Orange County NC Website
all the time, in times of drought. It would mean that a draw-down <br />would occur inevitably, and would have to occur if the dam is to serve <br />that purpose. Now on the other hand, it seems to me that the body of <br />water we are talking about is sa great that it is not likely to en- <br />counter a great period of drought. S think if we can, from the point <br />of view of the Authority, be absolutely and finally and completely sure <br />the water supply and the purpose will be the first one and it will be <br />inviolate, then I don't see any disadvantage to the Authority in joint- <br />ly developing the resource there with the County." <br />Arthur Hurow stated "I expressed support of the notion when it <br />was first made public. It was said to me, 'don't you think this is <br />something that they are trying to take away from you?' And I said on <br />the contrary, S think they are trying to develop a partnership approach <br />to this thing and exploit the most viable options that are available <br />to the County Commissioners which don't have. I agree with Jonathan <br />that the primary mission on the purpose of the Water Sewer Authority <br />can become servant to some grant scheme, but I want to add that we are <br />'working against a specific time table. That to me is pretty well in con- <br />Crete. We made a commitment to the people who live here in the commu- <br />nity at least in the planning stages. Obviously, we haven't planned <br />anything, we haven't made any approaches to the people who own the land, <br />we haven't negotiated with anyone and have na instructions to do it yet,, <br />but we have assured them that we would expedite in every way possible <br />so the kind of summers as we had this summer would not occur, if we can <br />prevent in future summers, we would certainly do that. We also attended <br />a conference with property owners around Cane Creek, and despite the <br />fact that one would like to expedite and do everything in a hurry, we <br />must consider some true hardships that are going to occur to the people <br />up there and they are going to have to be considered. So, on the one <br />hand I say to you we have a timetable, and second, we have to procede <br />cautiously that all those things have consideration, particularly with <br />the individuals that we will be getting into. Maybe, yeu are more aware <br />of that and are closer to it in the County than we are. On the other <br />hand, there are shortages in water and the sewer systems in this town <br />are something that we have solve expeditiously." Gen Hurow stated <br />further that he agreed with Mr. Howes on the matter of making. sure the <br />primary mission of the Cane Creek project is not deluded or forgotten <br />or sent back after six month, a year, ox a year and a half, which would <br />depend on how serious the Authority and the County is about doing this <br />project. <br />Chairman Morris asked that those present talk about some of the <br />delayed potentials. He stated, "as Art said, time is paramount. If <br />the Authority were to go ahead and finance Cane Creek project, the <br />financing would be relatively in a short time, if we sold revenue bonds. <br />Now, if the County were financing, first you would have to have a refe- <br />rendum, is that correct?" The reply was "yes sir." <br />Chairman Morris continued, "and then I wish someone would comment <br />on the time schedule involved in that. And then I wonder if you have <br />thought and talked about what's (time) is involved in some of these <br />other potential sources of revenue, such as you have mentioned, financial <br />aid from federal sources. Is that something that is likely because of the <br />complexities of going from one unit to another unit applying for funds and <br />applying for grants, it's going to take even more time than the selling <br />of bonds. I think we ought to talk about the time involved in getting <br />these." <br />Chairman Garrett sated "I think what the County was waiting for was <br />the meeting here tonight, and I think that if there is some joint interest, <br />the County would have to make some commitment to go full speed ahead. I <br />think the RC&D funds for sediment structures are not difficult to work <br />out." Mrs. Garrett asked the County Manager to comment on this. <br />Mr. Gattis stated that funds may be available and they may not. <br />"If they are available, presumably there would be more than one sediment <br />structure, they may not all be built at one time, it is not necessary <br />that they all be built at one time." <br />Chairman Garrett explained "it is the County's idea that when the <br />lake is built in the beginning, to build sediment structures to retard <br />the sediment from building up in the lake and thus, prolong the life of <br />the lake. Now that is not critical, but it makes sense to plan all of <br />that in the beginning. <br />