Bryson City town board members are seeking clarification from the state after the town got a letter from the Department of Environmental Quality late last week imposing a sewer tap moratorium.
The moratorium may prevent the town from permitting new sewer taps without first getting approval on a case-by-case basis from the state DEQ, which informed the town of the action in a letter received Thursday, Oct. 31.
Town Manager Regina Mathis said she hopes to get clarification from the state this week on exactly what the moratorium would affect, including residential and commercial sewer taps. The person in charge of the town’s situation with DEQ was out of town and unavailable, Mathis said.
“It’s a moratorium,” Mathis said. “We just don’t know the extent.”
The moratorium came to light in Monday evening’s meeting of the town board, when board members pressured Public Works Director Tom Shook to step up his department’s efforts to repair sites where stormwater infiltration and inflow is getting into the town’s wastewater treatment system.
The worst spot for infiltration into the system revealed by “smoke tests” earlier this year is Hughes Branch, which has been prioritized by the board for repair. However, no repairs have started at the site due to equipment issues, Shook said.
Alderman Ben King said Shook needs to come up with a “firm date” on when the project will start. The project was identified as a priority in March.
“This moratorium thing has got me bent out of shape,” King said.
The town’s permit for wastewater treatment capacity is 660,000 gallons a day, but as recently as last week’s two-day rainstorm, the town exceeded 1 million gallons a day due to heavy rain, records show.
The town has received numerous citations from the state for overflows from the sewer system into the Tuskaseegee River in recent years.
Mayor Tom Sutton told Shook the Hughes Branch and other projects need to start as soon as possible.
“We are going to have to do something Tom,” Sutton said. “We’ve got this letter from the state. We’ve got to come up with something.”
Shook said the town is waiting on a new rollback truck to be assembled by a dealer awarded a contract by the board earlier this year to help with the project.
Components of the truck, including the bed, have to be assembled before shipping. The new truck may not be ready until January or February, Mathis said.
The town has hired Asheville engineering firm McGill & Associates to determine if the town needs a new wastewater treatment plant or if the current plant can be expanded. The firm is also studying what to do about inflow and infiltration into the town’s sewer system. The reports are due early next year.
In other action, Fire Chief Charles Bryson told the board the town will likely have to buy a 75-foot ladder truck for an estimated cost of $1 million to reach the town’s taller buildings, including a four-story hotel, Stonebrook Lodge, now under construction on Main Street.
Bryson said the new hotel and other similar buildings, including the Microtel on the highway and the federal building, which is now the Swain Administration Building, have reached a level requiring action.
If the town fails to buy the ladder truck, fire insurance rates may jump with the next evaluation, he warned.
“It will begin to affect the rates eventually,” Bryson said.
Bryson said rates could jump in the next five years if the board doesn’t get the ladder truck.
Bryson said mutual aid from Cherokee, which has a high-rise ladder truck, will not help the town with its insurance rates.
“Just having one available by mutual aid won’t help us with our insurance rates,” Bryson said.
In other action the board:
*Approved the purchase of a “hammer apparatus” for the town’s excavator to facilitate removal of the School House Hill water tank by town crews. The equipment cost will be about $12,000. The town got estimates ranging from $37,500 to $40,000 from private contractors for removal of the tank.
*Authorized getting street patching quotes for Locust, Winding Way, Crescent, Pine and Ramseur.
*Tabled a request Troy and Margaret Estes for water and sewer taps for property on West Deep Creek.
*Approved billing relief for water leaks for 41 Maple Street and Nantahala Brewing Co.
*There will be a drop-in reception for Alderman and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Gribble prior to the board’s next meeting Monday, Nov. 18. The reception will be from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., when the meeting starts. Gribble opted not to seek another term.