DOBSON — The county will now move forward with two new water and sewer projects, one of which will help a local company retain jobs.

Last night the Surry County Board of Commissioners approved a $142,300 extension to the Elkin/Gentry Road water line, which will service Wayne Farms in Elkin on N.C. 268.

In return for the incentives, Wayne Farms will retain the 71 jobs in its hatchery division for five years. If it fails to do so, the business will pay the county $2,004.23 per job lost. Chris Knopf, assistant county manager for economic development and tourism, said the company has agreed to the incentive deal.

A public hearing was held prior to the board’s decision. Todd Tucker, president of Surry County Economic Development Partnership, spoke briefly to the board. He said, “We’re in support of this ... We believe you’re doing the right thing.”

The water line extension was approved unanimously by the board minus Commissioner Bill Hamlin. He was absent due to an illness in the family. The board also approved water and sewer rates for the Elkin/Gentry Road lines.

A longer discussion took place when the board discussed bid results for a sewer project at Pilot Mountain Middle School. The low bid is $140,119.92 to service just the school or $374,942.26 to service a larger area. The larger option was chosen after an unusual set of motions.

Before any motions were made, Kevin Heath with Adams-Heath Engineering told the board, “In both cases, the low bid was quite a bit lower than what we anticipated.”

Commissioner Jim Harrell Jr. said, “I say option one purely for finances at this point.”

Commissioner Craig Hunter pointed out that option two picks up several hundred acres off of Old Westfield Road. And if the county went with option one but later decided to expand, it would have to abandon that pump station and start over.

“That’s the hard part,” said Hunter.

Harrell said, “Only problem is, I’m not sure where we’re going to get (the money).”

Harrell made a motion to approve option one, and Hunter was the only commissioner to vote no. Hunter then came back with a motion of his own to approve option two, which includes the extra lines to service more area.

Hunter said, “I’m hoping I can convince one of you to go my way.”

Harrell said, “We don’t want to raise taxes ... We’re in imminent danger of doing that.”

But Hunter said the county had expected the cost to be higher in the first place. He said, “We can do it.”

So in the end, Hunter’s motion for the larger sewer project was approved with only Harrell dissenting.

Hunter said he believed the county would be able to cut some costs later in the meeting when looking at the Pilot Mountain school conversion project.

“I hope so,” said Harrell.

Contact Meghann Evans at mevans@mtairynews.com or 719-1952.