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Chelsea to investigate potential of city sewer services

by

Erica Techo

Erica Techo

Erica Techo

The city of Chelsea is looking into the possibility of creating a city sewer system.

At its first meeting of December, the Chelsea City Council approved a resolution which would allow Mayor Tony Picklesimer to hire consultants to investigate the possibility of creating sewer services in the city of Chelsea. About 40 percent of its residents are currently served by privately owned company Double Oak Water Reclamation, Picklesimer said, and view their rates as “unreasonable and artificially inflated.”

Picklesimer said the city will look at several sources, probably from engineering companies, to look at how possible the project would be. According to the resolution, he is authorized to spend up to $25,000 for the consultant and study.

“It’s a feasibility study — does it make sense for the city of Chelsea to build its own sewer system? It’s really basically that simple,” Picklesimer said.

This is separate from the Governmental Utility Services Corporation, or GUSC, the council voted to establish in September, Picklesimer said. The GUSC is a separate board that is appointed by the council, and it is not involved in the new resolution.

“This would be separate and a different avenue we’re looking at,” said council member Scott Weygand. During pre-council, Weygand also said he believed this resolution would be an opportunity to investigate “all avenues of our sewer issues” in the city.

Sewer rates have previously been a point of concern for Chelsea residents and businesses, and Weygand said looking into the possibility of a city sewer system is a way to keep campaign promises.

“These were big items that we all ran on, that a lot of us ran on, and coming up with viable solutions [to the problem],” Weygand said.

There is no set timeline for the project or for when a study might get underway, Picklesimer said. If the city established a system, he said, they are unsure of what rates might be.

“We don’t know yet how much it would cost and certainly don’t know what our rate structure would be. We do feel we can operate it much more economically,” Picklesimer said. “We’re hoping we can.”

The resolution was unanimously passed.

The Council also passed a resolution in opposition to the closing of the Childersburg Work Release Center. Picklesimer attended an emergency meeting last week, where municipal leaders that use laborers from the work release center voiced concerns over the repurposing of the center. Following the meeting, Picklesimer told 280 Living that while Chelsea only uses two individuals from the program, other entities face the potential for a much higher, negative financial impact.

During tonight’s pre-council meeting, he echoed those concerns and added that opposition to closing the center was about more than “just free labor for the city.”

“It gives these prisoners the chance to transition back into public life. It gives them a chance to demonstrate their willingness to work and to come back into society,” Picklesimer said.

Chelsea Fire Chief Wayne Shirley also noted that in addition to the prisoners working with municipalities, some also work at local businesses.

A special presentation was also made during the meeting.

Representatives of the Chelsea High School Student Government Association presented council member David Ingram with a gift. SGA President Tanner Middleton told the council they had accepted donations during the month of October, in addition to selling “pink out” shirts to raise money for breast cancer awareness, and wanted to present the funds as well as gift certificates to the Ingram family. Ingram’s wife, Kristi Ingram, died in late November following a years-long battle with breast cancer. Since her death, the community has held candlelight vigils, recognized their family at sporting events, and simply offered them support, Ingram said.

“The school, teachers and whole community have just been so supportive over the past year, but much more so over the past couple of months. It’s something I wouldn’t wish anyone would have to go through, but going through it with the support we have had has made it, not easy, but a lot easier than it would be alone,” Ingram said.

Also at the meeting:

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