FERRIDAY — Ferriday aldermen voted Thursday night to enter into an agreement that could possibly help resolve lingering issues with the town’s water system.

The town has to do something about the system, which has been losing money for some time, Mayor Glen McGlothin said.

“It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just an antiquated system,” McGlothin said.

The agreement, made with Triton Company, is not contractual and could best be described as “negotiations,” McGlothin said.

Part of the problem is that through the years the town has taken what McGlothin described as a “piecemeal” approach to the water system, ordering one kind of water meter when meters were needed and another kind when more were needed.

That resulted in meters of the wrong size and shape — for high flow meters that should have been for low flow customers — being used, Kathy Walker, a consultant with Triton Company, said.

“With the high flow meters, if someone goes to the restroom or washes their hands, it does not even pick up,” Walker said.

Another problem is that old meters slow down and do not register everything that flows through them.

The system Triton has proposed for the town would allow for automated reading of the meters, all of which would be replaced, and could allow for billing to begin the same day, Walker said.

“I don’t know what to say about the current billing system except, ‘oh my gosh,’” Walker said.

Triton’s proposal would also include building a new storage tank at the water treatment plant and replacing the old pumps there.

When the new tank is completed, the old tank, which needs serious repairs, would be demolished and another new tank built in its place, McGlothin said.

Having two tanks would not only save on electricity and downtime at the plant, it would increase the town’s fire rating, Water Superintendent Gregory Griggs said.

The current tank has to be replaced, McGlothin said.

“If that tank collapses we won’t be under a boil water order,” McGlothin said. “We won’t have water.”

The town also has a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that it has to spend improving the water treatment facility, town engineer Bryant Hammett said.

The town has had the grant money for 12 years.

“The USDA is getting kind of antsy about what we are going to do,” Hammett said. “We don’t know how much longer they are going to allow.”

In other news:

4The aldermen voted to name Alderman Johnny Brown as mayor pro-temp.

The appointment was added to the agenda during the meeting.

The appointment was necessary for the council to approve a resolution allowing McGlothin, the mayor pro-temp and the town clerk to sign checks for the town, McGlothin said.

In the past, the town has appointed the longest-serving alderman as mayor pro-temp, but the appointment, made on a motion by Alderman Elijah “Steppers” Banks, named Brown mayor pro-temp for two years.

4The aldermen voted to approve a resolution allowing McGlothin, Brown and the town clerk to sign checks.

4The aldermen approved a resolution supporting the renewal of the upcoming library millage tax vote.