With a looming deadline and a ‘no’ vote from the Osage Beach/Lake Ozark joint sewer board, it looks as though the newly-formed Rocky Mount Sewer District will have to hand back nearly $2 million in stimulus money. The plan was to connect Rocky Mount’s system through Lake Ozark’s sewer lines and treat it at the joint sewer treatment plant. In the first phase, it would have connected 55 people to the sewer system.
However, Lake Ozark’s affirmative vote will do little now. On Wednesday, the joint sewer board voted to reject the contract. Joint sewer board chairwoman Penny Lyons said there were still a lot of unknowns. The sewer treatment plant is near capacity during certain times of the summer. Lyons worried adding more customers, especially outside city limits, could prompt an expensive expansion of the treatment plant. The cost would have to be passed onto all sewer customers.
The stimulus money Rocky Mount received allowed up to $100,000 buy-in. The city of Osage Beach was requesting a $500,000 buy-in to protect the treatment plant customers.
Without approval, a representative from the Rocky Mount sewer board said the district didn’t have anywhere else to go. The next closest sewer treatment plant would be 17 miles away and is too costly to lay down sewer lines the entire distance.
The deadline to reach an agreement was Nov. 1.
deanna.wheeler@lakesunonline.com
