Published: June 13, 2009 09:39 pm      

Floyd County Commissioners: Special meeting in Georgetown will focus on sewers

Wednesday gathering will be at elementary school

The Floyd County Commissioners are hoping for a large turnout at a town-hall style meeting Wednesday. So large, they rented Georgetown Elementary School to accommodate the masses.

The commissioners announced last week they wanted to go out and talk to the residents of Georgetown about the ongoing sewer issues facing homeowners there.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the school. The three commissioners — along with county planner Don Lopp — will update the community on the status of the settlement agreement between Georgetown and Floyd County regarding the relocation of the proposed Georgetown Wastewater Treatment Plant.

“Any time elected officials can go out and talk to residents, it’s a good thing,” said Commissioner Steve Bush. “A lot of people don’t know what is going on exactly. We hope we get a lot of questions.

“This isn’t to criticize Georgetown. It’s just to let the people know what all has been done.”

Georgetown residents were facing a large sewer rate increase after the New Albany Sewer Board voted recently to begin charging the town retail rates, instead of wholesale.

Georgetown’s sewer issues began in 2006, when the previous town council signed an agreement with the sewer board that stated the town would be off New Albany’s sewers in 30 months. The 30 months expired Feb. 1 of this year.

Georgetown asked out of its contract with New Albany because it planned to build its own plant on 23 acres of land called the O’Brien property. But lawsuits over annexation of the property and not getting zoning approval from the county kept the town from building on the site, which made the deadline impossible to meet.

The town and county came to an agreement in the fall. The county will provide a $1.4 million loan to Georgetown for relocation costs if the town agrees to move the plant west of the town.

It likely will take at least three years to build a plant.

Commissioner Mark Seabrook said he has been asked many questions from homeowners who live in Georgetown about what is going on with the sewers. Seabrook said the county has put in a lot of “leg work” to help remedy the situation.

“I don’t think anybody has any way to know what is going on unless they go to the meetings,” he said. “We encourage anyone and everyone to come out.

“It’s not to blame anyone. But if someone’s sewer rates are going to go up, they need to know why.”