Fannin County Water Authority met Wednesday, January 15, for the first meeting of the New Year to discuss some old business, approve invoices and hear from Project Chimps Head of Property and Assets Christy Jellets.
Carter & Sloope Engineer Kurt McCord said the “Loving Road extension, Robinson, and Temple” have been finished and now are going through the permitting process. Deer Hunter Road is still under design, and he hopes to have the plans finalized in the next two months. There will be two easements for the project: one for the jockey pump station and for the private right of ways also known as ingress and egress easements.
Hydrofracking on My Mountain Well #4 should have begun the end of the week of January 13 or will begin this week. Although, the Environmental Protection Agency had given a deadline as to whether or not to abandon the well, McCord said they told them they were still investigating the well and were given the okay to proceed as long as they were working on it.
Three invoices from Doss & Associates were approved totaling $8,312.50 as well as $13,000 for an audit and $8,500 from Delta for the new meter readers.
Jellets came to discuss extending water to their Project Chimps campus. She said, their well is not producing adequate pressure and need something more reliable. Project Chimps currently houses 79 chimpanzees, but that number will increase to over 200 by 2022 due to a contractual agreement to rescue former laboratory chimpanzees from a lab in Louisiana. She said the chimpanzees themselves require 100 gallons of water per day per chimpanzee. This number does not include what the volunteers use themselves.
McCord said, with that number alone, it would take 18 years before their money is returned, and the authority typically likes to invest in projects with a 20 year payback or less.
Attorney Lynn Doss said Jellets needs to come back next month, during the authority’s regular meeting, with some concrete figures before they can formally decide.
The sanctuary is expected to be a long term site considering the animals live to be around 60 years old. The average age of chimps currently at the facility is around 25, Jellets said, with the youngest being 5.
In the next two years, they plan to incorporate a campground for volunteers, a zipline and a garden from which to feed the animals. These projects will fund the sanctuary for years to come as donations usually stop coming once all the chimpanzees have been acquired.
Water Authority General Manager Mike Scearce said the next meeting, scheduled for Feburary 19, will begin at 12 p.m. and audit reports will be heard.