Franklin County Commissioner Smith Calls for Discussion on Carnesville Water System Purchase

Franklin County Commissioner Josh Smith says it’s time for the County to openly discuss whether to acquire the City of Carnesville’s water and sewer works.

At their work session Tuesday, Smith asked that the subject be added to the night’s agenda.

“I just wanted to go ahead and start the discussion on this project. Whether it happens or doesn’t happen, we have to start the discussion,” he said. “From my understanding, it’s been on the table for quite a while. I understand the opportunities we have as a Board in other places. However, with it being budget time, and the new budget about to come up, I felt it necessary to at least start the conversation.”

Smith said County Engineer John Phillips was requested by the Board to attend the work session Tuesday so Commissioners could ask questions about what he learned from inspecting the Carnesville system.

The County has been in talks with the City of Carnesville about purchasing its water and sewer system after being approached by Mayor Harris Little a year ago.

In January WLHR News learned the purchase was discussed sometime last year in an executive session under real estate but it was never on a Board of Commissioners meeting agenda nor discussed or voted on in a public meeting.

That led to a number of Carnesville citizens questioning the legality of the proposed purchase.

At the time, Jacques indicated he would not move forward with further talks until the City answered a list of questions the County submitted to them.

County Manager Derrick Turner said Tuesday night that Carnesville did return its answers to the County.

Turner said Carnesville averages around $350,000 a year in water and sewer revenue, which would determine the return on investment for the County if the purchase went through.

“Depending on what the sales price is determines what the ROI is for that,” he said. “At about $335,000 in revenues and say the sales price is ranging from $400,000 to $900,000, then the ROI at the lowest revenue is about 1.19 years of return all the way to 2.68 years of return with a sales price of $900,000,” he explained.

County Engineer John Phillips was asked by the Board to be at the meeting.

Jacques asked if Phillips had any issues with the water/sewer system that would be a liability for the County and he said they did not.

Jacques also asked about a bridge project on Highway 59 in Carnesville that involved the City sewer system.

“The City of Carnesville has sewer facilities that have held up the process. With the acquisition of this system, if this were to come to fruition, the City of Carnesville potentially has liability to the State and to that contract. Do we know what the status of the relocation and the accommodation of that project is at this juncture,” he asked.

“The last conversation that I had with the contractor that is doing inspections on that project, the DOT is still responsible for the cost to relocate the sewer,” Phillips replied.

Finally, Jacques pointed out that the County water system water pressure is much higher than the water pressure of Carnesville water customers and he asked if the County would be responsible for installing new water pressure gauges for Carnesville customers.

Phillips said he believes that would be the responsibility of the Carnesville customers.

To date, the Board of Commissioners has not made any decision on whether to purchase the Carnesville water/sewer system.