By Miles Layton
COLUMBIA — The Columbia Board of Aldermen moved Monday to pursue two separate grant applications ahead of an April 30 deadline, targeting up to $3 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds for wastewater treatment plant improvements and a potential second application for an automated water meter system
The board voted to approve resolutions authorizing both applications during its regular monthly meeting at the Columbia Municipal Building.
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Wastewater plant repairs on the table
Cole Williams, an engineer with McDavid Associates who works closely with the town, opened the meeting with a public hearing required before the town can submit a CDBG Infrastructure grant application to the state.
The proposed project would address aging infrastructure at the Columbia Wastewater Treatment Plant, including renovation of the existing secondary clarifiers, replacement of oxidation ditch rotors, and electrical improvements to the facility.
Williams told the board the timing was favorable.
“We’re trying to repair some infrastructure at the plant while there’s funding available,” he said. “If there’s funding available, it’s good for the town to seek that funding.”
He noted that the equipment’s age works in the town’s favor when competing for grant points. Secondary clarifiers more than 20 years old qualify for additional scoring on the application — a threshold Columbia’s plant meets.
The maximum available grant is $3 million over a three-year period. For the spring funding round, approximately $10 million is available statewide, with a separate fall round expected to carry $20 to $30 million. Williams emphasized that CDBG carries no loan component. “There is no closing fee. This is all grant funding — there’s no loan money involved,” he said.
Columbia’s low-to-moderate income designation strengthens its eligibility. The town has a documented area-wide LMI survey figure of 69.6 percent, meaning the project would benefit a population where more than two-thirds of residents fall within federal income thresholds set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The town has successfully used CDBG funding before, with completed projects dating to 2012, 2017, and 2019 covering sewer improvements, infrastructure upgrades, and a neighborhood revitalization program.
No public comment was offered during the hearing. The board subsequently voted to approve the resolution authorizing Mayor Sandra Owens to sign application documents. Williams noted that a separate requirement mandates Mayor Pro Tempore Bryan Owens sign the resolution delegating that authority to the mayor.
Automated meter system also sought
Williams also asked the board to authorize a second CDBG application — for the same April 30 deadline — to fund replacement of the town’s aging water meters with an Automatic Meter Infrastructure system, known as AMI.
The proposal goes beyond a simple swap of old meters for new ones. Williams said the goal is to move away from the labor-intensive process of manually reading each meter every month. “It’s very difficult with a town this size to go manually read each meter every month,” he said. “That is a lot of operations and maintenance requirements just to bill people for water.”
He also raised the issue of revenue loss from aging meters. Manual, propeller-type meters tend to read slower as they age — never faster — meaning the town may be collecting less than it should for actual water consumption.
“Although you don’t want to extract as much money as you can from residents, you want to be paid fairly for the water being consumed and not be losing revenue,” Williams said. “In the long run, that hurts everybody.”
Williams said he had already provided Town Manager Monica Mauffray with the necessary resolution paperwork. The board approved the AMI application resolution as a separate vote.
ETJ question prompts wait-and-see approach
In other business, the board took up a longstanding question about whether Columbia actually holds extraterritorial jurisdiction — the legal authority to regulate development in a buffer zone of up to two miles outside town limits.
Water and Sewer Director William Davenport told the board the answer, for now, is no. While discussions about establishing an ETJ began in the late 1990s, the required steps were never completed. Under state statute, a town must pass an ordinance and file a map with the Register of Deeds. No such map was ever recorded.
“I did write a letter to the county in early March to clarify that, at the time of that letter writing, we have no map and so we have no ETJ,” Davenport said.
The revelation surprised Mayor Owens. “I was shocked when I found out we didn’t have an ETJ all these years,” she said.
Davenport outlined what the town would need to do to establish one — drawing a new proposed map, holding public hearings, and passing a new ordinance — but cautioned against moving quickly. A bill currently moving through the North Carolina House, House Bill 1009, would eliminate all ETJs for municipalities statewide and return regulatory authority to counties. The bill remains under debate, with its key unresolved question being whether it would affect existing ETJs, newly established ones, or both.
“I’m not sure the board needs to incur the expense of a survey” at this point, Davenport said, estimating that a boundary survey alone could run $5,000 to $6,000. The board agreed to monitor the legislation before taking further action.
Bridge renaming, tax collections, budget update
Mayor Owens reported that paperwork for renaming a local bridge in honor of James Cottine has been submitted to the N.C. Department of Transportation. The cost for new signage is estimated at $2,000. The town is awaiting DOT’s formal approval. Owens credited former county commissioner Leroy Spivey for actively advocating for the renaming in Raleigh.
Tax Collector Donna Combs reported collections for the fiscal year stand at 82.26 percent, slightly behind the 83.55 percent recorded at the same point last year but tracking at a comparable pace. Combs said Tara House has agreed to pay $4,000 monthly until its balance is paid in full and has requested a similar payment arrangement for 2026 tax bills once released. The delinquent tax advertisement list was submitted to the newspaper the same day.
Mauffray presented a brief budget snapshot showing the general fund — referred to as the 10 fund — at 79 percent of revenues and 74 percent of expenditures. The utility fund, or 30 fund, stood at 76 percent revenues and 63 percent expenditures.
Other notes
Mauffray told the board a tax-delinquent property near Nettie’s home on Road Street is scheduled to be sold July 17 to recover approximately $9,080 in combined taxes owed to the town and county — the town’s share being $571.68.
Mayor Owens reported on a recent visit to Camp Keel for a presentation by the Albemarle Resource Conservation and Development organization, or ARC&D, which she said covers a wide range of environmental and community programs, including algae bloom mitigation, living shoreline projects, and regenerative agriculture. She said ARC&D’s Kelly has already submitted a grant application on Columbia’s behalf for the Bridge Street project.
Mayor Pro Tempore Owens updated the board on wayfinding signage plans for downtown Columbia, noting the number of signs has been condensed to help reduce costs, with estimates expected at next month’s meeting.
The ordinance update committee is expected to meet later this month, on either April 22 or April 29, and will tour the community by van to gather input before drafting proposed changes.
The board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for May 4.
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