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THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016
City council honors Bill Anderson
The Commerce City Council presented country music legend Bill Anderson
with a framed resolution in honor of his love for and support of the city of
Commerce, in particular his organization of the City Lights concerts that
helped equip the Bill Anderson Center for the Performing Arts at Commerce
High School. The presentation took place before Anderson’s book-signing
event Sept. 7. Left to right are mayor pro tern Keith Burchett, Mayor Clark
Hill, councilman Mark Fitzpatrick, Anderson, and councilmen Donald Wilson,
Archie Chaney and Johnny Eubanks.
Study recommends 1-percent
Jackson water rate increase
Commerce city council-
men Archie Chaney, Don
ald Wilson, Mark Fitzpat
rick, Johnny Eubanks, city
manager James Wascher
and city clerk Sandra Hag
gard visited the construc
tion site of two new nucle
ar units now being built at
Plant Vogtle near Waynes
boro.
“Since Commerce is
part of the MEAG Power
communities that elected
to be part of this new gen
erating facility,” explained
Wascher, “I wanted to be
able to bring back to our
town what I saw firsthand,
and that was an incredible
focus on safety and quality.
These two new units will be
the first new nuclear power
plants built in the U.S. in
over 30 years and they will
incorporate a brand new
technology — the Westing-
house AP1000. Unlike units
in the past, these have
an incredible number of
advances that enhances
their operation including all
digital instrumentation and
control.”
The visiting group spent
half a day at the site.
BY SCOTT THOMPSON
Jackson County Water &
Sewerage Authority residen
tial and commercial custom
ers could see their water rates
rise one percent in 2017 if rec
ommendations by a recent
study are implemented.
Bobby Sills of Nelsnick
Enterprises presented the
study results to the author
ity last week. The findings
and recommendations were
based on of the authority’s
last five years of financial data.
The recommended
one-percent increase in base
water and unit charges for
commercial and residential
customers would only mean
an increase of less than $1
per bill for each residential
customer on average, author
ity manager Eric Klerk said.
Industrial rates would
remain unchanged under the
proposed rates, as would resi
dential wastewater rates.
The authority currently
charges a $20.14 base water
rate and $19.08 base sewer
rate. Unit rates are divided
into three tiers according to
service level.
Sills said the authority’s
overall revenues are projected
to be sufficient going forward,
assuming the system contin
ues to grow customers and
has “modest” rate increas
es. His model also projects
a three-percent increase per
year in water customers and
two-percent increase per year
in wastewater customers.
Capital improvement proj
ects to improve efficiency and
the clearing of most of the
authority’s $31 million in debt
service over the next decade
should also help keep rates
down, Sills said.
The study also proposed
rate structure alternatives,
including a lower base charge
with the removal of the vol
ume allotment component
in the current schedule and
separate volume unit rates for
commercial, residential and
industrial customers.
Lower rates for seniors
were also proposed.
The board will discuss
the findings in further detail
before voting the matter.
New Indstrial
Customer?
Also at its meeting on
Thursday the board heard
more about an Atlanta-based
company’s proposal to build
a speculative warehouse at
the vacant Valentine Industri
al Logistics Center site it owns
in Pendergrass.
Seefried Industrial Proper
ties senior vice president and
COO Greg Herren said the
company plans to resubmit
an application to the authority
to provide water and sewer
service to the 183-acre site.
Seefried would extend its
road and public access to
the site, where Herren said
a 1 million-square-foot ware
house would be built. A sep
arate 600,000800, OOOsquare-
foot pad would also be avail
able, he said.
The company has not yet
secured any tenant for the
site, Herren said.
“It would be much of like
what’s being built in Braselton
and that area today” Herren
said. “(Jackson County)
has been very successful in
speculatively-built warehous
es being leased to good cor
porate America or corporate
international tenants.”
If 1.8 million square feet of
warehouse space is built, that
could mean as many as 900-
1,000 employees, depending
on the tenant or tenants that
would occupy the space, Her
ren said.
Authority engineer Joey
Leslie estimated that would
mean a sewer hookup fee of
more than $400,000.
Going nuclear
The Commerce delegation touring the Plant Vogtle site included, left to
right, city councilmen Johnny Eubanks, Archie Chaney and Mark Fitzpatrick,
along with city clerk Sandra Haggard and city manager James Wascher.
Commerce officials tour
Vogtle construction site
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