By JOHN THOMPSON
Coweta Editor

After more than a year of wrangling, the city of Senoia has decided to pay Southeastern Engineers more than $20,000 for a grubbing plan for Hutchinson's Lake.

At last week's city council meeting, Mayor Joan Trammell said she had met with the engineering company several times trying to come to a compromise on the disputed bill.

The total bill is slightly over $22,000 and reflects the work the engineering company did to prepare a plan back in 1997 to rid the city's water source of vegetation in the lake bed. City Clerk Betty Cookman told the council the bill was originally supposed to be paid through federal emergency funds, but the funds never materialized.

"We are obligated to pay this bill," Trammell said.

In addition to recommending paying the bill, Trammell suggested the council also appoint Turnipseed Engineering as the city's engineering firm. Turnipseed was the company that designed the city's water system and Trammell said he believes Turnipseed has the experience to guide the city through complex water and sewer issues it is facing.

The dam at Hutchinson Lake was destroyed during the floods of 1994 and the city has been buying water from Coweta County for the last four years.

City officials have been mulling over various options to supply the rapidly growing city with water.

One choice is to restart the city's water plant and Turnipseed, along with the city's water committee, is still examining that possibility. The city also could continue to buy water from the county or buy water from another government. For instance, Fayette County plans to build Lake McIntosh, a large reservoir on the county line.