By David Stephens HOMETOWN NEWS For some months the Chesnee City Council has been negotiating the sale of their sewer district to the Spartanburg Sanitary Sewer District. That sale offer was predicated by the financial burden the sewer system places on the city of Chesnee and its budget. City Administrator Becki Hood said, “Our financial auditors more than once have said that the sewer maintenance was eventually going to break the city.” That sale has now been opposed by County Councilman O’Neal Mintz, whose district includes the town of Chesnee. Mintz is also chairman of the Public Works, Buildings, and Grounds committee. In a telephone interview, Councilman Mintz outlined his reasons for opposing the sale. Mintz said, “The first I heard of this deal was when it appeared on the agenda for passage by the Public Works Committee. I don’t know if they informed the public, had a public hearing, a referendum or what. I just did not know of it until it came before the committee. Some of my concern is the extra taxes it will levy on people who may live in the Chesnee Sewer District, but receive no service from them. Chesnee’s sewer district boundaries extend into parts of Spartanburg County and Cherokee County. If this sale were made, people in those areas would be subject to taxes by Spartanburg Sewer District, basically without any service and, I suppose you could say, with no representation.” Councilman Mintz continued by saying, “While there may be some provision in the sale that those folks would have service available within a reasonable time, my experience is that a “reasonable time” could be ten years or more.” Mintz also said there was “some annexation language that he was not sure about.” Mintz said that he had consulted with Senator Glenn Reese and Representative Bob Walker about the sale and neither expressed support for it. He further indicated that it did not seem there was a lot of support of it from the rest of County Council. “I applaud Chesnee for trying to make this sale”, Mintz said, “but they could have saved a lot of time and trouble if they had informed Council about it prior to it appearing on the agenda. Right now, as far as I am concerned, the sale is off the table.” In another telephone interview, Chesnee Mayor Pro Tem Robert Johnson said, “Our attorney and the Spartanburg Sewer District attorney were working on the deal and somewhere along the line realized it had to go through county council and that is where it hit a snag with O’Neal Mintz. We still desire to complete the sale and I don’t understand Councilman Mintz’s opposition. I believe there is support among other County Council members for making the deal. Chesnee Councilwoman Becky Brannon told me today (April 3, 2008) that she spoke with the Spartanburg District and they indicated that if the deal cannot be completed by the end of June, it will not happen.” Asked about holding public hearings on the sale, Johnson said, “We did not because it was not required.” Mayor Pro Tem Johnson concluded by saying, “This is very disappointing. I am disappointed with Councilman Mintz. I truly believe he is doing the town of Chesnee and the local community a disservice.”