Water issues hot topic at special council meeting

A variety of water issues were discussed at Monday's special meeting of the Whitehouse city council, with Mayor Jake Jacobson and council member Mike Adams voicing strong support for renewed negotiations with the City of Tyler.

Despite water well development and a resulting decrease in dependence on water from Tyler, both Jacobson and Adams said the city was not as far along as expected in its efforts toward self-sufficiency and should not rule out purchases from the City of Tyler to meet higher demand next summer.

"We're beating a dead horse to death building water wells," said Adams, adding that the only positive step had been the water option purchase from Lake Striker. Adams has been vocal about wanting to proceed with construction on that project as soon as possible.

"We need to go to a public vote ... to spend $25 million ASAP or we need to go to Tyler and get the best deal possible," he said.

As of Nov. 1, Tyler will no longer sell Whitehouse water without a contract. Since the last contract expired in 2005, Whitehouse has been purchasing water for a flat rate of $3.50 per thousand gallons.

The last-minute contract proposal from Tyler offers a lower rate (based on a minimum purchase of 1.2 million gallons) but also incudes a monthly demand fee of more than $19,000.

Adams and Jacobson said that price was not too high and could be considered an "insurance premium" for the city.

Jed Dillingham, the city's financial director, pointed out that a $20,000 monthly fee over the course of the proposed 25-year contract amounted to $6 million, not including any water purchases. City Manager Ronny Fite added that with the city's interlocal agreement with Troup, Whitehouse's share of debt service on Lake Striker would be roughly $12-15 million, not $25 million.

The water discussion was kicked off by a recommendation from engineer Phil Elledge that the city authorize the funds and engineering for water well eight. The city has already authorized a test well, but Elledge said the only way to have the new well and plant online by July 1 would be to proceed with engineering plans and surveys at the same time that the site is being tested.

Although he acknowledged a risk if the test well came back dry, Elledge said the gamble was worth the gain in time.

"We need to accelerate the way we do things. If we start designing the plant right away we can be working concurrently," said Elledge.

Council member Danny Hogden asked how much of a risk it would be and the estimate was $82,500.

The site for water well eight would be south of Nix Lane. The potential for water was realized when the area was tested for natural gas last year. Although the sands in this location showed some of the best potential, the city pursued other well locations based on existing infrastructure.

After a lenghty debate, the council tabled the issue until the conclusion of an executive session concerning a related matter.

Council took no action on the executive session issue, but did authorize Elledge and Dillingham to proceed with necessary plans. During the course of the evening's discussion, Mayor Jacobson also expressed frustration that recent city projects have not been finished on time, and he proposed including a penalty for late completion in future contracts.