ONWASA may acquire North Topsail Utilities

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH - North Topsail Utilities will soon be able to service North Topsail homeowners who have been on a waiting list for a couple years.

But its bad news - that there would be no plant expansion this year - could be its last straw, as town leaders have decided to back the possibility that Onslow Water and Sewer Authority could purchase the company.

North Topsail Utilities Regional Manager Danny Lassiter presented the good and bad news during last week's town meeting.

In connection with its future plant expansion project, Utilities Inc. - the parent company of North Topsail Utilities Inc. - will begin an upgrade of its main lift station within the next 30 days.

Lassiter explained that the upgrade on the lift station at the high-rise bridge will involve installing larger pumps and motors and enlarging the storage capacity of that lift station.

In conjunction with the necessary permit for the lift station upgrade and as a result of the way the Division of Water Quality started establishing flow capacities in January, the company can increase daily flow to 873,000 gallons. Lassiter said it should be able to accommodate everyone on the waiting list who still wants service. He said there are about 400 names on the list, and the company is in the process of contacting each of them.

"Some have declined - we're not expecting 400 households will want taps," Lassiter said. "In fact, we expect there will be significantly less than 400 who will want the service."

In the printed material given to the board, Utilities stated that expansion of the plant itself is not expected to begin this year, which did not satisfy the board.

"The people of this town have been waiting for how long now for expansion and more sewer taps?" Alderman Robert Swantek asked. "We keep getting delays. First it was a three-month delay and then an eight-month delay - and now, well over a year delay."

The response came as a result of Lassiter's disclosure that Utilities deferred the project again because it does not have the $16 million dollars required, since the bids for the plant expansion project came in much higher than it expected.

When the board asked Lassiter when it would have enough money, Lassiter did not have an answer. He said the company, which has facilities in 17 states, was cutting back everywhere.

Alderman Daniel Tuman wanted more answers from the parent company.

"The sale of North Topsail Utilities Inc. to the parent company was predicated on a consent agreement, that if in fact you were still not able to meet customer service demands, you agreed to contract with other utilities in that area for the purpose of satisfying that demand - so what are they doing to satisfy that in that regard?" Tuman asked.

The town of North Topsail Beach received a copy of a Feb. 22 letter sent to Utilities Inc. from David Walker, executive director of ONWASA, regarding the possibility of ONWASA's purchasing Utilities Inc.'s Onslow operations.

Under new business, the board unanimously approved a resolution in support of ONWASA's offer to enter into discussion with Utilities Inc. over its Onslow County facilities.

Contact Topsail area reporter Suzanne Ulbrich at sulbrich@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8466. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.