The town of Tyrone and the Fayette County Board of Education have started talks that could eventually lead to the shutdown of the school system’s sewer plant on Jenkins Road.

Town Manager Barry Amos confirmed that talks are underway and supplied a copy of a letter sent to the board Feb. 3.

In the letter, Amos said a connection to the Tyrone sewer system would not have a tap fee.

“In addition, the town would have constructed, at no costs to the school system, a gravity sewer line from our existing sewer system to a mutually agreed upon point adjacent to the Sandy Creek Complex,” Amos wrote.

The only cost to the school system would be for facilities necessary to transport the school’s sewerage to Tyrone’s existing collection points and a monthly treatment charge.

Superintendent of Education John DeCotis said the school system is waiting for a final sewer agreement from Tyrone before it makes any decision.

“If it’s economically feasible for us, we’ll get out of the sewer business,” he said.

The Jenkins Road treatment facility has been in operation since the schools were built in 1990, he added, and costs nearly $100,000 a year to run. The self-contained plant serves Sandy Creek High School, Flat Rock Middle School and Burch Elementary School.

In February, after more than two years of negotiations, the town of Tyrone Thursday night approved a new sewer contract with Fairburn that gave the town the ability to negotiate with the school system.

Any excess capacity, according to a sewer contract with John Wieland Homes, is released to the town and 45,000 gallons a day is held in reserve for the Fayette County Board of Education to tie into and shut down its treatment facility on Jenkins Road.

The town and Board of Education have previously discussed a sewer agreement, but the school system was reluctant about paying a tap-on fee.

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