Sean McCarter, Brown County Rural Water Association attorney, speaks to Ripley Council during the Jan. 24 meeting. Photo by Wade Linville
RIPLEY, Ohio — Following a heated discussion during the Ripley Village Council meeting held Jan. 24, Ripley Village Council members approved the signing of a supplemental contract agreement with Brown County Rural Water Association, moving forward with the transfer of Ripley’s public water system to BCRWA.
During the November 2021 election, Ripley voters passed the ballot issue to sell Ripley’s public water system to BCRWA with 317 voting in favor of the sale and 79 voting against the sale.
The Village of Ripley and BCRWA entered an agreement dated Nov. 24, 2021 to transfer the Ripley water system to BCRWA, and it was expected to take around two years for BCRWA to be pumping water from their treatment facility to Ripley residents. However, BCRWA ran into a snag when carrying forward with the transfer.
The Village of Ripley had approximately $1.5 million in debt on the current water treatment plant being used when voters passed the issue to sell the water system, according to information provided during a public meeting held prior to the November 2021 election, and the transfer of the water system from the Village of Ripley to BCRWA couldn’t take place without first taking care of the existing debt the Village of Ripley is responsible for.
BCRWA has no plans of using Ripley’s current water treatment plant after taking over Ripley’s public water system, so BCRWA sent Ripley Council a supplement to the original contract for the transfer of the water system that would allow BCRWA to procure financing to pay off the outstanding debt on Ripley’s water system and assist Ripley with the transfer, pursuing financing to pay off the debt on Ripley’s water system. The contract supplement states that “Ripley will return to BCRWA the sum of Eight Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($850,000) and pay to BCRWA the sum of the loans it obtains to pay the Ripley System debt.”
The contract supplement also points out that it is contingent upon receipt by BCRWA of loan financing acceptable to it, in its sole discretion to pay the Ripley System debt.
The supplement goes on to state that “BCRWA agrees to pay in full as soon as practical the Ripley System debt of approximately $2,370,000, contingent upon BCRWA obtaining terms acceptable to BCRWA, a loan at zero percent (0%) interest for a term of at least 20 years, in the amount of the Ripley System debt to enable a payoff of the debt (the “Loan”).”
Ripley’s current water system has several existing EPA violations and recommendations that need to be addressed in a timely manner, and while waiting for the transfer of the water system to BCRWA to take place, the Village of Ripley recently began $300,000 in repairs to Ripley’s current water treatment plant in order to provide clean, safe water to village residents. The repairs being made to the treatment plant are necessary and timely, involving the replacement of the media in the filtration system to improve water quality.
Some Ripley council members expressed their concerns with the village having to pay approximately $300,000 in repairs on the current water treatment plant being used with expectations that BCRWA would already be supplying water to Ripley residents and businesses.
The $300,000 being used for repairs to Ripley’s water treatment plant come from existing funds within the village’s water department.
Some Ripley Council members were reluctant to approve the supplement to the original contract, concerned with the money being spent on Ripley’s current water treatment plant, which will be closed down when BCRWA takes over, and the risk of having to fork out more money for repairs to the current water system before the transfer to BCRWA is complete. There were also some other terms in the contract related to the debt with the Ohio Water Development Authority on Ripley’s water system and finances that sparked concerns for some Ripley Council members.
“I don’t want to take care of it. I don’t want Brown County Rural Water to have to take care of it,” BCRWA General Manager Dan Sarbach said of Ripley’s existing debt while attending the Jan. 24 council meeting. “But where we’re at now is, to release those funds so we can go to bid and do the entire project, not just for the village but for Ripley Union which is one package (both water systems), it’s $5,446,050 ($5.446 million) of which again 50 percent is principal forgiveness or grant; the remaining at 0% interest. And this fiscal year is July of ‘22 through June of ‘23. So, we’re sitting here at the end of January, you have the agreement. If you sign it, it’s basically taking over your debt. You’re paying us, the money is still going to OWDA, the way it is set up through bonding.”
“The $5.4 million that you need to do the things that you said you were going to do, was that disclosed to the public during our public information session?” questioned Ripley Council member Scott Eagan.
Sarbach wasn’t sure if the $5.4 million needed was brought up during public sessions held prior to the vote to sell the water system, but said that OWDA funds are public record.
“I just don’t remember any statement saying, ‘Us doing this for your water system is contingent upon us obtaining $5.4 million from somewhere else,’” said Eagan.
Ripley Council member Charles Poole was concerned with how long it will take for the transfer to be final after voters approved the sale in November of 2021.
“We’re still a year-and-a-half to two years out, is that right?” Poole questioned regarding when the transfer of Ripley’s water system will be complete.
“Your system started in 1896. A few months over the improvement and the quality of water I don’t think is a huge ordeal. It’s not Brown County Water’s fault that the Village of Ripley is in this amount of debt,” said Sarbach.
Ripley Village Council member Alvin Wallace said he was insulted by the terms in the contract supplement and would not approve entering into the agreement unless the contract was first re-negotiated.
“You’ve got a problem in that you’re obligated under the OWDA to operate your system while that debt’s there,” said BCRWA attorney Sean McCarter. “This (supplemental agreement) gets you to the point of resolving your debt, Brown’s willing to help you with that.”
With time running out to secure the financing to cover the debt on Ripley’s water system and move forward with the transfer, the next step may have been legal action by BCRWA against the Village of Ripley if Ripley Council members refused to approve the contract supplement during the Jan. 24 meeting.
Ripley Solicitor Nicholas Owens and BCRWA attorney Sean McCarter met in executive session to negotiate some changes to the suplemental contract agreement. Following the executive session, Ripley Council members unanimously approved the contract supplement with BCRWA.
While BCRWA representatives in attendance to the Jan. 24 council meeting could not put an exact date on when the transfer of Ripley’s water system will be final, they did say they will be moving forward as quickly as possible.
