Monday morning we will publish the first of a four part series on Currituck County’s Public-Private Partnership (P3) Financial and Transactional Advisor Services associated with Currituck County’s Moyock Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. As Moyock continues to grow there is no question the area needs a fully functional Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). The existing WWTP came online in 2013 and consisted of a 99,000 gallon per day (gpd) treatment system.

By August 2017 the WWTP was unable to meet state parameter limits, resulting in the County entering into a Special Order by Consent (SOC) with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ). Efforts to repair or expand the WWTP failed, and by 2019, the county leased two 60,000 gallon per day mobile wastewater treatment plants from Envirolink, Inc. In August 2020, the Board of Commissioners elected to abandon the original 99K gpd system, and build a new one.

The old plant remains scuttled, and the two leased mobile systems are still in place. In February 2022, the Country put out a Request for Proposal for a P3 Financial and Transactional Advisor to provide the following services:

• Assist in project scoping and feasibility
• Conduct financial and cash flow analyses
• Perform valuation of system
• Develop risk assessment to inform risk allocation and financial analysis
• Evaluate market readiness
• Conduct a Value for Money (VfM) analysis
• Perform evaluation of proposed transactions
• Identify impacts to the organization
• Provide recommendations for contract structuring and financing
• Draft development contract including risk allocation, structuring of supervening events, structure of termination clauses, and payment mechanisms
• Assist in development of Request for Qualifications and review of Statements of Qualifications
• Assist with contract negotiations

(Opinion). There is no question that the costs of these services will save the county money over the long haul. Currituck is in no position to have a second failed system, these processes will help to ensure success the second time around.