Cumming and Forsyth County to Enter Mediation over Water Dispute

The City of Cumming and Forsyth County will enter formal mediation to help resolve the dispute over a new water contract.  The current long-standing contract has Cumming providing water to the county at a rate of 10 cents per thousand gallons of untreated water.  This contract expired in May of this year, and Cumming Mayor H. Ford Gravitt announced that as of October 1st, the city would only provide treated water to the county at a rate of $2.50 per thousand gallons.  Mayor Gravitt has extended the delay in the new contract for 30 days as both sides enter mediation that will be supervised by former Georgia Supreme Court Justice Norman Fletcher beginning October 16th.  Earlier this year after the expiration of the contract, the city and the county had agreed on terms when the city backed out of the deal.  Mayor Gravitt has long held the view that the county has been paying one of the lowest rates for water in the region.