New Bern discusses Havelock sewer deal

A decision on the long-delayed sewer-service agreement between New Bern and Havelock will probably be one of the first things newly elected aldermen will need to handle in January, New Bern City Attorney Scott Davis told his leaders this week.

As proposed, the agreement allows Havelock to have access to New Bern’s wastewater system to treat up to 284,000 gallons of sewage per day. That increased capacity would help Havelock handle expansion, and would also be crucial to serve Croatan Station, a residential-and-commercial development planned along U.S. 70 near Carolina Pines and Stately Pines.

The agreement would also set Catfish Lake Road as a boundary line that neither New Bern nor Havelock could cross for annexation. All of the terms of the deal have been under discussion for at least 18 months.

“Havelock very much needs an answer from us, even if it’s, ‘No,’ ” Davis told a mixed board of incoming and outgoing New Bern aldermen during a work session this week.

Under the sewer proposal, Havelock would pay New Bern $1.3 million, a fee that New Bern would begin to collect in the sixth year of the agreement. If the agreement is broken, New Bern will keep the money that Havelock has already paid. Once the system is in place, Havelock will have to pay for a minimum of 150,000 gallons per day of sewage whether the city uses that capacity or not.

Several other pieces of the agreement call for Havelock to pay percentages of the costs of some sewer upgrades that would benefit both cities. Havelock customers would also pay higher sewage rates than would residents of New Bern.

“Not one dollar will be leaving the city,” Davis said, referring to New Bern.

Davis said his bulleted review of the agreement’s terms amounted to a “30,000-foot overview” of the plan the two cities have been considering for months.

He said a shared large-scale project like this one may help better define New Bern as a “metropolitan service area,” a designation that merchants look for when considering where to put their businesses.

No decisions on the agreement were made this week, and Davis said it would likely come before the brand-new board of aldermen during a January work session. That work session will also give aldermen a clear look at all the project’s costs, which were not discussed in great detail during Tuesday night’s work session.

Alderman-elect Sabrina Bengel indicated her support of the idea of a regional sewer project, but said the new leaders have “a lot to digest” before any decisions are made.

Alderman Dana Outlaw said Wednesday that he would like to “slow down and re-evaluate and see where the next city manager wants to take us for the next 20 years,” before he makes a decision about the sewer agreement.

He said that, given only the information he has right now, he would vote in January to oppose an agreement between the two cities.