Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Kornegay leads the less than 15-minute special called meeting of the Mount Olive town board Monday, a meeting held to hire environmental services firm TRC Companies Inc. to manage two state grants totaling almost $2.9 million that will be directed toward the town’s ailing sewer system. (Georgia Dees|mountolivetribune.com)
Mount Olive town board member Delreese Simmons, right, questions who will oversee the grant projects to ensure work would be completed as specified and the funds properly spent during Monday’s meeting. Also pictured is board member Danny Keel. (Georgia Dees|mountolivetribune.com)
Mount Olive’s Board of Commissioners hope its actions this week will soon have the town’s ailing sewer system on the road to recovery.
The board voted unanimously Monday to hire environmental services firm TRC Companies Inc. to manage two state grants totaling almost $2.9 million. The grants are Community Development Block Grant infrastructure funds awarded by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. One is for planning, the other for construction.
All five voting members were present, although Mayor Jerome Newton was absent. Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Kornegay led the meeting, which lasted approximately 10 minutes.
Specifically, the board approved grant administration and engineering agreements with TRC for the CDBG grants, as well as capital project ordinances for both. The town is not required to provide matching funds to qualify for these grants.
NCDEQ’s website states the Community Development Block Grant Infrastructure program provides grants to local governments to address water and wastewater infrastructure needs and is overseen by the state’s Division of Water Infrastructure.
The board also voted to have TRC perform a capacity evaluation of the town’s wastewater treatment plant at a cost of $23,500. The town, not grant funds, will cover this cost, according to town clerk Sherry Davis. A timeline for the project hasn’t been set.
TRC is an environmental services company headquartered in Windsor, Conn., with six offices in North Carolina. The Mount Olive projects will be handled by TRC’s Cary office.
Before the first vote was taken, Commissioner Delreese Simmons questioned who would oversee the projects to ensure work would be completed as specified and the funds properly spent. He said past projects were left unfinished and money was wasted or unaccounted for.
“Now we’re in this legal situation because of projects not being completed, things not done right,” he said.
“This is a whole new company,” interim town manager Glenn Holland responded. Staff in NCDEQ’s Division of Water Infrastructure will be responsible for monitoring the projects along with himself, he added.
In other business, the board approved the minutes of its Aug. 4, 2025, meeting.
Unlike recent regular meetings of the board that have been standing room only, just three citizens attended. Because this was a special called meeting, there was no public comment section.
The next town board meeting will be Oct. 6, at 6 p.m.
