By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer

KEYSER — With Piedmont officials cool to a joint project, and a growing backlog of projects awaiting state funding, a regional planning official recommended Wednesday that the city of Keyser pursue private funding for a badly needed new water filtration plant, and begin design as soon as possible.
“My recommendation is, conversations with Crews (Crews and Associates of Morgantown) and move forward with design,” said Kenneth Dyche, executive director of the Region 8 Planning and Development Council.
Following Dyche’s recommendation, Keyser mayor Glen “Bunk” Shumaker moved to have the issue added to the agenda for Monday’s 4 p.m. city council meeting.
Keyser officials invited representatives of the town of Piedmont, Mineral County,  Dunn Engineering and Region 8 Planning to discuss the $9 million filtration plant project at a 5 p.m. meeting at City Hall. The theme of the meeting was regionalization, with officials noting the financial benefits of larger projects that serve a greater number of people.
Mineral County Coordinator Mike Bland said projects like the filtration plant must be built to meet future needs, and

(See PLANT, page 4)
while New Creek — the city’s lone water source — meets current needs, water supplies are “pretty tight” in drought conditions and would likely be inadequate when considering future development.
“We’re just here to look at the possibilities, whether a joint project can be put together to benefit everybody,” he said.
Dyche echoed the theme of a regional approach, noting that the Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council in Charleston — which must approve all publicly financed water and sewer projects in West Virginia — strongly promotes consolidation and regionalization.
“Regionalization is increasingly on their agenda,” he said. “They’re interested in lager treatment plants and fewer small treatment plants . . . that’s out there as an issue you have to deal with.”
With Piedmont reportedly considering the need for a new treatment plant, Keyser officials invited representatives of the town to the meeting to discuss just such a regional approach. One plan would build a single treatment plant to serve both communities.
“It’s cheaper to lay pipe than build a filtration plant,” Shumaker said.
Piedmont officials, though, threw cold water on the idea, saying they’re not currently in the market for a filtration plant. Tim Jackson, Piedmont’s water treatment supervisor, noted that the community receives its water from Savage River Reservoir, one of the cleanest water sources in the region. He said there are no plans to replace the current plant.
“We just need a few upgrades (at the filtration plant). . .” he said. “We’re pretty much good to go.”
While the pressure for a regional approach exists for state-funded projects, communities can avoid those kinds of requirements if they fund such work themselves. Crews & Associates provides private financing based on anticipated revenue from water fees. While the interest rates are somewhat higher than the kinds of loans typically provided by the state — and certainly more costly than outright grants — some or all of those costs can be offset by the rapid turnaround time for approval. With more than 500 projects waiting in line for state funding, inflation can drive up the cost of a project by millions of dollars over only a few years.
Robert Steptoe of Crews & Associates, said his firm works with communities to structure financing so that a project like the filtration plant is affordable. He said the city could have up-front money in hand within two months of approving the project. “We’re fast, we’re flexible and we’re reasonable,” he said.
Dyche wrapped up the meeting by giving a tacit endorsement of the approach suggested by Steptoe. He noted that the city could continue to seek public funding for the larger project, and buy out its obligation to Crews with a future allocation of state money. “A firm like Crews could be an extremely valuable asset in funding the design on a temporary basis,” he said.
With that, the city placed the item on the agenda for Monday’s meeting.