The town of Vaiden is working to create a better system to alert its water customers when the water pressure is low in its booster systems and to keep water flowing when the power’s out.
During the board of aldermen meeting, Mayor Mel Hawthorne said the town applied for a much needed $150,000 grant to help with their booster lift system that will bring water to those on the outer limits of Vaiden but still remain in Vaiden proper.
However, town leaders are working to create a better system of letting their customers know when their water pressure is low after a complaint from Cassandra Cook. Mayor Mel Hawthorne said he’s put in a request to use North Carrollton’s generator if the power goes out.
“The way it works is whoever’s power goes out first, gets to keep it. If our power goes out before theirs does then we get to keep it (for that day) and if their power goes out before ours do, they get to keep it,” Hawthorne said.
Hawthorne said they’re also working on acquiring a system that will alert customers if the pressure in the booster lift station is below 600 pounds.
Before, customers would have to alert City Hall of low pressure, and then workers would have to locate the line and fix it to restore water pressure.
In other business Monday night, a resident went before the board to complain about a shed being built at a neighboring home, stating the building might “bring down the property value.”
Board Attorney Lane Greenlee told the resident that the town doesn’t have a commercial, residential or mixed use zoning ordinance, so town leaders cannot tell a resident what they can or cannot build on their property.
“The town was never zoned,” Greenlee said. “So, it doesn’t matter.”
Aldermen present also said they had no knowledge of the town having a zoning ordinance.
“The only one I know of was for mobile homes,” Alderman Theodore Purnell said.
