The city is losing thousands of dollars worth of clean water each year because of overflowing holding tanks, the City Council learned Tuesday.
The news came in a report presented by the Piedmont Water, Gas and Sewer Department during the council’s meeting. According to the report, the city is losing at least 9.5 million gallons of water each year, costing the city $17,503 on an annual basis.
In response, the seven-member council cast an unplanned vote to buy a $9,895 piece of equipment that will help fix the problem.
"It just bumfuzzles me that this much water is lost each year," Councilman Terry Kiser said.
The report is an estimate, based on how much money the city would lose if the water is overflowing three times a week, said Jesse McKnight, superintendent of the department. McKnight said the exact amount of water and money lost is unclear. He added that department officials also are unsure how long the problem has been going on.
Councilwoman Mary Bramblett, who has served on the council for several terms , said at the meeting Tuesday that this is the first the council has heard of the problem.
McKnight, who has been the superintendent for about a year, said his department worked several months to compile the report.
He said the problem began when a device that was used to measure the amount of water in the city tanks malfunctioned. Since then, workers in the treatment plant have had to guess how much water should be pumped into the tanks, which are used to regulate water pressure and supply businesses and homes, he said.
The result, he said, is that workers sometimes pump too much water into the tanks, causing them to overflow. The new equipment will keep track of the amount of water in the tanks using a wireless signal monitored by employees.
In other business the council:
— Heard a call by Councilman Frank Cobb to reduce spending by scaling back the number of city employees.
"We're going to lose at least a quarter of our employees if we do what's right," Cobb said.
Piedmont Mayor Bill Baker said that layoffs would be a last resort, and suggested that the council consider other cost-cutting measures during work sessions and committee meetings.
"I don't think anybody wants to see anybody lose their job," Baker said. "There may be other things that we can do."
— Heard Baker say that two companies, BR Williams Trucking and Federal-Mogul Corporation, both of which already have a presence in Calhoun County, will be opening warehouses in Piedmont on April 6. He said the two companies will move into existing buildings and that they will together employ 40 people. Baker’s news came at the end of the council meeting.
— Voted to appoint Kip McFry to the Piedmont Health Care Board.
— Voted to indefinitely table a vote regarding a $7,500 contract with Jacksonville State University for an economic retail analysis.
— Voted to buy 25 large metal trash cans for about $30,000.
— Voted to limit budget billing, a program used to equalize resident's monthly balances, to those residents who have paid an electric bill for at least a year.
— Voted to opt out of contract negotiations with the air ambulance service Air Evac. The council voted on the same matter at its last meeting, but cast a second vote because there was problem in the wording of the first measure it considered.
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