Marion to bring Water Department back 'in house'

The Marion County Commission is poised to bring its Water Department back “in-house” and terminate its contract with the private company that has been running it since May 1, 2018.
There had been issues of concern previously, but a serious problem with customer billing appears to be the dam that will stop the flow of taxpayer money to the contractor.
The Commission hired the private company – ClearWater Solutions – to take over the operation of the county’s Water Department and Road Department a little over five years ago, believing that they could spend slightly more (around 2%) to get better results. They reasoned that the private company had more resources, more expertise/training, and could save money on supplies – like chemicals for the water syste...