During a New Hanover County project update at the commission
agenda briefing on Thursday, Nov. 8, the total cost of the work throughout the
incinerator process surfaced.
County manager Chris Coudriet said the county has spent a
conservative amount of about $800,000 on both the proposed Covanta Energy
contract and R3 Environmental, following a question by chairman Jonathan
Barfield Jr.
The work on the Covanta proposal cost the county about
$450,000 in legal fees and $100,000 in technical support, Coudriet said.
“Somewhere in that range, but that’s over the life of this
Covanta project,” he said.
The proposal has been in the works for about a year, since
it began in fall 2011.
He estimated the cost of the R3 process at about $270,000.
“I wouldn’t say it’s money wasted, because there’s a lot of
knowledge we gained,” Coudriet said.
Vice chairman Jason Thompson said he could see both sides of
the argument.
He said the county now knows where its asset is and just
because the current board did not make a decision on the issue does not mean
future boards would not be able to come to a consensus.
“It was an expensive endeavor, but it might not be all
wasted,” Thompson said.
The Covanta decision is not on the agenda for the Tuesday,
Nov. 13 meeting.
Coudriet said environmental management director Joe Suleyman
is currently working with county staff on alternatives to the Covanta proposal.
“That issue is not being unattended to on our part,”
Coudriet said.
In other county updates, the county’s new shore protection
coordinator said the bids for the Carolina and Kure beach projects are in and
the numbers look good.
He added there are no longer concerns about overages.
In mid-November, the county will mail out 4,000 surveys to
citizens to see what they rank as the most important issues in the county.
The cost to mail the surveys is $14,800 plus an additional
$900 if the county decides to place the survey online.
“This is money that was in the proposed budget,” Coudriet
said.
The results of the survey will be shown to the new board
members the end of December.
Coudriet said the county has not done an organized survey in
about 10 years.
