One of the most vexing infrastructure issues involving Hamilton County in many years appears nowhere near being solved.
Indeed, as the can keeps being kicked down the road, it becomes more and more evident that no one entity or individual has all the facts needed to make a good decision, that the politics behind the decision-making process are murky at best, and that additional uncovered facts about how to best resolve sewage treatment issues only serve to complicate whatever decision eventually will be made.
The issue is a dirty one – what to do about sewage in the northeast part of the county.
Last fall, both the Regional Planning Commission and Hamilton County commissioners voted down a resolution that would have authorized a new sewage treatment plant at a Mahan Gap Road site near Ooltewah.
And last week, a citizens search committee commissioned by Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger to find a new sewage treatment plant site recommended, instead, that all sewage flow continue to be sent to the city’s Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Facility.