DOBSON — On Monday night the Surry County Board of Commissioners made a decision that will help a local business owner create 25 new jobs.
The commissioners agreed to pay $127,750 to help fund a project to run water and sewer lines to Cody Creek, located just south of Dobson. Fred Snow, owner of the Cody Creek enterprise, has agreed to pay $127,750 to help cover the cost of the lift station and the force main for the project. The rest would be paid for by a $250,000 grant from the N.C. Rural Center.
Jack Gardin, water and sewer projects manager, said, “I’m not saying (Snow’s) wild about it, but he did agree to it.”
The availability of water and sewer will now enable Snow to expand his park and add 25 jobs. Gardin listed this as one of the advantages to the project. He also said the project would give the county the opportunity to sell services to a large user and take advantage of non-county funds. Another advantage is that the project will bring the county’s lines closer to the Highways 601 and 268 intersection which would lead to the eventual connection of three water systems (Elkin, Dobson and Mount Airy).
“These seem to be pretty good reasons for an investment of $127,750 county funds,” Gardin said to the commissioners.
Commissioner Jim Harrell Jr. said, “This is the chance to combine three municipalities at some time in the future. So that’s a big step in that direction.”
The county originally looked at funding the project with $250,000 from the Rural Center and $250,000 from the Commerce Finance Center. However, the new Cody Creek jobs would not have the 50 percent employer paid health insurance or wage rate required by Commerce Finance. So that grant was not made available.
Commissioner Bill Hamlin, who is on the board’s water and sewer subcommittee, said the committee had seen several proposals for the project. He said the present proposal was the best they had seen.
“I think the key of this is 25 jobs. We can’t overlook that,” Harrell remarked.
“(Snow) needs it,” said Commissioner Craig Hunter. “He’s needed it for a long time.”
Board Chairman Paul Johnson said, “I’m agreeable to the project. It’s just I think this business owner, he’s having to pay more than some business owners have in other projects, but he’s agreed to it and he needs it.”
Earlier in the meeting Gardin commented on Snow having to pay the portion of the lift station and force main cost not covered by the Rural Center grant. He said, “This is fair, in that Cody Creek would be the only user of the force main and lift station.”
The county will pay for the water line, since it may use it to hook-up to additional customers in the future. The project passed with unanimous approval from the board.
Right now, Cody Creek houses The Depot Restaurant, cabins, the Cody Creek General Store, and a wedding chapel. Snow said yesterday that he had been planning for a while to expand the restaurant but needed water and sewer to do so.
When asked about when the expansion might take place, Snow said, “I’ll be waiting on how long it takes them to do the water and sewer.”
Snow said 25 new full-time minimum wage jobs would be created with the expansion. The owner confirmed that he had agreed to fund $127,750 of the project, but he declined to share his thoughts on the financial arrangement. He did say, “Sometimes you have to do whatever it takes.”