The Ronda town commissioners who challenged the interlocal agreement believed the legal document contained several points that directly contradicted the conditions which were presented to the the town board in the past.
“I didn't feel blindsided – I was, and I feel that the Town of Ronda was, too,” said Ronda Town Commissioner Sam Foster.
Foster, a first-term commissioner, claimed that “too many issues to name” set forth in the interlocal agreement between Ronda and the YVSA were in question at Tuesday night's Ronda town council meeting.
“(The interlocal agreement) is not what we agreed to,” said Foster.
According to Foster, the primary dispute in the interlocal agreement was whether the town's loans to the YVSA would be repaid by the authority or whether the money would be considered a gift.
Foster was referring to $15,000 in “pre-startup funds” that Ronda paid to the YVSA prior to the sewer authority's July 1 stand-up date. The interlocal agreement between Ronda and the YVSA that was proposed to the Ronda board of commissioners considered this money a “gift,” which the sewer authority would not repay to the town.
“All of this money had been designated as loans (to the town) in previous years,” said Foster. “The document last night stated that all loans would be forgiven, and I couldn't, in good faith, agree to that.”
The Town of Ronda was supposed to be the final link in the YVSA chain. Ronda was the only town of the three towns under YVSA jurisdiction yet to approve its interlocal agreement.
Both Elkin and Jonesville's town boards approved their interlocal agreements at town hall meetings in June before the sewer authority took effect on July 1.
The interlocal agreement, which requires a vote of approval by each of the towns' boards, is needed for the YVSA to be granted the status of an official quasi-governmental organization and become fully operational under state law.
At a meeting of the YVSA Board of Directors on Tuesday, June 29, Ronda mayor Victor Varela assured the sewer authority's governing body that his town's approval of its interlocal agreement with the YVSA was imminent.
“(The interlocal agreement) should not be a big issue to pass,” said Varela to the sewer authority's board. “Don't worry about Ronda.”
Those words, spoken by Varela a month ago, failed to provide Ronda's town board the confidence it needed to pass the interlocal agreement without question.
After more than an hour of debate on the YVSA issue, Foster and fellow Ronda town commissioner Rex Ashley cast dissenting votes, while commissioners Wanda Blackburn and Brenda Miller voted to approve the agreement. With a split vote among the town commissioners, Mayor Varela, who also serves as Ronda's representative to the YVSA Board of Directors, cast the tie-break vote in favor of approving the YVSA interlocal agreement.
Varela reasoned that approving the interlocal agreement with the YVSA was a fiscally responsible decision for the town. He said that although he and the Ronda commissioners were uncomfortable with some of the technical aspects and legal language of the interlocal agreement, the passage of the agreement and Ronda's subsequent inclusion in the YVSA was the only way the small town could maintain an efficient and financially-sound sewer system.
On the subject of Ronda forgiving YVSA debt for the town's pre-startup payment, Varela said that Ronda town commissioners were made well-aware in advance of Tuesday's meeting that the town's interlocal agreement had been renegotiated to account for Ronda's $15,000 payment as a gift to the authority.
Varela disagreed with Foster that Tuesday was the first time town commissioners had been introduced to revisions to the interlocal agreement designating Ronda's pre-startup fund contributions as a gift to the YVSA.
“Nobody was in favor of forgiving the debt,” said Varela. “We're a small town with a tight budget.”
Varela continued to say that without the gifted pre-startup funds to the YVSA, the authority was afraid of running out of reserve money before it could generate its own revenue.
“We (the Ronda town commissioners and Varela) had talked about previous editions of the interlocal agreement that included changes to the loan,” said Varela.
Varela also said that before he cast his tie-break vote, he took into account his town's gifted contributions to the YVSA in comparison to those of Elkin and Jonesville.
“The Town of Elkin has already forgiven three years worth of debt to the YVSA... which amounts to $294,000,” said Varela. “The Town of Elkin has already been so generous that our $15,000 (contribution) paled in comparison.”
Varela acknowledged that the Town of Jonesville, too, decided to forgive $94,000 of YVSA debt prior to the sewer authority's July 1 standing date.
Ronda town commissioner Wanda Blackburn, who voted in favor of the passage of the YVSA interlocal agreement, said that she also had reservations regarding the document's approval.
“It was a hard decision. I agreed a lot with Mr. Foster, but I really think it's in the best interest of the town because we need this sewer,” said Blackburn. “There were some things in (the interlocal agreement) I didn't agree with, but you have to take the bad with the good.”
Blackburn said that, although Ronda town commissioners were informed at an earlier date that their town's YVSA pre-startup contributions would be repaid, she saw that relieving the YVSA of its debt was necessary to ensuring the authority's survival.
“At one time we were told (the pre-startup contribution) was a loan and we'd get money back, but the sewer authority ran into some problems, and they really needed the money,” said Blackburn. “But now I think everything will work out alright.”
Ronda town commissioner Brenda Miller also voted to approve the interlocal agreement with the YVSA.
“It was pretty obvious that we needed to (vote in favor of the YVSA) to maintain our sewer system,” said Miller.
Describing the events of Tuesday's Ronda town council meeting, YVSA Executive Director Nicole Johnston said that much of the town council's debate on the passage of the interlocal agreement resulted from a misinterpretation of the document's terms.
“There was a lot of discussion and misunderstanding about the interlocal agreements,” said Johnston speaking of what she called, “issues concerning free contributions to the authority.”
“A couple commissioners weren't happy that we weren't returning the initial $15,000 in pre-startup funds,” said Johnston.
Johnston went on to explain that according to the interlocal agreements with all three towns involved in the YVSA, the sewer authority is required to pay back only those funds paid by the towns as “post-startup contributions.” Post-startup revenue received by the YVSA will be paid back to each of the towns in the form of loans, whereas pre-startup funds from Elkin, Jonesville and Ronda are considered gifts and will not be repaid.
The Town of Ronda will be compensated for its $25,000 contribution in post-startup and reserve funds, which it will pay to the authority over the course of three years, reassured Johnston.
Although Johnston was in attendance at Tuesday's meeting to answer questions from Ronda's commissioners, Foster still disagreed with the commissioners' vote to approve the interlocal agreement with the YVSA.
“I highly disagree with several points of the form that was accepted last night,” said Foster in an interview with The Tribune on Wednesday. “I'm not against the sewer in town, but I am against the agreement put forth in the documentation.”
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