Heavy rain costing Fremont money
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 17, 2014 1:46 PM
FREMONT -- Heavy rains this summer have limited Fremont's ability to use its wastewater spray fields, forcing town officials to send more wastewater to Goldsboro for treatment.
Members of the Fremont Board of Aldermen discussed the issue at their meeting Tuesday night.
More than 2.5 million gallons of waste was disposed of in the spray fields in June, and then the number slowly dropped to 1.5 million and 909,636 gallons in July and August, respectively.
"That shows that we've got to take advantage of our spray fields," Town Administrator Barbara Aycock said. "Every time we have to send our sewage to Goldsboro, it costs us a lot of money."
Waste had to go to Goldsboro more often in July and August due to an increase in rainfall, which renders the spray fields unusable. Fremont saw only 3 inches of rain in June, but 4 inches in July.
The 1-inch increase in rainfall cost the town an extra $33,000.
In other business, the board revealed that the town has begun a paving program, already having completed four streets. The town will only pave four for now, and will pave more as money becomes available, Mayor Darron Flowers said.
Also, Ira Reynolds and Al Lewis reported to the board about First Missionary Baptist Church's food bank, which started up two weeks ago. Reynolds said more than 60 families were served at the first event, and that the group has prepared for more than 100 families for an event that will occur this week.
Reynolds and Lewis said anyone is welcome to come and receive aid at the food bank.
At the end of the meeting, the Board of Aldermen went into closed session for personnel reasons. When the board emerged from the closed session, Marti Jones was hired as the town's new deputy clerk.