The Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority board welcomed a new member who has extensive history with the local water department when meeting last week.
David Westmoreland, a former Ellijay mayor and city councilmember, fills a vacancy on the water and sewer board left after longtime board chairman Mike Gibbs passed away in September.
“I don’t think anybody could’ve done as good a job for the water authority as he did,” said Westmoreland about Gibbs, who’d been on the water authority board since 2000 and its chairman since 2013.
Westmoreland now represents the City of Ellijay on the board, which also includes representation from East Ellijay and the county. The Ellijay City Council approved his appointment during their November meeting.
Westmoreland previously served four years on the water board in the mid-1990s. Before then, as Ellijay’s mayor, he was instrumental in the formation of a city-county water authority.
“It’s going to be somewhat of a learning curve because it’s not the authority I was on 25 years ago,” he said about the growth of the water and sewer systems since then. “I was asked to be on the board again, by Mayor Hoyle, and I was interested because I’ve always been interested in the water and sewer (systems). In fact, back when I was the mayor, it probably consumed about 80-85 percent of my time.”
Back then, the City of Ellijay was the sole supplier of municipal water in the county, and there were numerous problems with its water and wastewater plants, Westmoreland remembered. That led to the creation of a separate water/sewer authority to serve both cities and county in 1987.
“It was something that needed to be done. We needed a professional water and sewer authority that took care of all the areas in Gilmer County,” Westmoreland said.
In election of officers for the newly restructured board, Billy Rowe was elected chairman, Hubert Parker vice chairman, Westmoreland treasurer/secretary, Tony Whitaker assistant treasurer/secretary and Ricky Wimpey board member.
In other news ...
Board members approved an expense not to exceed $14,000 for the purchase and installation of two new garage doors at the water authority warehouse.