Seneca to end 30-Year Contract with Pioneer

Following an Executive Session Tuesday night, the Seneca City Council voted to end a 30-year contract with Pioneer Rural Water. The council approved sending 90-days notice to Pioneer at which time if a new contract is not reached then the city will terminate the contract to wholesale water to the rural district serving parts of Oconee and Anderson counties. Seneca Mayor Dan Alexander gives details. “The contract has already expired. I know Seneca Utilities Director Bob Faires has been trying to get Pioneer to do something with their contract for several years. So, if they would like to continue that is something that we have to come to the table and rewrite another contract. The contract that was 30-years-ago really doesn’t exist today, except for the fact that we have to put them on notice and I know it has always continued to go but we have tried for several years to renegotiate a contract and that is basically what we are doing here. So, if that is what they would like to do in Seneca, we can all agree on the terms, then we will move forward for maybe another 30-years.” The Seneca City Council announced that it is not cutting off water to Pioneer, which recently won court approval of its project to build a treatment plant, rather it is trying to renegotiate rates in a 30-year-old contract.