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A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Gordan to <br />approve recognizing Piedmont Minerals, a mining operation located in Hillsborough, for its <br />significant water conservation efforts and authorize the Chair to sign the resolution. <br />RESOLUTION HONORING PIEDMONT MINERALS <br />WHEREAS, Piedmont Minerals had operated a mine in Hillsborough for over fifty years and a <br />processinglgrinding plant since 1968, and <br />WHEREAS, three minerals are mined and processed at the site: pyrophalite, andalucite, and <br />seracite, and <br />WHEREAS, the Hillsborough mine has the only deposit of andalucite in the United States, and <br />WHEREAS, all three minerals are used in the manufacture of ceramics and brick, helping <br />increase durability and heat resistance, and <br />WHEREAS, Piedmont Minerals currently employs 18 people, and <br />WHEREAS, as a result of changing its dust collection process in 2004 from a wet mist dust <br />suppression system to a dry bagging system, Piedmont Minerals water usage dropped from <br />approximately 100,000 gallons per day to under 15,000 gallons per day, <br />NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners <br />formally commends Piedmont Minerals and its Plant Manager, Bob Atz, for its dramatic <br />reduction in water usage. <br />This the 13t" day of December 2005. <br />UOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />7. Special Presentations <br />a. OWASA Policy for Reimbursing Costs far Building-in Excess Capacity in <br />Utility Line Extensions <br />The Board received the latest information on OWASA's discussions relative to revising <br />its policy for reimbursing costs related to building in excess capacity in utility line extensions; <br />and to allow the BOCC to provide comments that can be transmitted to the OWASA board for its <br />discussion on this issue at its meeting of December 15, 2005. <br />Paul Thames said that this came forward from earlier this year when the Board asked <br />OWASA to reconsider its reimbursement policies. The Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro also <br />asked for this, relative to public funds spent on developing water and sewer utility extensions. <br />OWASA used to have a policy for dealing with reimbursements and did away with it because it <br />was not very utilized. An ad hoc committee of OWASA board members and staff has been <br />created and they will be discussing this on Thursday. The proposal is a policy for <br />reimbursement far excess capacity. There is also a different reimbursement policy for sewer <br />than for water lines. Sewer lines only have a benefit for the area that they serve and OWASA's <br />proposal is to capture the cost associated with increasing the size of the line. Water lines have <br />a system wide benefit by virtue of making the system more reliable and OWASA would <br />reimburse incremental costs. <br />