Sewer consolidation to be studied
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 26, 2017 7:56 AM
Operating and maintaining a sewer system can be a financial drain on a community, especially smaller ones like Fremont and Eureka.
Those financial struggles have caught the attention of the North Carolina Local Government Commission that has awarded Wayne County a $50,000 grant to study ways to reduce that burden.
The study, which could take up to six months, will look into the possible consolidation of the Fremont/Eureka sewer systems.
It will look as well into the potential costs of rates, long-term rates, infrastructure needs and its potential effect on Goldsboro and Wayne County.
In addition, the study will look at the possible merger of Goldsboro, Fremont, Eureka and Wayne County sewer systems.
The Local Government Commission asked Wayne County to manage the study, Assistant County Manager Craig Honeycutt said.
The Local Government Commission wanted to see what might be feasible and if the parties involved were willing to move forward, he said.
Officials with Goldsboro, Fremont and the county have met and agreed to the study, Honeycutt said.
The representative from Eureka was unable to attend the meeting, but is "fully aware" of the proposal and what the county is trying to do and is supportive of the county moving forward, Honeycutt said.
Wayne County commissioners last week awarded the contract for the study to Freese and Nichols of Cary.
The company will look at assets and the infrastructure of all the systems.
It will partner with Raftelis Financial Consultants of Cary to do the financial piece of the project that will look at rates and capital funding needs.
Honeycutt said he wanted to stress to residents in all of the communities that there are no pre-conceived ideas or plans going into the study.
"This is just a feasibility study," he said. "This is a non-binding study."
Once the study is completed all of the parties will meet to work out what the next steps will be, Honeycutt said.
It will be a transparent process that will include public meetings as well, he said.
Goldsboro City Manager Scott Stevens said the city currently treats the wastewater from the county, Eureka and Fremont so the city system has plenty of capacity.
Fremont has received grants of $1 million and $1.2 million to work on its sewer system lagoons and to repair damaged sewer lines.
The town plans to apply for a grant to finance improvements to three sewer pumps.