Minutes 10-14-2025-Joint Meeting w/Fire Department

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26 Slide#8 Orange County Primary Service Area • Orange County does not operate a water system and no longer operates a sewerage system — (former Efland system was transferred to the City of Mebane in the early/mid 2010s). • Idea for Orange County Primary Service Areas(PSA) was for Orange County to coordinate with providers to operate systems within the County's PSAs. — Former agreements with the Cities of Mebane and Durham • Agreements now defunct ORANGE COUNTY NORTH C.AROLINA Perdita Holtz emphasized that Orange County does not operate a water system and no longer operates a sewer system. She explained that the idea for Orange County's primary service area was for Orange County to coordinate and partner with providers to operate systems within the county's primary service area, so there were former agreements with the cities of Mebane and Durham, but those agreements are now defunct. Commissioner Fowler asked why those agreements are defunct. In Durham's case, Perdita Holtz explained that there was a sewer system study done in the mid-2000s that determined that sewer expansion into the Eno Economic Development District (EDD) was not going to be financially feasible because of capacity constraints further down the line within Durham. In Mebane's case, she said Mebane is currently covering the areas that were included in the service agreement, like the Buckhorn EDD, and took over the former Efland system that was Orange County's. She said it is understood that they will continue to serve those areas, so the service agreement was sunset. Commissioner Carter asked if these agreements timed out or if formal notice of withdrawal from the agreement was required. Perdita Holtz said these agreements had termination dates that went into effect unless the agreements were renewed. Chair Bedford asked if her memory is correct that Orange County Planning staff has recently contacted Durham and confirmed that they still do not have capacity. Perdita Holtz said there were some attempts in 2020 to work with Durham, but efforts fizzled out. On a related note, Cy Stober shared that Mebane has initiated a study with Orange- Alamance's Water System to look into consolidating the two systems. He said the report from that study will be delivered sometime in the next year. Commissioner McKee said he recalls that Durham was not interested in pursuing an agreement. Chair Bedford agreed. Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked if leadership in Durham has changed since the last attempts. Cy Stober said there were staff changes, and council members have changed as well. He said that Bryant Green was with the City of Durham at the time, so he may be able to share more information.