City Moves Forward With Sewer Feasibility Study

After a 3 hour City Council Meeting, the City of Eagleville has decided to move forward with a sewer feasibility study with the intent on applying for the Community Development Block Grant for purposes of developing a public sewer system.

Development of a public sewer system quickly found its way as first priority in infrastructure improvements at a recent Public Hearing geared towards information about the Community Development Block Grant, offered by the Greater Nashville Regional Council. If awarded the full amount, the grant could provide the city of Eagleville with a half-million dollars to get started on a sewer system.

Although the CDBG can be utilized towards infrastructure improvements such as Water, Fire, or Sewer, downtown business owner, Doyle Woods, (The Eagle Roost Smokehouse and Grill), greatly stressed the emergent need for a sewer system now.

"We don’t have 5 years. If we don’t do something now or at least have something in motion where the health department can look at me a year from now, 2 years from now, & say "o.k" we know you’ve got something in progress, we will let you keep your business open. We’re going to be shut down. Businesses in Eagleville are going to be shut down because of the health problem that we have," said Woods. "We’ve got an immediate problem we don’t have 5 years, we’ve got to do something now."

Jimmy Haley, President of James C. Haley & Company, attended January’s Eagleville City Council meeting, representing his firm’s interest in creating a sewer system that would work for the city of Eagleville. Haley presented the council with services that he would be able to offer the city of Eagleville up front and at no cost, explaining that his firm does not receive payment for their engineering costs until a system is approved. "We do not see a dime of our money sometimes until 3 years after a project has started." explained Haley.

Haley has been the Consultant Engineer for Consolidated Utility District for over 30 years, and specializes in Water and Wastewater Systems. Should the city of Eagleville secure the Community Development Block Grant, Haley has executed over 100 of these grant-funded projects for many small cities and municipalities over the past 20 years, and is well versed on the grant’s requirements.

On a decision by the council, Haley’s firm will move forward with a feasibility study of the Eagleville area to determine grant eligibility and the most cost-effective wastewater system needed.

Part of the feasibility study will require a target area survey in which each household in the city limits will need to report their annual household income. The CDBG requires that 51% or more of its beneficiaries be at the low-to-moderate income level, which could come into play much later if the city of Eagleville secures the CDBG and completes a sewer system. Since the CDBG is funded by federal dollars, beneficiaries in the low-to-moderate income range will not be charged an initial tap fee to hook on to the new sewer system, but going forward, the council would have to determine a fair amount to charge newcomers to the system.

Pleasantview, which did not originally have a waster water system, connected 350 homes, on a CDBG funded project. Eagleville has around 227 residential sites, some of which do not have actual homes on them. It took 4 years for the completion of Pleasantview’s sewer system, which began with a preliminary meeting much like January’s city council meeting. "Reasonably speaking, 2 years from tonight before you would have the funding in place, or pretty much in place; to get it built, you’d be talking about another year and a half or 2 years," explained Haley.

Haley estimates his firm should have the feasibility study completed by late summer. This will provide information on additional funding sources and what monies could be available, number of users, what a residential bill will be, and a cost of the project itself.

A STEP system may prove to be the most cost effective option for the city of Eagleville. Since it takes around 12-15 acres of land per 100 households, a study on what lands are available in the area would be necessary; since the right soils are critical to the allocation for drip lines, spray application, or irrigation of the effluent.

Since Eagleville does not have a public utilities and water department, a significant determination as to whether or not the new sewer system would be city-owned, or turned over and/or managed through an agreement reached with an outside entity will be key.