Council gives first reading to $13.1 million DPU water-treatment bond ordinance

The City of Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities (DPU) presented a proposed capital project for improvements to the water treatment plant and the sludge lagoon and requested authority to proceed with a bond issue. DPU representative Mr. Holly told the council the program would improve plant capacity and redundancy and extend the lagoon's useful life.

Mr. Holly said the lagoon was last cleaned or dredged around February 2005 and that the proposed project would "give us an additional 50 years of life on the current lagoon that we have." He described the bonding terms as a 20-year term for $13,100,000 at an interest rate of 2.1 percent, with proceeds expected from the South Carolina State Revolving Fund.

Council approved first reading of the ordinance authorizing combined public-utility system revenue borrowing; Councilman Kaluu made the first-reading motion and a second was recorded. The transcript records the motion carried on first reading; the meeting did not include formal final adoption on the bond ordinance during the public session reported.

Bond counsel Theodore Bowles attended the meeting and staff said additional documentation would be available for council review. The presentation noted the project had been discussed during the budget process and that the bond would allow the city to meet projected growth and capital needs that could not be completed without the loan.