Reservoir Management Board Moves Forward With Treatment Plant

Over the objections of two of Oconee County’s representatives, the Hard Labor Creek Reservoir Management Board on Wednesday voted to fund a lobbyist to assist in an application for $146 million in federal funds to build the reservoir’s water treatment plant and distribution system.

Oconee County has only three representatives on the seven-member Management Board and no representatives on the Walton County Water and Sewer Authority, which also agreed on Wednesday to spend the money in support of the application for federal funds.

Walton County Board of Commissioners Chair David Thompson, a member of the Management Board, said Walton County already has the application of the funds ready to submit and will go forward with or without the support of Oconee County, its partner in the reservoir project.

Oconee County Commissioner Chuck Horton said there had been no prior discussion of the application by the Management Board or of the need to move forward with plans for construction of the water treatment plant. He voted against the funding for the lobbyist.

Justin Kirouac, Oconee County administrator and one of the county’s representatives to the Management Board, also voted against the lobbyist, saying he was concerned about any financial obligations that might fall to Oconee County as a result of the application.

Kirouac also said it was time to review the contractual arrangements between the two counties for future development of the reservoir.

For more on this story, with a video of the Management Board meeting, please click through to Oconee County Observations.