In a called work meeting Tuesday, city manager Hank Griffeth provided important updates to the recent water line breakages, which have left many residents in the city without water and/ or under a boil water advisory, as well as when funds will be available for other areas of the city.
According to Griffeth, both breaks that occured recently have been on some of the city’s concrete water lines, which are the oldest ones in the area. While neither the city nor the contractor could figure out an exact reason for the breaks, the council agreed that it was likely a combination of an earthquake that occurred a few weeks ago and the age of the pipes. Although the break would be fixed by Wednesday according to Griffeth, the duration of it required cases of bottled water to be dispersed to affected residents, which were also distributed Wednesday morning.
“Both the State’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) and Department of Agriculture contacted my office saying they had received multiple complaints about the lack of clean water in many households, and after discussing our current plan, they determined there was no further action needed,” said Griffeth in his report to the council.
Along with replacing the water lines, Griffeth also gave an update on the next round of American Relief Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which will be available by August 15 according to him. These new funds will be put towards more city management services like fixing water lines whenever they break, as well as anything else the city may need to improve upon. The money from the most recent ARPA grant has been put towards pay bonuses in November for all city employees, a $2000 pay raise for police officers and certified firefighters, with another $2000 coming in the form of $500 quarterly bonuses, replacing water lines that have already burst, and other improvements to the city.
Before the group went into a closed session to discuss legal matters, Griffeth mentioned that negotiations on the next Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) were going well, and the council would need to have a special meeting with the county to lock down what they are hoping would be a 61/39 split of funds between the city and the county.
Although tentative, that particular meeting is currently scheduled for Friday, July 22 at 3:30 p.m., and if negotiations go well, there would be no need for a special T-SPLOST, as an agreement would make the split go into effect as soon as the current agreement ends.