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The Hawkins County Commission approved a resolution allowing appropriation of $430,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money to allow the Scott County, Virginia Public Service Authority to install water lines in a two-mile stretch of the Pink Hill community for potable water.

The new line will run for two miles and impact 50 residences.

In sponsoring the resolution, Commissioner Jason Roach said that the Pink Hill area has not had clean water previously. Water in that community has been contaminated by iron, he said.

“From the standpoint of the cost of the line, SCPSA is going to do it as cheap as or cheaper than anyone that I know,” County Mayor Mark DeWitte said. “Anyone else would have to go miles to connect to that point. We’ve discussed this a lot of times in the budget committee.”

Tap fees are included in the water line construction and installation.

To use in comparison, Roach asked Lakeview Utility District about its tap fees, which are $2,100 to $2,500. Scott County charges $1,500 per tap to its Virginia customers.

A constituent of Roach’s asked if the Pink Hill residents would have to pay a tap fee for the project.

DeWitte said that those agreeing to sign on to use the water for 10 years before construction, there would be no tap fee. Those wanting to tap on while construction is underway, the tap fee is $750. Tap fees after construction jump to $1,500.

“They have a sliding scale as to when you sign up,” DeWitte said. “They’re looking for people to sign up for an agreement. If you sign up for a tap, you sign up for the minimum water fee per month, whether you use it or not.”

Barry Musick, of Crossroads Engineering, represented SCPSA at the meeting. He said that the no tap fees are to encourage new customers so they will stay customers for the long term.

“There is a line item in the budget for constructing,” he said. “The funds requested are inclusive of the tap fee. It’s SCPSA’s policy for the last few years that if you sign during the planning stages or prior to construction and commit to a 10-year service agreement, they do waive the $1,500 connection fee that is normally part of the user agreements.”

The user fees alone are not sufficient to cover the operation and maintenance cost, plus the construction costs, Musick said.

“We have around $46,000 to install the taps,” Musick said. “Capital costs will still have to be paid. There is little recovery on a monthly fee.”

DeWitte announced that paving for the Phipps Bend Industrial District Road will be completed soon, thanks to the First Tennessee Development District and the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

“We’ve been trying for a long time to get Phipps Bend Road paved,” DeWitte said. “We couldn’t find room in our budget, nor did we put it in the ARPA. Through connections at the FTDD, I learned about the State Industrial Access Program. It’s not necessarily a grant, it’s just money available from TDOT to pave roads inside industrial areas.”

DeWitte was told last week that Phipps Bend was improved for the plan with TDOT paving the road. The project is estimated at more than $1 million.

“That’s a million dollars plus that we’re not going to have to pay for,” DeWitte said. “It’s certainly going to make Phipps Bend look very attractive.”

Commissioner Nancy Barker, who is also executive director of the Rogersville/Hawkins County Chamber of Commerce, also praised the news.

“I’m thankful that we got it,” Barker said. “I appreciate everybody that worked on it. It was a group effort to get it done. We can’t wait to get it done. We’ve got two industries coming in and that was dependent on getting a good road in there.

“This is going to help us not only get these industries open, but we’ve got two other industries looking at us. Hopefully we’ll get those in the next year or so.”