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December 10, 2009

Hanceville water board mulls rate hike

By Ben Montgomery The Cullman Times

HANCEVILLE — The Hanceville Water and Sewer Board is considering increasing water rates, mainly to raise funds for improvements to the water treatment plant.

General Utilities Manager Chris Freeman said higher rate structures can sometimes help cities win grants.

“The City of Cullman is, if they haven’t already, fixing to dock us 10 percent increase on the water we buy from them, and we’re looking at a $4 million sewer plan, another two-and-a-half million INI, and we’re looking at the three million we already owe,” said board member Doug Batemon. “... We need to look at a rate increase and get on the ball looking at it now.”

The board only discussed the possibility of a rate hike at their meeting on Tuesday; they did not vote on an  increase.

Goodwin, Mills and Cawood engineering and architectural firm, headquartered in Montgomery, gave a presentation at the meeting detailing phase one of a proposed construction plan for an improved wastewater treatment plant.

The initial cost estimate is $4 million, but engineer Burt Hankins said the estimate could change with additional research. The construction is supposed to increase the plant’s maximum water flow from 1.5 million gallons a day to four million. On Nov. 11, 1.3 million gallons of water flowed through the wastewater treatment plant, the highest for the month. The average daily flow for November was 0.92 million gallons per day.

Board member Johnny Whitaker expressed concern regarding poor engineering in the past and failings by the current plant.

“We’ve had some bad advice in the past on engineering, and we just want to make sure we get the right information for the people of Hanceville,” he said.

The board decided to buy new computers for the water and sewer board offices from Computer Network Inc. They were the lowest bidder, with an estimate of $7,516.

The board also passed a motion giving hiring and firing authority to Freeman. Whitaker said he thought Freeman had always possessed the authority, and was eager to grant it to him. Batemon said he believes the board should be involved in the hiring and firing process in some way, which Freeman agreed with.

Wastewater treatment plant manager ClearWater Solutions reported a broken backup pump at the plant, which the board elected to repair as soon as possible.

Board member Kim Brown was not present at the meeting.

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