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Wednesday, 17 January 2007 07:26 |
By DAVID FORBES
Asheville will soon sell water to Hendersonville, following Asheville City Councilës 5-1 approval of a deal between the two cities on Jan. 9.
Hendersonville City Council will take up the matter early next month at its regular meeting.
The 20-year deal, which will net the city $40,000-95,000 annually, is being touted by its proponents as proof that Asheville can create and maintain regional partnerships.
"This
was an opportunity, with their needs and our capacity to provide,"
Mayor Terry Bellamy said. "More importantly, itës about continuing to
build good relationships."
She added that
the deal would not have been possible before Asheville gained control
of its water system after the dissolution of the regional water
authority in the summer of 2005.
This agreement, she noted, just concerns the sale of water.
"Thereës no
park, no civic center, no authority, no land," Bellamy said. "This is
just straight selling water. Nothing requiring us to have an agreement
beyond that."
Asheville still
lacks the ability, which most municipalities in the state have, to set
different water rates for customers inside and outside the city, due to
laws passed by the General Assembly that specifically target Asheville.
The city is currently challenging those laws in court.
The dissenting
vote came from Councilman Carl Mumpower, who congratulated Bellamy on
the deal, but said he felt it was premature.
"I donët think
we should be entering into agreements on anything like this until weëve
resolved our legal issues," Mumpower said. "Weëre locking ourselves in
when we donët have understanding of how this is all going to play out.
Thatës definitely a concern."
In response,
Bellamy asserted that the deal is an opportunity that Asheville should
pursue, even before the legal issues surrounding the water system are
resolved.
"This is an
opportunity for us to recoup some of what weëre losing and put it back
into the infrastructure improvements that need to happen," she said.
"Regional cooperation is not something weëve had for awhile. This is
true cooperation. I think that, long-term, itës not only to the benefit
of Hendersonville, but our rate-payers as well. This council is working
hard to overcome any negative ideas about the city that are out there
and show that weëre willing to work with others. Weëre going
gangbusters on this now and weëre dealing with the laws that restrict
us and weëre still moving forward. To me, itës like ǃÚIs that the best
youëve got?ë"
In reply, Mumpower said that the city was ceding a possible bargaining chip by completing the transaction at this time.
"We should go to
Hendersonville and say, ǃÚLook, after our legislators are not breathing
down our necks anymore, weëd be happy to do this,ë but we need to get
our legal issues resolved first," he noted.
Under the terms
of the deal, Asheville would sell water to Hendersonville at 81 cents
per 100 cubic feet, the same rate it sells water to Biltmore Forest,
Woodfin and Black Mountain. The deal also includes an adjustable annual
fee to help with the cost of upgrades. Either city may terminate the
deal by giving 180 days notice.
Meanwhile,
Councilwoman Robin Cape noted that she would prefer a deal "that saw us
working together longer, without being able to just call it off for any
reason as long as we give six months notice," but that she was
generally in favor of the agreement.
City Manager Gary Jackson touted the deal as "win-win agreement. Hendersonville is in need of water and we have water to give."
Later, Councilman Brownie Newman also referred to the deal as "great and generally a very good thing."
In other action
related to the water system, the city adopted 5-1 a plan to begin
exploring the possibility of using bonds to finance needed improvements
on the water system. The plan had been previously discussed in a work
session in October.
Mumpower also
cast the dissenting vote on that plan, citing similar concerns to his
objection to the water deal with Hendersonville.
Councilman Bryan Freeborn was absent from the meeting.
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