Robbinsville – Talks to resolve a longstanding drainage issue inside the town limits has peeled back the curtain on other underlying strains.
At the Nov. 4 board of aldermen meeting, Bo and Roma Gail Collins discussed the lack of progress made over addressing draining issues inside Collins Trailer Park off Ford Street.
Promises by past boards to rectify the issue – which started in 2012, when the town struck a handshake deal with the Collins’ to run a new water line through the park to another adjacent trailer park – never came to fruition. With Aldermen Brian Johnson and Debbie Beasley at the reins, the town wants to finally eliminate the standing water that residents inside Collins Trailer Park have to wade through after heavy rains.
Simply put, the issue did not exist until the new water line was piped through the Collins’ park.
“You could not have done a thing you did unless we agreed to let you cross that property,” Roma Gail said. “We have had a mess since 2012. That’s long enough.
“It’s not our place to fix it. We didn’t create the problem.”
“We agreed to help in good faith. What’s frustrating is that everybody else was taken care of (with the 2012 water line addition),” Bo added. “We pay taxes on the property every year, but it (the repairs) just keeps getting pushed and pushed and pushed (back).
“We’re not trying to be rude. We just want it fixed.”
Beasley and Johnson both expressed a willingness to help. However, a recent bid of over $13,000 to make the necessary repairs was met with opposition from Beasley.
The town allotted for raises for its 15 employees in the 2020-21 fiscal budget, which was adopted over the summer. Since then, no action has been taken to deliver the raises, which have not occurred since 2018.
Beasley questioned how the town could have the funds for the drainage issue, but not for its employees.
“From 2012 – when it was done – until now, I do not understand why nothing has been done,” Beasley said. “Honestly, it’s not that I don’t want to help. It’s not that I think this is something that needs to be fixed. But I can’t feel right about spending that much money on this when we had promised our employees a raise.
“COVID has taken its effect on the budget and everything. Can we fork that out? I don’t know.”
Johnson’s solution was to ask Bo Collins to assist with the repairs, which would decrease the overall cost of the project significantly. Bo had originally offered to help at the February meeting, but just six weeks later, COVID-19 altered all plans anyone had for 2020.
“You had told us that you would help us fix this for your parents,” Beasley told Bo, something the latter automatically affirmed. “I was thinking you would help with your equipment and knowledge, because it’s evidently more than what our guys can do. They have done everything they know to do to fix it.”
Johnson proposed a scenario where the repairs occurred well before the next budget cycle – June 2021 – and set aside money in next year’s plan to reimburse Collins for the work.
The aldermen eventually agreed to table the issue until next month, which will allow time to draw up an agreement for the reimbursement.
“Like Bo said, right now is a really bad time to be doing that project (due to the wet, winter season),” Johnson said. “We just don’t have the funds right now.”
Later in the meeting, the raises were brought back up.
Proposed to be either 3 or 5 percent raises – and coupled with a motion by Johnson to give employees an additional $550, earmarked as COVID-19 Hazard Pay – the final tally would either be $25,770 or $36,431.
Beasley made a motion to award the hazard pay and the 3 percent raises, but after much discussion, the aldermen agreed to award the hazard pay for now, which totals $8,878.
“I would like to revisit the raises in January or February, when we see how our tax collections from the county are going,” Johnson said. “Our employees took no time off when COVID hit. Some of them continued to pick up everyone’s garbage, not knowing who was sick.”
“If it’s not going to be the 3 percent, I’m not going to keep everybody from at least getting their hazard bonus,” Beasley added.
Other news and notes from the meeting included:
* During a discussion about a grant the town is attempting to secure for water and sewer upgrades, the 2020-21 Robbinsville water and sewer rates were revealed.
Inside the town limits, customers pay a minimum charge of $25.70 per month for the first 2,500 gallons of water use ($11.10 for each additional 1,000 gallons) and $24.40 per month for the first 2,500 gallons of sewer use ($10.55 for each additional 1,000 gallons). Outside the town limits, the rates increase to $36.35 per month for the first 2,500 gallons ($11.85 for each additional 1,000 gallons) of water; and $34.55 per month for the first 2,500 gallons of sewer use ($11.26 per each 1,000 additional gallons).
Karen Kiehna with McGill & Associates – the firm that spearheaded construction of the water plant – is helping the town with the grant, which should be filed before the Nov. 23 deadline.
* Town Hall has made great strides in eliminating the mold issue that has been plaguing the building. Hooper laid out the latest actions taken since the October meeting, which included gutting walls on the main level, running a mold removal machine and replacing with fresh block and stucco. An awning over the exterior stairs leading down to the basement level and a retaining wall will still need to be addressed.
“We are slowly marking things off the list,” Hooper added.
* The board approved the purchase of a $3,987 septic receiving station pump replacement, noting that the previous pumps have been undersized and therefore, breaking down frequently. Now that the issue has been discovered, the latest purchase will be 1 of 2 the town will purchase for the long-term solution.