Dayton City Mayor Bob Vincent

DAYTON, Tenn. -- Development north of Dayton may be stalled because of inadequate sewer service, Dayton City Council members were told Monday.

A six-inch sewer line that serves Rhea County High School is nearing its capacity, but a more pressing problem is the size of the line from the industrial park pumping station to the sewage treatment plant, sewer Superintendent Glenn Fraley said. His comments came as council was asked to authorize a proposed 50-unit residential development near Rhea Medical Center to tie onto the high school's service line.

Mayor Bob Vincent said many people forget that that line was put in solely to serve the high school and 50 other properties.

"It was originally proposed to be four inches, and it was a struggle to get a six-inch line instead," Vincent said. "We are inadequate for sewer service up that way. My understanding is that the processing plant is not a problem."

Fraley said a huge water discharger would pose trouble, but right now residential development is not a problem.

"The [treatment] plant is 40 years old, and eventually it will have to be replaced," Fraley said. "If Dayton continues to grow, we'll have to expand."

The council tabled consideration of the request from developers of the proposed Brookstone Heights development for further study.

Plant bids

In other matters, the council authorized city officials to advertise for bids to build a 6 million-gallons-per-day potable water treatment plant to replace the current facility, which has a capacity of 4 million gallons per day. Vincent said plans are being considered to refurbish the present plant to provide additional capacity once the new plant is on line.

They agreed to support the cost of bringing the Heartland Angler Series fishing tournament to Dayton on Oct. 3 and 4, 2013. Councilman Gary Louallen, who has helped coordinate efforts to bring tournaments to the area, said tournament officials already have reserved the entire Holiday Inn Express for the week of the event, and will be contacting other motels as well.

Budget OK'd

Meeting earlier as the Dayton City School Board, members approved a budget of $59,862 for the final year of Race to the Top funds. The money will be spent for reading and science, technology, engineering and math instructional material.

Contact Tom Davis at tsdavis@volstate.net.