 Councilor Holly Edwards |
City Councilor
Holly Edwards
has publically called for another joint meeting of the four boards with jurisdiction over the community’s water supply. Edwards told Council at their meeting on February 2, 2009, that Council should meet with the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, the Albemarle County Service Authority (ACSA), and the Rivanna Water Service Authority (RWSA) to receive
the final report from the South Fork Reservoir Stewardship Task Force
.
“Everyone would get a chance to hear all the information all at the same time,” Edwards said. “We would get a chance to hear all the questions and concerns which may be unique from each of the four boards.”
City Councilor
Satyendra Huja
went one step further, and said a second joint meeting would provide the City a chance to have more questions answered about the water supply plan. Councilor
Julian Taliaferro
called the joint meeting “an excellent idea.” However, Mayor
Dave Norris
expressed concerned that Albemarle County is over-represented at these meetings.
“The Albemarle County Service Authority is the policy-making equivalent of our Department of Public Works,” Norris said. “It does seem a little unbalanced when we’re at these ‘four-boards’ meetings to have so much County representation. However, we’ve held our own okay.”
The last meeting of the four boards was on November 25, 2008
.
Huja reminded Norris that the City owns the land underneath both the Ragged Mountain and South Fork Rivanna Reservoirs.
City Manager Gary O’Connell pointed out that the County will fund more than half of the expansion of the water supply. The ACSA pays the RWSA $2.983 per 1,000 gallons of water, compared to the $2.285 per 1,000 gallons that the City pays. In turn, County ratepayers are charged a higher rate than City ratepayers.
Sean Tubbs
