressed the possibilities of dredging and adding gates to the present Heads Creek Reservoir. He said the question of dredging the reservoir has come up numerous times and the cost factors involved are astronomical. He said the cost in 1991 was $50,000 per million gallons of silt removed. The cost would be $15 Million. He said that they had compared this to building a brand new reservoir and the cost would be 1/25 per volume. He said to drain the reservoir and increase the size you would only gain 3 million gallons a day and that could not be considered for this drought. It could only help in the next drought.

 

He said the other option of raising the level of the reservoir was evaluated in 1991. The reservoir was built in 1963 and at that time the Georgia Safe Dams Act was not in affect but the law was passed in 1975, which has numerous strict requirements on the construction of reservoirs and the amount of floodwater that must be passed by the spillway of the reservoirs. He said no old reservoir meets these requirements but if you go in and modify, the new law applies to the whole reservoir. He said that the spillway would have to be totally reconstructed. He said that raising the dam was not an economical solution and it would require permitting. He said that it was about five times expensive raising the reservoir per volume than building a new reservoir.

 

Mayor Imes opened the floor for public comment or questions.

 

Mr. Darrell Boaz commented that water is now a paramount commodity. He said that we need to work on the infrastructure first and build for the future on the new one.

 

Mr. Ancil Baird commented that he felt we should have started planning earlier. He suggested that spending the money for the new swimming pool is converted to building more water towers to store water and it be our reserve.

 

Mr. Dick Morrow stated that Mr. White had made the comment that 15% to 17% of the water had disappears in the system. Mr. White said that a very good leak detection program would help solve this problem and he plans to ask for it in his next year’s budget.

 

Mr. Horace Kelley asked about the water tables across the county. He said that he understands that some of the wells have gone dry. Mr. Harris said that this part of the country is rock granite. He said that they hired a geologist who specializes in locating wells. He said that we have hit five (5) wells out of nine (9) holes and have gotten an estimated yield of 1.4 million gallons per day. The soil configuration in this area varies tremendously.

 

Mr. Bill Landrum commented that he has one of his car washes on well and one will be finished up tomorrow on the other and he will be totally off the city water. He said that he wants to hear the long-range plan that the City has in place.

 

Mr. Harris discussed the long-range plan for the City of Griffin. The plan was in the beginning for the City and County to form a Regional Water Supply but the entities could not get together and this did not happen. He said that he was hired by the City of Griffin in 1993 to do some planning and get things rolling on a long-term water supply for the region. At that time a contract existed between Griffin and Spalding County and the contract had a provision to allow either party to terminate with a two years notice. He said in the fall of 1993 Griffin issued revenue bonds in the amount of $2.5 Million to start a long-range water supply project. In January 1994 the Spalding County Water Authority wrote a letter to the City of Griffin informing them that the Water Authority had decided to build their own reservoir and have their own system and served notice of termination of the contract. In March 1994 EPD informed Spalding County that they would not be permitted to draw water or build a separate system and Mr. Rehis urged the City and County to work together and to also involve other jurisdictions nearby in a regional water supply. Discussions began and at a joint meeting retreat on July 28-29, 1995 the City and County Commissioners made a decision that the City would continue to own and operate the water system within their jurisdiction and that Spalding County would continue to own and operate a water distribution system within its jurisdiction and the two governments would enter into a intergovernmental agreement that provided for the City of Griffin to have the responsibility of constructing the water supply facilities and selling water to the County on a wholesale basis. The staff members were directed by their respective Boards to work out a contract and in 1995 the contract was executed. The contract was for 25 years and it was binding that neither party has the right to terminate the contract. The contract guarantees that Griffin will be whatever needs to be done to provide the water and that Spalding will purchase what they need and the rate will be adjusted annually based on the actual audited cost of production. He said that contract was the catalyst that got things started.

 

He said since 1996 a lot of work has been done. He said a long-range plan was developed and surrounding counties were asked if they wanted to participate. Pike, Meriwether and Spalding wanted to be participants. He said later on Coweta County signed on to buy water. He said the application for a 404 permit was submitted in 1998. He said every local, regional state and federal agency is involved in reviewing this plan. The agencies have agreed this is a good plan. He said there are a few remaining obstacles and the kind we are dealing with is endangered species. He said the Flint River is our only viable source for this region. He said the proposed reservoir site is selected and the City is negotiating on the purchase of the property. All the environmental studies have been completed. He said they expect the construction permit to be issued by the end of this year. This reservoir will handle fifty years of growth providing 35 million gallons per day. The present reservoir will be kept and will still be used when the new reservoir is operational for a period of time.

 

Chairman Kendall asked if the City of Griffin is prepared or willing to even discuss letting somebody else in at the table. He said that is what we are here tonight to discuss. Mr. Kendall suggested having a committee from both Boards similar to what we did on the Wastewater Management Agreement. He said that he had no proposal but wanted to set up some mechanism for the discussions to begin.

 

Commissioner Tom Perdue commented that he did not come here tonight to answer that question. He came to discuss the City’s long-range plans, which Mr. Harris just presented. He said that they were doing every thing possible to increase their water resources. He said that he feels that the City Commission was "blind sighted" in coming to this meeting.

 

Chairman Kendall commented if you are not prepared tonight to discuss this, we should set up another meeting.

 

Commissioner Johnie McDaniel commented that he applauded the City for the work that has been done but suppose that the endangered mussel prevents them from building their reservoir in Pike County and there has to be an alternate plan, the County would like to offer their assistance in this area. He said that we are just making a "good faith" effort for some assistance in a community plan.

 

Ms. Doris Dickinson, Chairman of the Spalding County Board of Health stated she was present tonight to represent everybody in the region. She said the health of this community and region depends on water. She said that she has been in a situation where people were limited to 50 gallons per day and described what the situation would be like with all kinds of diseases, mosquitoes, typhus, malaria, etc. She said the City and County must work together. She said the City has a plan in place but asked the question, what if this is not approved. She wanted to know if the City had another plan.

 

Mr. Allan McCallum commented that the City Commission should have some plan in place if the reservoir does not materialize in Pike County. He said that he feels that the City should have the other entities that are purchasing water to come together and discuss this future water plan.

 

Mayor Imes commented that the City of Griffin Water and Wastewater Department is a company that produces and sells water. He said over the last several years the City has developed a plan to build a reservoir to satisfy the needs of this community for the next fifty (50) years and there is no reason why before we are on line with this reservoir, why we can’t begin to make plans for the time when that reservoir will no longer be necessary and it will be outdated and we move on to something else.

 

Mr. Ron Harris commented that the City has looked at twenty-one (21) different reservoir sites so this is not the only plan that was evaluated. He said that if the best site is denied a permit, there are other options to fall back on.

 

Mr. Daa’ood Amin commented that it is good to know that a study has been done for other sites. He said that when you are talking about regional projects, there are certain funds that are available within the state. He said that a regional approach he feels would add more additional weight to the equation.

 

Commissioner McCord commented that it would be political suicide for the City to say that we don’t want to let Spalding County or any other entity that is on our system come to the table in some capacity. He said we need to find out what that capacity is and set up that meeting and sit down and talk about how these entities can fit into the equation.

 

Commissioner Geraldine Jackson spoke to what Mr. Amin eluded to. She said there is money available for regional projects and what we have to do is apply for that money. She said she did not think there was anybody present that would be against that plan. She said one of the sources is Georgia One. She said that she did not feel that either Board was ready to start the war of a previous Board. She said that we have a situation before us that is grave. She commended Mr. White and Mr. Harris on doing an excellent job for the City. She said what the City has inherited is what is in place now and what they have in place seems like a good plan.

 

Chairman Kendall commented now since the City is officially apprised of what the County Commission wanted to discuss, that you would contemplate it and give us a response as whether or not you want to get together and meet again and talk about that. Commissioner Kendall asked if the City wanted another letter to memorialize our intention.

 

Mayor Imes commented that the County Commission states they want to be a player to help promote the water sufficiency of this community and he suggested that the County be more specific in what they have in mind and then they will sit down and discuss the plan.

 

Commissioner Johnie McDaniel commented that the County does not have a plan to bring to the table. They just want to come to the table and help in the decisions.

Chairman Kendall commented that at our meeting Monday night, we will articulate exactly what we want to see happen.

 

There being no further discussion nor business, the meeting of both the City of Griffin Board of Commissioners and the Spalding County Board of Commissioners adjourned.

 

 

County Clerk/County Manager Chairman

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