What had been a decade of steady growth for Foxfire Village slowed in 2008 with the downturn in the economy. But the pause in growth bought the Village more time to address its limited water resources and research alternatives.
Those alternatives were the focus of a Special Meeting of the Village Council on Thursday, March 21.
In February, the Long Range Planning Committee recommended to the Council that the Village merge its water system with the much larger Moore County system. Moore County would absorb the Village’s Water Department debt of $400,000 and take over the water tower and the current water delivery system. The County would also lay the water lines needed to connect the two systems.
In order to pay for those water mains, Village residents would continue to pay their current water rates, which are higher than the rates paid by other Moore County customers, for the next twenty years.
Water long a concern for Village
In 2005, Foxfire hired Hydrostructures, PA of Pittsboro to conduct a study of the Village’s water system. Hydrostructures submitted the Water Source Alternatives Study in 2006 and updated it in 2008. The report balanced prospective growth with the quality and quantity of the Village’s existing water system and made immediate and long-range recommendations.
The immediate recommendations were to address the high radium levels in one well, to put in place ordinances prohibiting private well drilling in the Village limits, and to institute water conservation measures. Reducing the maximum day demands would allow the Village to postpone construction of new wells and extend the life of the existing wells.
The long range recommendations were to either dig more ground water wells or purchase bulk water from Moore, Montgomery, or Richmond Counties. The report advised pursuing Moore County first, because Moore County's existing water system was closer to the Village than the other options.
In 2010, the Village Council asked the Long Range Planning Committee to review those recommendations, do an in-depth study of all options, and provide their own recommendation. The committee was made up of eight members, including Mic McCue and Steve Durham. Since then, both McCue and Durham have been elected to serve on the Village Council.
A need for public input
“Over the last two years we have looked at this very seriously," Durham said during the March 21 Special Meeting. "The long Range Planning Committee took into consideration quantity, safety, and affordability."
Village residents were encouraged to attend the March 21 meeting, and Mayor George Erickson stressed the importance of public input. In addition to the Council members, Long Range Planning Committee Member Mary Ann Lauer and Village Water Department employee Jon Sedlak attended the meeting.
“We have had a public meeting regarding this issue tonight," Erickson said. "The next step is calling an informational meeting for the residents. A presentation needs to be made, and then we need to allow for input from citizens."
An excellent water system with little room for growth
Speaking on behalf of the Long Range Planning Committee, Councilman McCue said: “Currently, our water system works fantastic, no problem, and we have one employee, Jon Sedlak, running it.”
“We do not know how much water is under Foxfire Village,” McCue said. “We already run at peak capacity sometimes during the Summer. We are planning to double or triple the size of Foxfire in the next ten or twenty years. We do not have any generators on any of our systems. If we had a major storm and lost power for more than ten days, we would be out of water. Our water system is not prepared for a catastrophe. If we decide to keep our current system, it is something we should look at and be prepared for.”
“One thing we reviewed was the hydro-study we had done in 2006," McCue continued. "It recommended that we find an alternative source of water. There was also a back up study in 2008 with the same recommendations.”
“In 2006, the Council was concerned enough to have a study done about the Village’s water system,” said Durham. “The basic premise of why the study was done was, in the Sandhills region, many wells have a relatively low yield due to their low fill rate. When the study was conducted, several had a less than ten-gallon-per-minute fill rate. One well was abandoned due to petroleum contamination and several others show low levels of radium.”
“In 2008, Moore County did not have sufficient capacity to serve the Village at that time," Durham continued. "The recommendations said that, once Moore County secured Seven Lakes, it could then address Foxfire. Otherwise, we could continue to utilize ground water wells. However, the longer the Village relies on wells as its primary source of water, it will continue to have issues with water quality and levels.”
In the last five years, the cost of connecting the Village to the Moore County water system has decreased.
“In 2008 there was no need to hook up with the County. At that time, it would have cost $2 million to bring water from [NC Highway] 211,” said Erickson.
After the initial 2006 report, the Village worked to remedy the radium levels. “The radium levels are reported to the State on a periodic basis," Erickson explained. "We have spent a good bit of money on testing. The radium levels have dropped.”
Erickson yielded the floor to Sedlak for a more detailed explanation.
“The only well we had a problem with was SH1," Sedlak said. "The way that was mitigated was hooking up to [well] #10 and mixing those. The reports have been good, and the radium has been kept well below the minimum. The last quarter we went a smidgen above the limit. I was surprised by that. It has been brought back down.”
More wells are not the answer
Even if Foxfire Village does not experience a resurgence of growth as the economy improves, it is still vulnerable, if water levels drop in the aquifer that feeds its wells.
“It is inevitable that the Village most likely will need to connect with another water source,” McCue said.
Digging water wells is expensive and risky. “Robbins has dug four wells up there and has not found water,” McCue said. “One thing I have heard recently is, ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’ I can appreciate the statement, but I also don’t want to wait until it is broken. It could become a real problem, and I don’t want it to. I don’t want our tap to ever run dry.”
Once a well is dug there are no guarantees, said Councilman Vic Koos. “When you dig a well, there is no way to estimate how long that well is going to last.”
Plenty of questions
To better understand the Long Range Planning Committee's recommendation, Erickson presented the Council with fifteen questions that would need to be considered before selling the Foxfire water system to Moore County. His questions ranged from the cost of closing down the six existing well sites to the duties of the Village employees once the water system was turned over to Moore County.
The Village’s water system is a currently a source of income, and Councilwoman Leslie Frusco worried about the possible loss of that income.
“It has a financial benefit, and it makes up part of the operating cost," she noted. "If you look back at the water fund, it is making money and it is absorbing other costs. Some of the profits are being paid to our employees who actually do the work. Our water system could not exist without them.”
Currently the village has two full-time employees and one part-time employee. “The shared cost of their salaries comes from the General and Water Funds," Frusco explained. "Basically the Water Fund picks up about $33,000 a year in benefits, payroll taxes, salaries, etc. The employees we have also work for the water department. Without the water department we would most likely only need two half-time employees.”
Foxfire residents would also be footing the cost for the water lines being laid. “It seems to me, what I could glean from this, is Foxfire residents would be paying more in water costs than the rest of Moore County,” said Frusco. Durham agreed that the Village residents would be charged more than water customers in the rest of the County.
“Our residents would not receive the benefit of the reduced Moore County rate," Frusco said. "In essence, over time, our residents are paying for that pipeline. The Village is not out of pocket. It is being paid for by our residents, just not the Village.”
On the other hand, Village water rates could increase if there are unexpected expenses. “The County has guaranteed the same rates for the next twenty years,” said Durham. “In five years, if we continue with our system, we most likely will have to increase our water rates.”
Erickson noted that there were several years when expenses exceeded the revenue in the water department. “There was the year we did the major work on the tower,” Erickson said. “That came out of the Water Fund. For a number of years, the Village did give money to the Water Fund, about $10,000 a year, to build up that fund.”
The Council discussed potential growth with increased water consumption.
“We are relatively a young small community. There is talk about tripling our population over the next ten years,” Councilman Koos said. “The other thing is, if I have it correctly, if something catastrophic happened, it would be covered by the County.”
Not a done deal
Frusco said it would be beneficial to invite Randy Gould, Director of Moore County Public Utilities, to a future meeting. Erickson agreed that he also would like to meet with Gould.
“I would like to have another special meeting and ask Mr. Gould to come and lay out Moore County’s whole plan and give us the opportunity to ask questions,” said Frusco. “We should also invite him back for the public meetings so that he can provide his expertise. This is important enough that we may need to have more than one public hearing.”
To better inform residents prior to the public meeting, Erickson suggested making all information available -- including the 2006 and 2008 Water Source Alternatives Studies -- at the Village office and on its website.
“I have heard from handful of people that say it’s a done deal,” said Frusco. "That upsets me -- that anyone would think that that we would undertake something like this lightly. It upsets me tremendously; and I would like to say to all residents this: it isn’t a done deal. This is something we take very seriously. We are going to spend the time and energy necessary before making any decision.”
A special meeting with Gould has been scheduled for Thursday, April 11 at 6:30 pm. The Council meets tonight, Thursday, March 28, at 6:30 pm in its regular monthly work session.
