Water for all – an elusive goal that just got a little closer

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF) – The late Tom Stiner, Campbell County Executive until his retirement in 2002, set a number of goals during his twelve year tenure in office. One of those, to see public drinking water available to every household in Campbell County, has remained an elusive target for the past 20 years through the tenures of four more County Mayors.

Monday night, the county commission took a big step toward finally making Stiner’s dream a reality, voting to add another million dollars to an already approved $5 million waterline expansion into communities near Cedar Creek, Alder springs and other District 1 neighborhoods.

Progress has been made in much of the under-served mountain region of the county such as Stinking Creek, thanks to grants from the federal Appalachian Regional Commission or Office of Surface Mining aimed at offsetting the negative impacts of coal mining and regional poverty in Appalachia. No such relief could be expected for the more economically upbeat communities around Norris Lake, yet major waterline expansion is too costly for local governments or utilities without a significant contribution from federal or state government.

In that respect, the large amount of American Recovery Act funding approved in Washington has been the one silver lining in the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year the commission voted to apply for $2.5 million in ARP funding as the county’s share of the 50-50 partnership with the LaFollette Utility Board, adding the additional $500,000 this week to cover inflationary costs since the project was first approved.

Once those expansions are completed, Finance Director Jeff Marlow pointed out that the only major areas of Campbell County without access to public water will be Westborne and Morley. Both are in a service gap between White Oak, served by the Clear Fork Utility District, and Duff (LaFollette Utility Board) or Jellico Utilities.

Marlow pointed out that the county was removed from the ARC “distressed county” list a few years ago, making grant money that was pending for the Morley project unavailable. He added that state CDBG funds might help pay for expansions to those areas in the future, along with a plan to link Caryville and Jellico utilities through a gap between Pioneer Post Office served by Jellico and the Exit 141 business area served by CJUC.

If money can be found to fund the expansions into Morley and Westborne, the long delayed goal of water for all might yet become reality, at least until someone decides to build yet another residential neighborhood in some isolated part of the county.

In addition to approving the $500,000 increase in waterline expansion, the commission also voted to allocate another $500,000 for the purchase of new ambulances and took some time at the beginning of the meeting to recognize the efforts of five individuals for their role in organizing the recent Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic.

Garrett Orick, Alyssa Jeffries, Chrystal Watkins, Haley Snodgrass and Claire Kast were all recognized individually for their “dedication and unselfishness” in bringing the RAM event to the county where over a hundred Campbell County residents were able to obtain medical, vision and dental care. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 11/18/2021-6AM)