The Tyrone Town Council met in a called meeting Wednesday to discuss the town’s sewer agreement with the City of Fairburn and agreed to temporarily put the issue on hold until new council members are seated in January.

During the meeting, attorney Andrew Whalen and Town Manager Barry Amos discussed a proposed agreement to continue the relationship with Fairburn. They cited Fairburn’s agreement with Fulton County to access the Camp Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. Tyrone’s proposed contract called for the town to continue to use up to 250,000 gallons per day, or 25 percent, of Fairburn’s reserve capacity. By contract, those costs are paid by the developers of the residential and commercial properties at Southampton.

Whalen said the proposed agreement is a well-structured contract. He noted that the current 2001 agreement, in which Fairburn planned to construct its own system, had been re-evaluated due to cost factors.

“Fairburn realized that it was not cost effective to do it themselves,” Whalen said of Fairburn’s decision of more than a year ago. “The cost is staggering.”

The current contract calls for the cost for of up to 250,000 gallons to be paid by John Wieland Homes and Phil Seay. Southampton residential and commercial customers pay the developer who, in turn, pays the town. Those funds are then sent to Fairburn.

Discussing some of the components of the proposed new agreement, council member Lyn Redwood questioned whether sufficient contingencies were built in to the proposal so that the city would not have to eventually incur costs that, by contract, should be born by developers. Who would pay, she asked, if upgrades to the Fulton county system were required?

“I don’t think Tyrone should pay a penny for the things the developer should pay for,” said Redwood. “I don’t want us to make more and more commitments that may come back to bite us down the road.”

Whalen said provisions to cover various contingencies could be made. He stated that the tightening of environmental standards both now and in coming years makes sewer system use more desirable and the use of septic systems, which Tyrone largely functions with, more problematic.

“I think this is the best agreement we can get with the factors we’re operating with,” he said. “Tyrone was tied to Fairburn in (the) 2001 (agreement) and I don’t see a feasible way to dissolve that. Sewer is a vital resource today and the trend is moving in opposition to septic tanks.”

During the discussion, council member Paul Letourneau gave a general approval to the idea of entering a new contract with Fairburn.

“I don’t see that many negatives and I don’t see citizens getting billed,” Letourneau said. “The users pay the cost. I don’t have an issue with shipping sewerage out of Tyrone.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Redwood suggested that any decision on the issue be made after new council members are seated in January. Whalen and Amos agreed, with Whalen saying that he did not believe 30 more days would matter.

“Fairburn has been waiting for over a year,” Amos said. “I think they would like to go forward as soon as possible.”

The council did not take questions from the group of residents attending, adding that the meeting was a work session where no vote would be taken.

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