Mayor highlights water, sewer amendment and seeks $15 million for water line

The mayor (speaker 5) told the Pickens County Development Authority on March 6 that a recent city council amendment clarifies when water and sewer service rights can be transferred as real property. The change, he said, ties transferability to whether a water meter was actively servicing the property on a September 2024 engineering assessment date.

"If you had service water running through a meter on that date, today, you can sell that property," the mayor said, explaining the amendment was intended to prevent transactions from being blocked when meters were later deactivated. He said the amendment allows some previously denied water or sewer requests to be reconsidered by staff.

The mayor described a significant engineering finding in September 2024 that led the council to pause new water and sewer connections while officials reassessed capacity. He said the city is pursuing funding to address resiliency: an engineering estimate for a water line to a neighboring county was $15,000,000 and the master plan lists roughly $100,000,000 in water and sewer infrastructure needs. "That is to serve our current customers, our current community, and have resiliency," he said.

The mayor said funding requests have been made at state and federal levels and that staff and legal counsel are working through details. He stressed the funding and line would not be for exponential growth but to provide duplication and backup service should a raw water intake or treatment plant fail.

The authority did not vote on any water projects at this meeting; the mayor said staff continues to handle individual requests and to pursue funding sources.