News

Commissioners consider options for sewer line in Edneyville

Michael Edney, chair of Henderson County’s board of commissioners, and Commissioner Jay Egolf (on the right) confer on Wednesday as commissioners considered options for the Clear Creek sewer project.

By Amy McCraw, Published: November 19, 2025

After hearing from state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom in a late-night email, county commissioners on Wednesday morning directed staff to begin working with contractors on a scaled-down version of the Clear Creek sewer project that might serve as the first phase of a planned sewer line in Edneyville.

“It seems to me we’ve got a little bit of time,” Commission Chairman Bill Lapsley said at the end of a lengthy discussion about the future of plans for the sewer project along U.S. 64 East in Edneyville. “I would like to use that time as best we can before we make a final decision. We need to let our elected officials know that we would appreciate very much if they would find a way to replace this $12.7 (million) appropriation with some other funding from wherever they can get it.”
Lapsley, with the agreement of other commissioners, directed the county’s staff to begin working with contractors on a revised plan that would spend an estimated $6.6 million on the sewer project.
The decision to wait before making a final decision came after recent moves by the state legislature seemed to put funding for the project in jeopardy.
Commissioners in October approved a nearly $14 million construction contract for the project that would run sewer lines along U.S. 64 from the state’s Justice Academy to North Henderson High School where it will connect with the City of Hendersonville’s sewer system.
The total $17 million price tag for the project was planned to be paid for through state and federal grants.
But before and during a Nov. 3 commissioners meeting, Lapsley and others criticized Balkcom for failing to communicate the Legislature’s action to shift a $12.7 million sewer grant from the Clear Creek project in Edneyville to the county-owned Etowah sewer system, which needs major repairs. During the Nov. 3 meeting, Lapsley expressed his frustration with the lawmakers’ action and declared that it appeared the grant money would be lost because it could not be spent in time to meet a funding deadline of Dec. 31, 2026.
Balkcom sent an email to all five commissioners at 9:51 p.m. on Tuesday declaring that Henderson County commissioners had made "incorrect statements" about the status of the $12.7 million sewer system grant. County Manager John Mitchell, County Engineer Marcus Jones, state Sen. Tim Moffitt and the Lightning were copied in the email.
Balkcom’s letter to the commissioners came after a meeting on Nov. 13 in which a state Department of Environmental Quality official clarified that $12.7 million in state funds would be allocated for the Etowah sewer repairs and that the county could still move ahead with the Clear Creek project using an American Rescue Plan grant — the pot of money with the December 2026 spending deadline.
Shadi Eskaf, director of DEQ’s Division of Water Infrastructure, summarized "what was discussed (on Nov. 13) and the next steps" for grant funding of the two sewer projects.
“Since the federal obligation deadline for ARPA State Fiscal Recovery Fund has already passed (December 31, 2024), we cannot commit ARPA funding towards the Etowah wastewater project,” Eskaf wrote in an email sent at 5:51 p.m. on Tuesday. “The Etowah project will be funded out of State dollars that are not ARPA. Thus, ARPA expenditure deadlines (and the ARPA funding conditions) will not apply to the Etowah wastewater project. A project timeline will be communicated in the Letter of Intent to Fund, as well as information about requirements for state-funded projects.
“The Clear Creek Sewer Project (SRP-W-ARP-0085), if it continues forward, will remain funded out of ARPA dollars and must continue to comply with the timelines associated with the project,” Eskaf added. "If the project scope will need to be reduced as a result of the funding shift, please communicate the intended plan with the Division, keeping in mind the overall goal of completing the ARPA project expenditures by the federal expenditure deadline of December 2026.”
Commission Vice Chair Michael Edney and Commissioner Rebecca McCall attended the Nov. 13 meeting with state officials where funding for both the Clear Creek and Etowah sewer projects were discussed.
Edney said during the commissioners meeting on Wednesday that he too came away from the Nov. 13 meeting with the understanding that both sewer projects would receive funding.
“They feel that the state money can go toward the Etowah system. The federal money has to go to the Clear Creek system or not at all,” he said. “So, I think the bottom line, all things being equal, both projects are going to be funded, it sounds like.”
McCall did not attend Wednesday’s commissioners meeting.
After comments from Lapsley and Edney, Jones presented commissioners with various options if the grant for the Clear Creek sewer is not available.
The first option involved borrowing $12.7 million to fund the Clear Creek sewer as it is now planned.
The second option calls for the county to build a sewer line for an estimated $6.6 million that would serve Edneyville Elementary School and Camp Judea along U.S. 64 and all parcels between the two.
The third option estimated that $4.4 million would be needed to build a pump station to serve only Edneyville Elementary School.
Lapsley said during Wednesday’s meeting that he wanted county staff to meet with contractors about the second option and to confirm if the revised plan could be done for $6.6 million.
“Let’s get it in writing whatever that number is, and this board can make a decision,” he said.
Edney said after Wednesday’s meeting that based on the Nov. 13 meeting he thinks both the Clear Creek and Etowah sewer projects can be funded as commissioners had originally intended.
But he said commissioners wanted to pursue the $6.6 million plan presented Wednesday “until we firm that up.” The plan could be considered a first phase of the overall planned project, he said, adding that commissioners “hope for the best and plan for the worst.”
Plans for a sewer project in Edneyville began in 2017 when the county learned it needed sewer service for the new Edneyville Elementary School being built behind the old elementary school in the community.
Commissioners had considered building a sewer treatment plant as part of the project. But the board scrapped plans for the treatment plant last year after learning that the cost for the plant had spiked by 60 percent.