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102 Town Hall Drive ) Leland, NC 28451 I ( 910) 371- 0148

Re: An Open Letter Regarding the Regional Compromise Plan

Dear Honorable Mayor Allen and Councilmembers of the Town of Belville, and
Honorable Chairman Gerken and Commissioners of the Brunswick Regional Water and Sewer H2Go
Sanitary District, and
Citizens and Community members at large.

As Mayor of the Town of Leland, I am respectfully writing the following on behalf of the Town Council.

Last week, we proposed the Regional Compromise Plan to build and operate the RO Plant and to end years
of neighbors fighting about this issue. The community feedback we have received thus far has been very
positive, but there are some who have stated opposition to the plan based on misinformation. We write
to correct that misinformation and to provide additional information regarding the proposed Regional
Compromise Plan and how it addresses many of the concerns and interests that we all have for the area.
While this is not a finalized, formal agreement, the following addresses how we envision the plan.

Cooperating to Provide Water. The primary purpose of the plan is to guarantee the purveying of potable
water to the residents, businesses, and visitors of the northern Brunswick County area including the
Towns of Leland, Navassa and Belville, and the Sanitary District. Until now, the proposed reverse osmosis
plant has been a source of division because of the way it was being handled, but we need to put that
behind us and heal the whole community. As we envision the proposed plan, it is an opportunity for all
our citizens and officials in the community to work together for some common interests but requires us
all to set aside some of our personal or municipality- specific interests. The plan will not accomplish all the
goals or ambitions of any one entity but will truly be a compromise.

Building the Plant Now. Primarily, the plan will allow for, and mandate, the building of the proposed
water treatment plant as quickly as practicable. How soon the plant arrives depends on how long Belville' s
appeal holds up the construction. The plant will be built according to the plans that have been approved
and the permits that have been received. The Town of Leland will work cooperatively with the Sanitary
District using the expertise of the professional engineers and contractors the District has engaged thus
far. The Town of Leland has staff who are experienced in engineered designs and construction and
certified in water and wastewater treatment and the operation of water distribution and wastewater
collection systems. The quality staffs of both the District and the Town of Leland can work jointly to assure
the water treatment plant is constructed correctly, so it can be operated efficiently.

Voters' Rights Restored. The plan will allow for the District' s elected officials to have their rights to govern
fully restored to them. The duly elected officials of the District deserve that, and the citizens who elected
them deserve to not be disenfranchised any longer. Some people have been spreading a falsehood that
voters will be disenfranchised, as they were with the illegal Belville transfer, but that is categorically
untrue. They do not offer any proof of this because they cannot. The court found that, under the Belville
transfer, only Belville' s voters' votes would count when it comes to Sanitary District governance. Under
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the Regional Compromise Plan, everyone' s vote would count regarding governance of the Sanitary
District, and more than 17, 000 citizens would have their constitutional right to vote restored immediately.

Rates Will Be Reasonable, Fair, and Reflective of the Actual Costs of the Plant. An interlocal agreement
with the District will outline exactly how the debt service, and operation and maintenance expenses of
the plant will be used to calculate the wholesale water rates for the District and the Town. A special

enterprise fund will be established that will be strictly used for the water treatment plant. All entities will
purchase wholesale water at the same rate. The funds received will only be used for the sole purpose of
providing treated water and will be restricted from being removed from the fund. The operations will
include the personnel, supplies, and other materials required to manage and run the plant. The

maintenance will include both the preventive, short-term, and long- term maintenance to assure the plant
operates correctly and efficiently now and in the future.
An annual accounting of these costs will be
reported to the District and the water rates will adjust to provide the lowest, most reasonable cost for all
entities equally.

The District will still have a voice in the wholesale water rates and the Town of Leland will act in good
faith, cooperatively with the District to assure the rate is mutually acceptable. If there is ever a dispute,
a referee will be used to help establish the appropriate reasonable rate. Thus, the interests of the District
and the citizens who live in towns within the District will be satisfied in regards to reasonable and fair
water rates.

Leland Has the Credit and the Background to Build the RO Plant. As a first step in the plan and as required
by state statutes, the Town of Leland will seek approval of financing through the NC Local Government
Commission to build and own the plant. The Town of Leland has excellent credit and has the means and
expertise to properly finance and manage the expenditure of the plant. The Town will provide the LGC
with the interlocal agreement with the District as proof of revenue to service the debt payment for the
plant. The Town of Leland can also be a source of revenue since the Town could provide water to the
Town' s water system in the Brunswick Forest and Mallory Creek areas by installing an additional
distribution line from the plant site to these areas. The revenue to fund, operate, and maintain the plant
will only come from the revenue generated by wholesale water sales, and not from taxes from any
municipality or district. Once financing is secured and approved, the construction of the plant will begin.

The Town of Belville does not currently operate any water or sewer systems within its jurisdiction. Thus,
in the proposed plan, the citizens of the Town of Belville will continue to be served by the Sanitary District
as they have been for the past decades. The District has provided effective distribution of water and
collection of sewer in the Town of Belville. The citizens of the Town of Belville will not experience any
change in service or service provider.

The District Will Still Exist and Will Still Have Its Systems, Customers, and Employees. Under the Regional
Compromise Plan, the District will remain, as it has always been since its creation many decades ago, a
distributor of potable water. To be specifically clear, in the proposed plan, the Town of Leland is not
proposing to provide services in the Town of Belville and is not proposing to remove any existing
customers from the Sanitary District.
Brenda Bozeman Pat Batleman Bob Corriston

May or Mayor Pro Tem C ounci! member

Bob Campbell Mike Callahan David A. Hollis

Councilmember C ouncilmember town Manager
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Some people, who are never going to support any compromise plan, have been misinforming the public
and the press by claiming that the Regional Compromise Plan would involve a takeover of the District.
That is certainly what the Belville transfer did, but that is not what the Regional Compromise Plan would
do. Under the Regional Plan, the District would continue to own and operate the systems that it has
owned and operated for years; it would still have its employees and would provide the same services to
the same customers that it has traditionally provided. The District just would not own an RO Plant, which
it never owned or operated before anyway.

Facilitating Growth in Our Communities without Fighting About It. The northern area of Brunswick

County is one of the fastest growing areas in the County and State. The Town of Leland proposes, as part
of the interlocal agreement, the District work with the towns in the area to promote the growth of the
towns. Towns bring a variety of services that are beneficial to the citizens and residents, in addition to
water and sewer.
By working collaboratively with the towns, the District can assist in assuring that the
full services needed for growing communities are being accomplished. Through the proposed interlocal
agreement, the towns will be allowed to provide services to the new development areas, if they so choose
and it is reasonably practicable to the municipality and according to state statutes. This benefits not only
Leland, but also Navassa and Belville and the residents who would be well served by having the additional
services that a town can provide.

A Compromise that Makes Sense. Cooperation between Leland and the Sanitary District is a good idea.
Leland and the District are the two largest local governments within Brunswick County and between them
they represent thousands of local citizens. In any long- term plan that is going to address the needs of the
community, local citizens and businesses are going to want to see the Sanitary District and Leland working
together in intra- regional collaboration.
That is going to make our part of the world a better, more
desirable place to live.

Please Join Us in Compromising. Positive steps to facilitate the growth and development in our
community are possible and within our collective reach if we can put our differences aside and work
together for our shared common interests. We have offered a true compromise plan. We ask that you
join us by supporting it. Together, we can work through any details that may be minor sticking points,
and we can heal the divisiveness in our community. We owe it to one another to do that.

With Highest Regards,

Brenda Bozeman
Mayor

Town of Leland, NC

Brenda Bozeman Pat Batleman Bob Corriston

Mayor Mayor Pro Tem Councilmember

Bob Campbell Mike Callahan David A. Hollis

Councilmember Councilmember 1 own Manager