The Brookhaven Board of Aldermen approved the purchase of the Linbrook Business Park water and sewer system from the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Economic Development Alliance, after an in-depth discussion at Tuesday’s board meeting.

“The Alliance voted and adopted a resolution to sell to the city of Brookhaven at a price of $250,000 the entire water system in the Linbrook Business Park,” city attorney Joe Fernald said.

Fernald presented Linbrook Business Park’s resolution to the board after Mayor Joe Cox and City Clerk Mike Jinks stepped out of the room. Cox and Jinks represent the city as members of the Alliance, the governing entity of the Linbrook Business Park, and abstained from discussion to avoid a conflict of interest.

The Alliance plans to use the $250,000 to construct a road around the business park for residents who live on the backside of the 400-acre park, Fernald said.

“The important thing to know is that the value of the park itself is $2.1 million,” Fernald said. “The $250,000 purchase is only approximately 12 percent of the actual value of the facility. From a legal standpoint, it gives us a number of options that we would be able to use to our benefit. It would give us another water system to attach to the city on the west side of town.”

Fernald said that one of the biggest benefits would be to have a water system on the other side of the interstate.

“For those of you that were here during annexation, the judge’s concern was that we had no water systems or extension of water systems on the west side of the interstate,” Fernald said. “This would solve that problem. It would also be an asset that would generate more income for the city. It’s an opportunity I don’t think the city can pass up on.”

By purchasing the water and sewer system, the city would own and maintain the well, all the water lines, the lift station and the water tower, Fernald said.

“There is a well in there that could service the whole southwest corner of the city if you wanted it to,” Fernald said. “It’s another well that the city would have on its well list. That way we would have more water.”

“That well will help everything on that side of the boulevard,” Public Works Director Keith Lewis said. “Without that well, one break and all of the restaurants on the boulevard are out of water.”

Ward 2 Alderman Terry Bates’s assumption that the city already owned the land and entities within the business park created confusion during the discussion.

Bates presumed this because last year, the board voted to provide a budget of $40,000 to the Linbrook Business Park for the purpose of constructing a facility in the park.

“I’m really a little puzzled about this,” Bates said. “About why we are putting money into what we already put money into.”

“The land is owned by the Alliance,” Fernald said. “The alliance is a corporation that was created by the county and the city. It is a governmental unit created to operate that park. The sewer system was put in there by a state grant. They had grant money to put all of the water and sewer system in so we do not own it.”

“We didn’t buy the water system in the first place,” Ward 4 Aldermen Shirley Estes clarified. “We didn’t build it. The Alliance did. It’s our benefit to purchase the water system.”

Ward 6 Aldermen David Phillips explained to the board where the money to purchase the system would come from and how it would affect the budget.

“We have an economic development reserve fund for when businesses come in and ask for money,” Phillips said. “That does not affect our general fund or any other reserve accounts that we have. The money is sitting there in a reserve fund for any economic development. It won’t affect our budget or anything we are doing.”

After much discussion, the board unanimously approved the purchase.