Swain County commissioners have settled a ten-month long lawsuit with Buckeye Construction for $30,000, far less than the $127,000 originally demanded.

“I think the county came out a winner on this, even though it cost us,” said Commissioner Glenn Jones.

McGill Associates, an Asheville-based engineering firm that designed the construction project in question, will pick up $15,000 of the cost, while the county will cover the remaining $15,000.

The lawsuit centered around a sewer project in the Franklin Grove community. When Buckeye encountered more water underground than expected, the company decided to widen the ditches and add more stone and gravel to better support the pipes.

While the change added significant cost to the project, Buckeye did not first get a change order to formalize the cost overruns. Buckeye sued the county in February, after Swain refused to pay the additional costs.

Swain County filed a motion to dismiss the case based on jurisdiction but that motion was dismissed. The county immediately appealed the decision in June. Recently, Swain recently received a settlement offer from Buckeye. During a closed session at a county meeting Monday, Swain commissioners agreed to settle the case.

Buckeye began work on the Franklin Grove sewer project in August 2007. Plans for the project called for a minimum amount of stone to be used around the pipes.

“That part was done to specification,” said Danny Bridges, principal for McGill’s Asheville office.

But McGill never came to an agreement with Buckeye over the actual quantity of stone that was used in the project, according to Bridges. Bridges said the contractor had multiple options for dealing with the situation and chose to put stone in the trench prior to giving a price.

Macon County commissioners voiced concern this week over a proposed sewer treatment plant that would discharge into the Little Tennessee River just across the state line in Georgia.

The river, considered an environmental treasure and a future source of drinking water, flows north through Franklin and on to Lake Fontana

“As the county adjacent to and directly downstream from the proposed Rabun County facility we have significant concerns about the impact of this project on the water quality in the Little Tennessee watershed on both sides of the state border,” Macon wrote in a letter to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division states.

Rabun County, Ga., needs a discharge permit to convert the closed-down Fruit of the Loom plant into a sewer treatment plant. While a written public comment period was held on the permit, Macon commissioners called for a formal public hearing in their letter.

The letter also states that the river is listed as polluted in Georgia and North Carolina and potential further degradation must be approached carefully.

The town of Franklin also has plans in the works to use the river as an alternative source of drinking water, the letter states.

“There are many questions we would like the opportunity to discuss,” the letter states.

The application process for a permit provides holding a public hearing if there is sufficient public interest. Commissioner Bobby Kuppers, who brought the issue forward, said he believes there is enough public interest to warrant a public hearing.

The Little Tennessee Watershed Association has been leading a public campaign over the past month encouraging the public to send comments on the permit. The environmental group previously spoke at a commissioners meeting about the issue.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

Developers in Swain County eyeing a quick, easy connection to Bryson City’s sewer system for their newly built properties are out of luck — at least for now. Bryson’s town board is currently denying sewer services to anyone that lives outside of the immediate town limits.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Franklin town leaders are in the process of fixing some of the sewage spills throughout town, Franklin Town Manager Mike Decker said.

A long-standing controversy over extending water and sewer lines to the semi-rural community of Bethel could be a defining issue in the election for the Haywood County Soil and Water Conservation District board this November.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The state’s water, wastewater and stormwater systems are faced with $6.8 billion in capital improvement needs, a figure that is expected to reach $16.5 billion by 2030, according to a new study released by the North Carolina Rural Center.