Henderson County commissioners approve purchase of Etowah Sewer Company

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners have voted to purchase the Etowah Sewer Company at the cost of $400,000.

This cost includes all assets of the company, but does not include any obligations the company had, according to County Manager John Mitchell.

Mitchell said this decision from the commissioners comes after “several months” of discussions.

“This will allow the county to control what users can connect to the treatment plant and can help control growth in the Etowah community,” Mitchell told the Times-News July 23.

At the July 17 Board of Commissioners meeting, Mitchell told the board that the system has approximately 400 customers and around 20 miles of lines.

Though commissioners voted to approve the purchase, the county still needs to go through a 30-day due diligence period during which a full study will be conducted to determine the cost of the system. Mitchell told the Times-News that rates for customers will be determined once this study is complete.

When Henderson County takes over the Etowah Sewer Company, the county engineering department will be responsible for managing the system. There are currently no plans to add more employees.

This is not the first time Henderson County and the Etowah Sewer Company have entered into conversations for the county to purchase the company. At the July 17 meeting, Commissioner Bill Lapsley gave a brief history of the company.

The Etowah Sewer Company was established in 1988 by a group of area business owners. The first sewer system customers were the golf course and the shopping center.

“In my opinion, it was the main catalyst for the growth of the Etowah community,” Lapsley said.

He said those who started the company are “due a debt of gratitude.”

In 2015, the Etowah Sewer Company approached the Henderson County Board of Commissioners with a proposal for the county to purchase the company at a cost of $1.2 million. Lapsley said commissioners felt this price was too high and turned down the purchase.

The company then turned to the city of Hendersonville to make the purchase. According to past Times-News reporting , the city agreed to buy the company for $1 million in 2016. According to other past Times-News reporting , the Henderson County Board of Commissioners unanimously denied giving approval for this sale.

The Etowah Sewer Company would then turn to an out-of-state buyer to purchase the company for $800,000. After a year of due diligence, the agreement to purchase fell through earlier this year.

The company looked to Henderson County once more, agreeing after several months of negotiation to sell the company for $400,000.

The county will embark on 30 days of due diligence before the sale is final.

Karrigan Monk is the reporter for Black Mountain News and Hendersonville Times-News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com .

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Henderson County commissioners approve purchase of Etowah Sewer Company