General Manager Barry Connell told water board commissioners last Thursday he had been following up on the need for another location to spread sludge they remove from their tanks annually. He had even looked in Missouri, but found a 165-acre tract of land for sale in Gateway they had previously used. Asking price is $594,756, which Connell admitted was a large but worthwhile investment because they would never again have to look for a landing place for sludge if a landlord asked them to leave. Also, the tract was large enough the hauler could easily rotate where sludge was spread.
Connell said the property has not been maintained for at least three years. He was told two weeks’ worth of brush-hogging would be called for, as well as $5000 worth of fence work, but there is a half-mile of it along US 62 which provides easy access to the 165 acres. He said 120 acres were suitable for growing hay, and there were seven or so acres of trees.
Attorney Dan Bowers said he and Connell had negotiated the price down, and the easy access had a value. A banker he spoke with said it would be difficult to find a comparable deal. Connell added it is also the closest property to CBWD available.
Comments around the table included “seems like a good deal” and “excellent idea” and “I don’t like the cost but we could sell some of it” to which Yates responded, “I’d rather just sit on it.” He liked having no complications with access and a shorter hauling cost.
“We can’t afford not to do it,” board president James Yates commented.
And then there was how to pay for it.
Office Manager Kathy Klein said they could use funds from the water storage fund and a money market account, and Yates added they also had depreciation and capital improvement funds to draw from, which sparked discussion of their options until Hammond suggested they save the depreciation fund for projects and use the water storage fund for the land purchase. At the Oct. 18 meeting he will present a study of cash flow to see how they can re-fund the reserves used.
“My opinion is it’s a good deal and we need to do it. We just need to figure out the best use of funds,” Yates stated.
It was agreed Hammond and Klein would figure out the best path forward on restocking CBWD reserves, and the vote was unanimous to authorize Connell to work with Yates and Bowers on proceeding in accordance with a long paragraph of legal stipulations.