|
2
<br /> need to at least understand where the other person, or in this case, entity, is coming from. I think all of the
<br /> utilities are committed to providing safe drinking supplies, quality water, we want to have a sufficient quantity
<br /> of water to provide for the customers, the citizens; and we want to do it in a way that is environmentally
<br /> sensitive and that is cost effective. As far as our interests, we are trying to be very up front. We have a
<br /> number of interests. As I said, we are not a water provider, but we are a sewer provider in the Efland area,
<br /> and we recently decided to go ahead and at least complete a master plan for an Efland sewer system. We
<br /> started the Efland sewer in the early 80's in response to some failing septic systems, and we are still
<br /> perfecting that plan now and have a million dollars in bond monies that will be applied to expanding the
<br /> current system. Even though we are talking about Orange County in general, and you all have different parts
<br /> of Orange County, we are really talking mainly about the central part of Orange County today in terms of
<br /> whom we have brought together. And you can see that there are a number of issues—a new County middle
<br /> school. The County school board would like to put one near where we have an elementary school, but we do
<br /> not have sufficient water for fire suppression. Economic development, we have existing businesses and an
<br /> 850-acre designated economic development district between Efland and Mebane that has no provision of
<br /> services contemplated, nor have we identified a source of those services. I would like to welcome the
<br /> members of People for Progress, who are sitting in the back several rows. This is a community that kind of
<br /> falls in a no-man's land between Mebane and Efland, not really in anybody's service area. They have water
<br /> and sewer problems, and we need to figure out a way to coordinate so that we can address those problems
<br /> in a way that is satisfactory, that brings them the service that they need. When we talk about water and
<br /> sewer boundaries, we have an agreement that was recently put in place between Hillsborough; OWASA,
<br /> which represents Chapel Hill and Carrboro, as well as Orange County; and the Orange County government
<br /> that delineates the water and sewer boundary for each utility so that we know who is going to provide where
<br /> and which areas will not have service provided unless there is a public health emergency. We do not have
<br /> those kinds of agreements in central Orange County.
<br /> I cannot go through this without mentioning conservative use of limited resources. I walked down
<br /> to Seven-Mile Creek, which is near my house, before I came here in fact. It was hard to leave. I brought one
<br /> of our other constituents, this mussel. And when we talk about all of this, we know that we have to protect
<br /> the environment. We know that, for instance, the Eno River cannot be pumped dry like it used to. We know
<br /> that we have to provide not only for ourselves, but for our descendants. And in order to do that, we think it
<br /> would be good to work together.
<br /> We recently co-sponsored with the Chatham County Commissioners a symposium on emergency
<br /> preparedness, looking regionally primarily at the threat posed by a possible nuclear accident at Shearon
<br /> Harris, but even more generally, looking at emergency preparedness and how we might improve it in case of
<br /> any kind of major threat to public health. And it was certainly striking, the lack of coordination, the lack of
<br /> leadership from the State, the lack of coordination on a regional level. We have put that up there because
<br /> some of the same kinds of thinking may need to be done to link us better. We have linked water lines, but we
<br /> do not have linked thinking, we do not have linked planning. These other issues, I do not think I need to read
<br /> to you, but they all come into play when we talk about providing water and protecting watersheds.
<br /> And finally, another quote from Ambrose Pierce, "Discussion, a method of confirming others in
<br /> their errors." We hope to have a good discussion. We do not come here with a sense that we want to tell
<br /> you what the outcome should be. We look forward to working with all of you. As you know, within the last
<br /> several years Commissioner Halkiotis and I have met with all of the entities that are here to just try and reach
<br /> out and say, 'We would like to work together. We would like to identify common areas of interest." And we
<br /> appreciate the fact that you are here.
<br /> He asked everyone up front to introduce themselves and say whom they represent.
<br /> B. Roundtable Self Introductions
<br /> Bob Atwater, Chatham County Commissioner
<br /> Katie Calvin, City of Durham Public Works Director
<br /> Moses Carey, Orange County Commissioner
<br /> Louis Cheek, Mayor Pro-tem, City of Durham
<br /> Don Cox, Orange County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor
<br /> Mike Gering, Hillsborough Town Commissioner
<br /> Kenny Keel, Town of Hillsborough Engineer and Utilities Director
<br /> Ed Kerwin, Executive Director of OWASA
<br /> Faye Metcalf, Orange-Alamance Water System
<br />
|