By MATT LAMB
Insider Staff Writer
West End Elementary School and Moore County may soon benefit from a collaborative agreement that would provide the county with a new sewer pump location and the school a chance to rid itself of an aging septic system.
The seemingly mutually beneficial scenario has arisen from a county request to install a new pump station on the school’s campus as part of a larger project to extend public sewer into Seven Lakes. In exchange for using district property, the county will agree to waive a $60,000 tap fee, tying West End Elementary into the county’s sewer system.
During Monday’s school board work session, Assistant Superintendent Jenny Purvis explained that the elementary school’s septic system is “hanging on by a thread.”
“The current septic system we have at West End Elementary, a portion of which was replaced in the 1950s, is in terrible shape, and we have no drain fields or repair area available,” Purvis said. “The ability to attach to this municipal sewer is a big advantage for our district.”
Purvis said that keeping the current septic system would saddle the district with a nearly half-a-million-dollar repair bill. “The issue with our system is that we don’t have a field for repair. That school is really old, and as you know, if you’ve done any building lately, they make you have a sewage site and the repair site available. That wasn’t required years ago, so if we were going to do this, we would have to have new sites.”
Board member David Hensley lauded the opportunity to tie into the county’s sewer line but suggested requesting the county waive not only the initial tap fee but also the school’s monthly sewage fees.
“We did ask for that; as we entered into discussions with this, that was my first ask,” Purvis said. “They were willing to waive the fee to tap on, but they are not willing to do that.”
Purvis said the county is also looking at an alternate site.
“They’re not willing to waive the monthly fee for that,” she said. “They do have another site, potentially, so we are not the only site that they have located.”
Purvis described the offer as a win-win scenario, noting that even if the county used another pump site, the district would still be best served to tap into the county’s sewage system.
She added, “We spend a lot of man hours from our plumbing crew working on this and trying to keep it going. It’s almost a bi-weekly, at least a monthly issue there. It’s hanging on by a thread, and we’ve been hoping for this to happen.”
In a draft letter to County Manager Wayne Vest, the district has requested the construction of a gravel road leading to and a fence surrounding the future pump station to prevent vehicle damage, and to ensure the safety of students and staff at West End.
Moving forward, the school board’s attorney and the county attorney will develop a joint use agreement and property easement, which will eventually come back to the school board and Board of Commissioners for a final vote.
Contact Matt Lamb at (910) 693-2479 or mlamb@thepilot.com.
