Appomattox ready to talk water line

Appomattox Town Council has responded to a year-old county water line offer by attempting to open a dialogue.

The response, which came six weeks after Appomattox supervisors laid down an ultimatum regarding the offer, didn’t offer any concrete conclusions other than asking for 60 days of negotiating time and outlining a list of topics to discuss.

The June 1 letter, which was not discussed during Monday’s council meeting, said the town has sufficient water capacity from existing wells to last until 2051. Additionally, it said it intends to add capacity through new wells.

However, the town left the door open for water line discussion by saying connecting to the water line for a supplemental use “may be in the best interest of both parties’ contingent on negotiating terms being discussed and an agreement being reached.”

Among the topics for negotiation are:

- A boundary line adjustment to the town limits;

- County ownership due to upfront investment, with a percent of town ownership based on customer base;

- The town’s desire to evaluate and use potential well sites outside the town limits.

The reason for listing boundary adjustments as a negotiation point, Town Manager Bart Van Nieuwenhuise said, is to “recognize that that the potential exists, and we want to try to get discussions with the county as far as expanding the town limits.”

County and town officials have been writing letters back and forth regarding the issue since November 2007, when the county proposed paying for 75 percent of the water line’s construction and engineering costs. About six months later, the town responded by proposing that the town pay 100 percent of the cost, transfer ownership to the town and discuss a “friendly boundary line adjustment.” The county responded back, saying it would pay 100 percent of the cost and install a master meter at the town limits in order to sell the town water.

Since then, there has been silence from the town, other than a meeting in December. County supervisors in January voted to move forward with the water line project and began engineering work and signing up future customers.

Current usage statistics, including that town customers use less than half of existing capacity, financial projections and other numbers Town Council used for information during closed door negotiations were highlighted in a presentation during Monday’s meeting.

“From the conclusions, as far as the information that was presented and shared with public tonight was to show factual information about our system but don’t necessarily draw conclusions from it,” Van Nieuwenhuise said after the meeting. “You can look at that factual information and see indeed that our well source from a production standpoint and a consumption standpoint is in pretty good shape.”

In other news:

- Town council unanimously approved a resolution requiring that future water line discussion be conducted in open session.