‘Hometown Connection’ brings cities, state lawmakers together

“GMA’s Hometown Connection is designed to strengthen relationships between cities and legislators by providing firsthand insights into local challenges and successes,” per GMA. “It creates a clear, local, and relatable framework for understanding the realities facing your city.”

While officials shared plenty of successes, the collective conversation on challenges proved particularly fruitful in charting a way forward for Blairsville and Hiawassee; both are facing significant problems with aging water infrastructure that are not going to be cheap or easy to fix.

Blairsville is losing about 40% of its treated drinking water to leaks somewhere in the ground, and Hiawassee is losing up to 53%. Ideally, water loss should be no greater than 15%, so both cities have their work cut out for them to meet or improve upon that benchmark.

Water woes from decades-old lines and other infrastructure are actually rather common among Georgia municipalities. Resources are available to help, but the biggest resource needed is funding.

For instance, Hiawassee Mayor Junior Chastain said recent construction estimates provided by the city’s engineering firm put the cost at anywhere from $9 million to $27 million to get Hiawassee Water up to snuff.

And Blairsville Water will need lots of funding as well to repair and replace its aging infrastructure.

GMA Member Services Consultant Pete Pyrzenski offered to organize a “Water Consortium” to gather various state agencies and programs in a single location to meet with Blairsville and Hiawassee officials to go over each city’s water issues, planning and funding opportunities.

District 50 State Sen. Bo Hatchett shared his belief that Georgia will not be able to rely on the same level of surplus funding as it has in recent years. He anticipates that state appropriations for municipal projects will be down starting with the next legislative session.

“A lot of our colleagues running statewide are promising to eliminate the state income tax,” Hatchett said. “And when that happens, there’s going to be a void in funding.

“So, I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of money being added in the amended budget to state agencies because we’re going to have to figure that out.”

But Hatchett also mentioned that certain programs, like the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, loan money for infrastructure projects that ends up being granted under the right conditions, potentially resulting in a more affordable way to repair the widespread water issues.

Moore said Blairsville has been working on filling the workforce housing need, having joined the three-year Georgia Initiative for Community Housing program. The city participated in a Union County Housing Summit by the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute last week.

Mayor Andrea Gibby said Young Harris is also doing its part to contribute to the regional affordable housing need, going over last month’s groundbreaking for the 44-unit Valley Trail Apartments just outside city limits that can be expanded in the future.

On top of water distribution, Moore said Blairsville is working on other infrastructure projects, such as expanding water and potentially sewer west on US 76 and north on Pat Haralson Drive, which also ties into future housing needs, and several projects to improve the Blairsville Airport.

Moore noted his interest in pursuing a transportation study as well as a new south/west connector to ease the burden of thru-traffic in Downtown Blairsville. Also downtown, Moore is hoping to expand sidewalks, improve the city park and achieve a rural zone designation for revitalization.

Mayor Chastain highlighted the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to repair the Chatuge Dam spillway, which will come with two off-season drawdowns of Lake Chatuge to record-low levels.

This will “further stress our water treatment plant” that is already losing over half its capacity to leaks, and that’s not to mention other issues such as aging storage tanks and meters, plus some neighborhoods that are still being fed with galvanized water lines that need replacing.

Fortunately, he said TVA has been great to work with, and they are currently looking at two solutions to treating water amid such low lake levels, one that will be permanent and another that will be temporary.

Chastain directly appealed to the state legislators in attendance – State Sen. Hatchett and District 8 State Rep. Stan Gunter – “to help us get grants, to get low-interest loans” to solve their significant infrastructure problems.

Moore and Chastain are relatively new to their mayoral positions. Each served for years as a city councilman, only recently having taken over the city management duties of mayor, so they are still in the process of getting their hands wrapped around their similar infrastructure issues.

Mayor Gibby said Young Harris is in good shape infrastructure-wise. She has been mayor for 18 years and came into office knowing how to write grants as part of her full-time job, which has helped secure money for infrastructure projects over the years.

Gibby also noted that “we have gotten here” after much planning over her 18 years, helping Young Harris to achieve local housing and business developments, a great partnership with Young Harris College, vibrant community events and more: “The future is really bright.”

“I say that to both of you who are new in this particular position – it takes a long time to get anywhere,” Gibby said. “And you can’t get frustrated because it just takes a long time to get money and to get the work done, and to figure out where to get the money to get the work done.”

Despite having new mayoral partners, Gibby said she is used to working with the elected officials of her closest neighboring cities – Young Harris is located squarely between Hiawassee and Blairsville.

“The three cities always did this together because it makes more sense,” Gibby said. “Even though we’re independent, everybody lives and works and plays in all of our cities, so that’s the reason we have always come together.”

Gibby also serves as 1st Vice President of the GMA Board of Directors, putting her next in line to be president of the Georgia Municipal Association; that can only benefit the area, as GMA is in the business of serving the needs of cities, and Gibby is a powerful ally in the organization.

Other topics covered were an emphasis on local government control, mental health challenges, controlled growth, sovereign immunity concerns, the federal slowdown of PFAS/PFOS regulations, upcoming legislative priorities, new technology like artificial intelligence and more.

Made clear in the meeting, Gibby, Moore and Chastain will be helping each other any way they can, which, combined with the efforts of state legislators and GMA officials attending, will surely make it easier and more affordable to bring solutions and improvements to bear locally.