MINUTES

 

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA                          CANE CREEK WATER & SEWER DISTRICT

COUNTY OF HENDERSON                                                                          FEBRUARY 18,  2004

 

The Cane Creek Water & Sewer District Board met for a regularly scheduled meeting at 9:00 a.m. in the Commissioners’ Conference Room of the Henderson County Office Building at 100 North King Street, Hendersonville, North Carolina.

 

Present were: Chairman Grady Hawkins, Vice-Chairman Larry Young, Commissioner Bill Moyer, Commissioner Shannon Baldwin, County Manager David E. Nicholson, County Attorney Angela S. Beeker, and Clerk to the Board Elizabeth W. Corn.

 

Commissioner Charlie Messer had left the meeting, coughing.

 

Also present was:  County Engineer Gary Tweed.

 

Minutes

There were no minutes submitted for approval.

 

CANE CREEK WATER & SEWER DISTRICT

Update on the Mills River Sewer Project

 

Environmental Assessment

Gary Tweed reported to the Board on the status of the Mills River Sewer Project and requested approval for seeking the necessary easements for the Project.  On February 3, 2004, EPA signed the public notice on the Finding of No Significant Impact (FNSI) for the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Mills River Sanitary Sewer Project.  The public notice period is 30 days and at the end of the public notice we should receive final EPA approval provided there is no public comment that would warrant a change to the project.

 

With the issuance of the public notice, the State Construction Grants and Loan Section has authorized us to proceed with non-construction related tasks.  These would include engineering, preparation of plans, specifications, bid documents, easement acquisition, cultural resources survey and geotechnical evaluations.

 

Easement Acquisition

The project will be bid in two phases, the first being the interceptor followed by the two collector lines to the school and business sector.  Easement acquisition is near completion on the interceptor with staff planning to meet with the Board to request authorization to proceed with condemnation on a few of the easements that have not been voluntarily executed.  We hope to have all the easements on the interceptor in place by the end of February.  Easements for the school line are proceeding very well with only one of the nine easements that has not been obtained.  Once easement appraisal has been completed for this tract, we will recommend to the Board for condemnation of this easement.  The business line easement work is continuing currently in the title work stage.  We do not expect much opposition from the businesses on obtaining easements.

 

All the easements are in place except for four.  Staff obtained appraisals of these easements and recommended that condemnation actions be filed to obtain these easements.  There is one tract that was recently sold and staff is working with the new owner to try and obtain the easement voluntarily.  It may be necessary to obtain this easement by condemnation as well.  Staff requested authorization to file the condemnation actions as needed for completion of this project. 

 

The County Manager recommended the Board authorizing staff to proceed with condemnation of the outstanding easements.

 

Cultural Resources Survey & Geotechnical Evaluations

The Cultural Resources Survey and Geotechnical Evaluations are ready to proceed.  Completion of easement work will be required to complete these tasks.  Our consultants are scheduling this work such that it can proceed with easement acquisition.  These tasks should be completed in the next 30 to 45 days.

 

Plans, Specifications, Bid Documents

The project plans and specifications for the entire project are completed.  Bid documents have been prepared for the interceptor and are currently under review.  Final plan and specification approval will be dependent upon submittal of geotechnical evaluation information.  These tasks are underway and should be completed in the next 30 to 45 days.

 

Mr. Tweed reviewed the project budget that had been set up by our Finance Department.

 

Assuming that all of these tasks fall into place, we should be in position to bid the interceptor portion of the project in 60 to 90 days.  The bidding of the collector lines to the school and business sector should be ready soon thereafter.  Mr. Tweed stated that his goal is to still have the entire project completed by the end of 2004. In order for this to be accomplished, construction needs to be underway by May 1, 2004.

 

Recused from voting

Chairman Hawkins asked to be recused from voting on this condemnation aspect because some of the land is associated in a family relationship.  Commissioner Moyer made the motion to recuse Chairman Hawkins from participating in this vote.  All voted in favor and the motion carried.

 

Commissioner Moyer made the motion to authorize the filing of the condemnations for the outstanding easements.  All voted in favor and the motion carried four to zero. (Note -  Commissioner Messer had stepped out of the room, unexcused, and according to Rule#24 of the Board’s Rules of Procedure that counts as an affirmative vote).

 

Adjourn

Commissioner Moyer made the motion for the Board to adjourn as Cane Creek Water & Sewer District Board and reconvene as Henderson County Board of Commissioners.  All voted in favor and the motion carried.

 

Attest:

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                               

Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk to the Board                Grady Hawkins, Chairman