FERRIDAY — While the plant may not be built, the meters may not be in and the grant may not be finalized, one thing is for certain for the Town of Ferriday and their new water plant — who will manage it.

In a special meeting Monday night, Mayor Glen McGlothin and the board of aldermen voted 3-1 to select JCP Management of Harrisonburg to be the third party in charge of the town’s new water system.

Alderwomen Somer Lance and Gail Pryor and alderman Johnnie Brown voted for hiring JCP, while alderman Elijah “Stepper” Banks voted against it.

Alderwoman Gloria Lloyd was not in attendance at the meeting.

JCP operates and manages nine other water plants for water districts and towns.

Ferriday has had problems with their water plant and water meters for years, leaving a large hole in the town’s funds due to lack of payments for water services received.

The Louisiana Rural Water Association revealed in a study that approximately 70 percent of the town’s water meters do not work properly.

McGlothin and the town have been working to fix the town’s 20-year-old water problem through a new water plant funded by a $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Before the town can receive the grant, the USDA has required that a third party must be selected by Ferriday to come in and oversee the daily operation of the new water plant due to Ferriday’s failure to provide proper maintenance and operation of the plant they currently have.

Ferriday took bids for the third party company to oversee the plant through March 24. The town received only one response for the contract.

McGlothin said he was glad the board came together to approve JCP as the third party to oversee the plant.

“We weren’t going to get any money without the third party,” he said. “I just want to get this done so we can get the money and build the new plant.”

McGlothin said while Ferriday is still waiting on final approval from the USDA for the loan, the town is on the right track to getting the water they deserve.

The aldermen posed many questions to the mayor, the third party selection committee and Womack before casting the vote, including how much money the town would receive from water bill payments.

McGlothin said due to the curent water meters that do not work in the town, Ferriday has been losing approximately $300,000 a year in payments for the past 10 years.

Current water plant supervisor Gregory Griggs said the town puts out one million gallons of water a day, and the town has not been getting paid for a lot of it.

“No matter how much we get paid, we still put out that much water,” he said.

Along with the new water plant will come new water meters, and McGlothin said the town will finally be able to bill and collect the right amount of money from each resident.

“We are going to have a lot of money that we don’t have now,” he said.

McGlothin also said that the water rates for the town will not increase because the raise in the amount of money the town will receive from having working water meters will be so significant.

The amount of money the town will receive each month from the proposed new plant is still not known, and won’t be known until the new meters can be put in place, Womack said.

“I don’t want any money except what is owed to me,” he said. “If you don’t make any money, you won’t want me back next time, so we are going to run this right.”

Womack said after JCP’s costs are taken out each month, the remaining funds received will go straight to the town.

“I have proven through other systems that when you furnish good water, money starts coming in,” he said. “I am taking a risk by trying to make this happen, and I am going to do everything I can to make sure it works.”

Water bills in Ferriday also include sewer and garbage rates, and Womack said JCP will also be responsible for taking those funds and distributing them back to Ferriday.

“We will handle them, but we will disperse the money back to Ferriday,” he said.

Womack said the process may be difficult at first, but over time things will get easier.

“I will give you a report each month, and they will only get better with time,” he said. “We need to get the new meters in and measure the rates. Once we start that process, the reports will get better.”

Questions of whether or not current plant employees would lose their jobs also arose, and Womack said JCP will try and utilize as many plant employees as possible.

“This is a professional service, and we will come in strong armed,” he said. “We will utilize any people we can here in Ferriday, but we have to manage it professionally, and we need qualified workers.”

McGlothin said the town is projected to have an increase of approximately $300,000 a year in revenue from the new plant and meters, and that he was glad to see progress made.

“We haven’t run this thing right in many years,” he said. “And 20 years from now we are going to be glad we did what we did.”