Residents press for water‑system evaluation, smart meters after taste and billing complaints

Resident Frances Mock said plainly, "The water is bad, the past 7 years my dog doesn’t even drink the water," expressing long‑running taste and quality concerns. Manager Suzanne Harvey responded that the town performs required testing and that "our water is absolutely good," while acknowledging residents' dissatisfaction with taste and the need for further system evaluation.

Councilmembers and residents also proposed replacing existing meters with smart meters that read by hundreds rather than thousands of gallons to help residents better monitor usage and to enable targeted main replacement once failing sections are identified. SEAGO staff advised using SSP or state planning funds to complete engineering and environmental review so a later CDBG implementation application would be shovel‑ready. No immediate projects were selected; staff was asked to include water‑system assessment and smart‑meter replacement on the compiled project list.