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Chair Jacobs said that OWASA is treating sewer lines like they did in their old policy and <br />the water line policy will accommodate the County's concerns immediately. He said that this is <br />a favorable response from OWASA. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he could write to OWASA that the Board considers this <br />responsive to the concerns. <br />8. Public Hearings <br />a. Public Hearing for Buckhorn Road EDDICommunity Water/Sewer Project <br />Engineering Report <br />The Board held a public hearing on the Engineering Report for the sewer expansion <br />portion of the Buckhorn Raad EDD/Community Water and Sewer Expansion Project. <br />Chair Jacobs said that this was partially passible as a result of two earmarks that <br />Congressman Price was able to get in previous years. <br />County Engineer Paul Thames said that they have had two local grants that will total <br />$1.4 million. With the grant comes a number of requirements, and one is the public hearing on <br />the engineering report. The notebook contains an environmental assessment and evaluation of <br />the City of Mebane's sewer system, a description of the system depth, cost estimates, etc. He <br />said that the format is dictated by the State. He summarized the information in the abstract. <br />This project includes providing sewer to the new middle school. The amount of money that the <br />County would net out of the grant is $1.36 million and there is a 55% federal match to a 45% <br />local match. This money is also being spread out to the project to provide sewer in central <br />Efland. They will be using money from the 1997 bonds and additional monies set aside as the <br />County match. The overall estimated project cost to do everything except far the water line is <br />approximately $1.6 million and they are short $250,000. <br />Paul Thames said that another portion of this is the interlacal agreement with the City of <br />Mebane, which allows Orange County to build the system and turn over the ownership, <br />operation, and responsibilities to the City of Mebane as the utility provider. <br />Paul Thames said that individual households that will be connecting to this system will <br />need to have an understanding as to what a sewer bill will be for usage of 5,000 gallons a <br />month. The City of Mebane's in-town rate is $22.50, but out-of-town customers will be paying <br />$45.00 a month for 5,000 gallons of sewer. If this area is ever annexed it will get in-town rates. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked clarifying questions about the costs, which were answered <br />by Paul Thames. She asked where they would get the money for the shortfall of $250,000. <br />John Link said that staff is looking at ways of addressing this shortfall. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to page two of the abstract, item `c' and the <br />third bullet, "not including engineering costs (estimated $175,000 with construction <br />administrationlinspection)." He said that the last time they discussed this the County <br />Commissioners asked if the County Engineer's office could do the construction administration. <br />He asked what happened with this. Paul Thames said that they could do a major portion of this. <br />He wanted to present the worst case. Commissioner Halkiotis wants to know the best case and <br />Paul Thames said that they could save about $75,000. Commissioner Halkiotis said that this is <br />significant and he wants to use the in-house capacity to assist in this and save the money. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he thought the plan was for Mebane to eventually annex the <br />areas that are served with this. He thought this was part of the agreement. <br />Geof Gledhill said that Mebane has no plans to annex into the EDD, but they could. <br />Paul Thames projected that most of this area on Buckhorn Road will eventually turn high <br />dollar commercial soon and then Mebane will probably annex it at that time. <br />PUBLIC COMMENT: <br />