Business & Tech

Consultant Hired for Reservoir Sale

The Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority is mulling an offer to take full ownership of Canton's Hickory Log Creek Reservoir.

The Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority, which is mulling an offer to take full ownership of Canton's Hickory Log Creek Reservoir, has hired a Pennsylvania consultant to determine the reservoir's value.

Howard Woods of Newtown, PA, will be paid $12,000 plus expenses to evaluate the cost of the reservoir, according to a story in today's Marietta Daily Journal.

Saddled with debt—much of it from the reservoir, which has taken years to build and run millions over budget—the Canton City Council spent much of 2011 discussing if it should sell its 25 percent stake in the reservoir.

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Should Canton sell its 25 percent stake in the Hickory Log Creek Reservoir? Should Canton put the issue in voters' hands? Let us know in the comment box below.

The move would relieve Canton of more than $28 million in debt, officials have estimated.

Despite that, Mayor Gene Hobgood said he didn't think it would "behoove us" to sell it.

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"We've been through too much hell to think about getting rid of the whole thing," he said at a March 2011 council meeting after .

Council members Jack Goodwin and Hooky Huffman have said that they are in favor of keeping the reservoir if the city can do it.

"Water is the gem of the future," Goodwin said during an . "When I go to GMA (Georgia Municipal Association) or the mayor's conference or Savannah, everyone comes up and says, 'How did you get that permit to have the reservoir built? We've been trying for years. We can't seem to get it.' 

"They also say that the reservoir would cost probably 10 times today what it cost back when we built it," he said. "I don't know how many cities will be able to build one if they can get the permits."

In his mind, residents should vote on the issue.

At the same forum, Huffman, who lives in Canton's Great Sky community, said that the "reservoir was one of the reasons many here purchased up in Great Sky."

Even though some officials doesn't want to unload the reservoir, the City Council with Cobb-Marietta and the Cherokee Water & Sewerage Authority last August.

The endorsement came in the form of a non-binding memorandum of understanding that outlined what a possible merger would look like (see infobox at the bottom of this story for details on the memo). Cobb would take full ownership and operational responsibility of the Reservoir. Cherokee would take ownership of Canton's treatment plants and provide water and sewer to the city.

The during its Aug. 29 meeting. The Cobb-Marietta group, however, neither accepted nor rejected the offer during its Sept. 19 meeting, opting to take the offer under advisement, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Howard Woods is expected to complete its cost evaluation by the end of this month, according to the MDJ report.

NON-BINDING MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

 According to the memo, this is the verbatim proposal on the table:

  • Cobb will pay Canton an amount equal to the total paid by Canton on its bonds for the Reservoir.
  • Cobb will assume the remaining bonded indebtedness owed by Canton for the Reservoir.
  • Canton will relinquish 5.2 million gallons per day of the Reservoir capacity to Cobb. The remaining 6 million gallons per day of Canton's current capacity shall be transferred to Cherokee to be held and used for Canton's future water supply needs.
  • The agreement between Cobb and Canton as to the joint operation of the Reservoir will terminate, so that Cobb-Marietta will have full decision-making authority over the Reservoir and Canton will no longer have any responsibility for the expenses of the Reservoir.
  • The Reservoir shall remain available for recreational use by the public, as provided in the Reservoir Management Plan.
  • Canton shall transfer its water and sewer treatment plants to Cherokee, and Cherokee shall assume responsibility for operating and maintaining the plants. Cherokee shall not be required to keep the plans operational and shall have the sole discretion to decommission the plans.
  • Cherokee will sell water to Canton at its wholesale rates.
  • Cherokee will provide sewage treatment to Canton at its wholesale rates.
  • Canton will remain responsible for operation and maintenance of the water distribution system, including customer service and billing/collection of customer accounts.
  • Canton will remain responsible for the sewer collection system, including customer service and billing/collection of customer accounts.
  • All agreements between Canton and Cherokee regarding water and sewer shall terminate and be superseded by the final agreement contemplated by this Memorandum of Understanding.


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