FAITH — Conversations in the Faith Board of Aldermen meetings surrounding the drawn-out construction of the town’s new well have ranged from confused to annoyed to exasperated. Now that the town has been in a holding pattern for nearly a year over a disagreement on a required draw-down test, the board has moved to hire a local engineering firm to give them a second opinion, as well as help the town potentially develop an infrastructure master plan at some point in the future.

During the board’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, the members moved by consensus to sign an agreement with engineering firm Garver that would allow the firm to work with the town and advise on any engineering issues or projects that arise in the future. 

“One of the things that we bring, Rob (McIntyre) comes from a firm that spent a lot of time working with small communities around the state. And his focus was really on helping them get funding through North Carolina and other sources, through DEQ and a variety of different things, to be able to fund those projects. With the master plan, one of the things we’re able to do is look at what you need, but also what funding opportunities are out there,” said Garver Engineer Jonathan Williams.

Part of that discussion and board agreement included asking Garver, whose local office is headed by Williams, a Rowan County native and Spencer mayor, to take a look at the proposed draw-down test that is being required by the state before the town connects the new well. The well, number two in the five-well system, has been out of commission since July of 2022. Back in September, the town voted to open bidding for the testing. The town has received only one bid, noted on Tuesday to be at a total of $26,224, during both the first bidding cycle and during a second one opened in hopes of getting more responses.

One of the major issues that the board is taking the step back to reanalyze would be the amount of water required by the drawdown test, close to 500,000 gallons of water that would be released into the area from three different wells that the state believes are connected.

That test is reportedly being required by the North Carolina Division of Environmental Quality and would require the town to draw 300 gallons a minute for 24 hours straight, according to Mayor Randall Barger. One of the board members’ main concerns is that the water has to go somewhere, and right now there is a chance that the water ends up flooding a resident’s private property.

“We went through the woods. Taking the water through the woods is not a solution, because with the trailer park, they’ve dug out where some trailers are and that water would go right over that ridge and straight into the trailer park and flood about four or five other trailers. So that won’t work,” said Barger.

Barger also said that another part of the plan, the piping along Jaycee Street, could pose a problem if the pipes become overwhelmed by 300 gallons a minute. If that water overflows, it would flow directly into a front yard and a manhole, where it would fill the sewer and increase the town’s sewer bill.

“They were going to come up with a plan, they said. And I told them, I said, ‘I don’t understand how you think you’re going to do this,’” said Barger.

Williams told the board during the meeting that if they directed the firm to take a look at the required testing and give their opinions and recommendations by the board’s meeting in May.

“If we didn’t have to do that test, there wouldn’t be a problem whatsoever. But that’s a lot of water. I don’t know what we’d do with it and I think it’s going to cause a lot of damage to some properties,” said Barger.

Another selling point that Mayor Pro Tem Dale Peeler pointed to when approving the agreement with Garver was the firm’s ability to potentially help the town develop an updated infrastructure master plan and help the town identify funding opportunities, especially grants.

“It’s easier to get those grants if you have a master plan in place and have your priorities set. Part of the conversation, and this is where (Water Operator) Scott (Gardner) and (Town Clerk) Karen (Fink) came into it, we have infrastructure that needs to be updated. We also have a situation still with the well,” said Alderman Jayne Lingle.

At the end of the discussion between the board members and Williams, the board voted by consensus to sign the master services agreement with Garver. Williams noted that the agreement does not require a retainer fee, instead the company will provide a quote or bill an hourly rate whenever the town asks for their assistance.