The city of Senoia moved a step closer Monday night to determining the best way of handling the city's sewerage problem.

For years, the city has commissioned several studies on building sewer systems and city engineer Ben Turnipseed presented the latest study to the city council Monday night.

The latest idea for getting the city a sewerage system is buying the Southern Mills wastewater treatment plant on Andrews Parkway that is currently being underused. Turnipseed said the Southern Mills option is the city's least expensive option. He estimated the cost of purchasing the system at $1.7 million with annual operating costs at $92,000.

Other options for the city include:

Building a $2.5 million wastewater treatment plant and discharging the effluent into Keg Creek.

Building a $2.8 million plant and discharging the effluent into Line Creek.

Building a $2.7 million plant and discharging the effluent into Dead Oak Creek.

Pumping the city's wastewater to the city of Peachtree City and letting Peachtree City dispose of the effluent. Turnipseed pegged this option at $1.9 million and said the annual operating costs would be $348,000.

The city currently has a $500,000 grant from the Department of Community Affairs to aid the city's lower-income residents who currently have substandard septic systems. Mayor Joan Trammell said the city's first priority would be providing sewerage to those residents, followed by the septically-challenged Martinwood subdivision.

If the city chose to utilize the Southern Mills system, Turnipseed said the first phase of the system could be completed in a year and a half, while the entire system could be finished by 2002.

After Turnipseed's presentation, a number of residents who have lived in the city nearly all their lives questioned whether the Southern Mills option was the best for the city.

When the mill was going full steam, a number of the residents said the wastewater plant emitted a noxious odor that hung over the whole city. Trammell said she was also concerned, but said Turnipseed had assured her the situation would be different this time.

"It would do no good to build a sewer system if people can't come out of their house," she said.

Turnipseed said he believed the odor was from some of the plant's operations and not the wastewater treatment facility.

Since the city just received the engineering report, Trammell said she wanted the sewer committee to evaluate the report and make a recommendation to the city council.