Agenda - 09-20-1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 The existing agreements were developed under an assumption that one of two potential scenarios would be in effect. In the first scenario, it was assumed that: a) all project costs (construction of the new force main and pump station and repair of the existing collection and individual step systems) would be fully funded from a special County account created with an up-front cash deposit from the home owners; b) the home owners would ultimately be reimbursed for some portion of their initial payment from any grant funds remaining at project completion; c) the County would own the entire system, including the new force main and pump station and the existing collection and individual step systems, as long as required by grant conditions; d) the County would turn ownership of the entire system over to OWASA as soon as grant requirements would allow; and e) OWASA would provide all the technical, management and administrative services necessary to supervise all construction and repair activities and thereafter to meet system operational and management requirements. In the second scenario, it was assumed that: a) the entire project (construction of the new force main and pump station and repair of the existing collection and individual step systems) would be administered and funded by home owners without public assistance; b) the County would not be involved in any manner in the ownership, operation or management of any part of the system; c) all aspects of system construction would be the responsibility of the home owners although under the supervision of OWASA: d) OWASA would assume system ownership on completion of construction; and e) any agreements that had been developed specifically to allow temporary County ownership of the system would become null and void. At its July meeting, the NC Environmental Management Commission (EMC) declined to award the grant sought by Orange County to fund the Piney Mountain project. County and OWASA staff assumed that the denial of grant funding terminated the County' s role in ownership and management of the Piney Mountain system. However, during the same time frame, the NC General Assembly was enacting new legislation - HB 1628 - enabling (but not requiring) the EMC to create a new procedure for providing grant funding to help replace the waste treatment systems - including Piney Mountain - abandoned by Northstate Utilities. The new legislation included a grant eligibility requirement that systems be owned and operated by a county, a county water and sewer district or a county sewer district. Insofar as any effort to obtain grant funds for the Piney Mountain was concerned, the grant eligibility requirements related to system ownership and operation remained essentially unchanged by the new legislation. On September 8th, the EMC met to discuss formulation and adoption of temporary rules for a grant funding process as specified in HB 1628. The EMC did adopt rules which applied only to "failed low pressure pipe systems" ; set an application deadline of September 30, 1994 and an application review period through December 31, 1994;