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Council discusses hiring contractor to merge Bluff Water Works into town water department; no hiring decision made
Summary
Council debated hiring an outside contractor to assist with integrating the Bluff Water Works service district into the Town of Bluff water department, with members requesting clearer town goals before committing funds.
Council discussed whether to hire a contractor to support merging the Bluff Water Works service district into the Town of Bluff water department but did not approve hiring at the meeting.
Councilmember Lou Anne explained that Bluff Water Works (a county-created service district) and town water functions have long overlap issues and said the service district manager urged moving the process forward. She proposed seeking estimates from consultants (for example, Gary Lichtenstein, who worked on Bluff Water Works’ strategic plan) to produce a deliverable that would enable transition and succession planning.
Some councilmembers supported hiring a contractor to produce a concrete plan and transition deliverables; others urged the council first to refine and agree on an organizational goal for the town’s water department so the third party had a clear scope. One councilmember said, “I think we need to come up with a very tangible thing that we can take and say, this is what we wanna do.”
Council agreed to continue the discussion at the next work session and to test sentiment with Bluff Water Works at their upcoming meeting; no contract was authorized during this session.
