Howardwick renews water franchise

The Howardwick City Council voted to renew its franchise agreement with Red River Water Authority for a seven-year period following a lengthy debate last Tuesday, January 15.

The city’s present agreement with Red River is expiring next month after a period of 40 years. Howardwick officials and the water authority had agreed to a draft agreement calling for a 10-year period, but some aldermen felt like that was still too long.

Alderman Brice Hawley was the chief critic of the ten-year term, noting Red River’s failure to read meters effectively and reminding the council that some citizens are cheating the system.

“We have people bypassing the meters or not even having meters, tying right into the system,” Hawley said and further stated that the situation has led to higher water rates.

City attorney Bryan Guymon said the city’s options are limited because it doesn’t own the water system.

“We have no leverage as a city,” Guymon said.

“How do we remedy that?” Hawley asked.

“Build your own [water system] or buy the system [from Red River],” Guymon said. “But we’re talking millions and millions.”

City Secretary Sandra Childress said the best thing for the city was to shorten the agreement length from 40 years to ten years thereby assuring Howardwick has water while giving the city time to explore alternatives.

Alderman Johnny Hubbard said the city should have started earlier on the franchise agreement.

“If we had been doing this instead of playing games the last six months, maybe we could have done something else,” he said.

Hawley pushed for a delay in renewing the franchise agreement or to try to get a shorter term such as five years. Aldermen Debbora Sharpton and Marietta Baird said they didn’t think any alternatives could be found in that short of time, and Childress discussed the costs, just in added payroll, of operating a city water system.

Mayor Greta Byars remained quiet through most of the meeting, saying the decision was up to the council.
Hawley put forth a motion, seconded by Alderman Johnny Floyd, to shorten the term to five years. The motion failed.

Sharpton moved to approve the agreement as presented with the ten-year term. Attorney Guymon mentioned that Red River had proposed another 40-year term and that coming down to ten was huge for the authority. Baird seconded Sharpton’s motion, and that motion also failed to get a majority.

Floyd then moved to agree to seven years, seconded by Hubbard. That motion was approved unanimously.

Red River’s board approved the seven-year proposal the next day, City Hall said later.

Also last Tuesday, the council convened in closed session with the city attorney. Returning to open session, the board voted to have Aldermen Floyd and Sharpton, along with Guymon and Childress, meet with Fire Chief Will Jordan and several members of the volunteer fire department. Hawley abstained from the motion.