Oconee OKs deal with Sewer Authority on Fair Play/I-85 sewer

After months of negotiations, an agreement that could pave the way toward sewer service development along Oconee County’s I-85 corridor is going forward. On Tuesday , the Oconee County Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing an agreement that transfer ownership to the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority of an approximately 12-mile service line from the county’s Golden Corner Commerce Park near Fair Play to the authority’s Coneross Creek treatment plant near Seneca. The Council’s approval of the agreement also frees up over $600,000 for an engineering study on extending sewer lines from the commerce park to the county’s three I-85 exits. The basics of the agreement were outlined last September. But Tuesday’s agreement includes language that could allow the county to choose an ex officio representative on the sewer authority’s board of directors. Before Tuesday’s vote, the Scott Parris, Walhalla utility director and sewer authority board chairman, and Chris Eleazer, authority executive director, told Council members that the sewer authority could not directly act on the county’s demand approved earlier this month that the agreement give the county direct representation on the sewer authority board. Under the state law that created the authority, Eleazer said, members could be added to the authority’s board only if the Council passed a resolution to apply to the authority for membership, and the application was approved by the city councils of all three member cities – Seneca, Walhalla and Westminster – that make up the authority’s board. Parris and Eleazar informed Council members that two other modifications in the agreement’s language approved earlier this month were acceptable to the authority. Under the first, the county would pay for maintenance and operation costs of sewer lines only when those costs were incurred by the authority. Under the second modification, should the authority be unsuccessful in securing grants for the extension of sewer lines to I-85, the ownership of the service line from the commerce park to the Coneross treatment plant reverts to the county. The sewer authority was eager “to be a team player” and part of the community’s economic development, Eleazer said. Both Parris and Eleazar joined Council members in executive session for final negotiations before Tuesday’s vote.