The City of Kemp and West Cedar Creek Municipal Utility District plan to announce new terms for the utility service agreement reached three years ago.

Mayor Laura Peace said the City Council will meet Nov. 15 in a called meeting, and the new terms could be finalized and announced at that time. The council cancelled its Nov. 8 meeting because of the conflict with the general election.

"We are working on a revised agreement with WCCMUD that will ensure the continuation of a stable water system for the City of Kemp that is acceptable to both parties," Peace said. "There is no threat of loss of water service to our citizens, and we are confident that we are working toward the best possible arrangement for our community."

WCCMUD general manager Tony Ciardo advised the utility's board of directors about problems with the current agreement at an October meeting, according to The Monitor. The newspaper's managing editor Pearl Cantrell covered the meeting.

His comments followed the Public Utility Commission of Texas denying WCCMUD's application to extend a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity to include Kemp. A denial letter from the state agency cited insufficient, incomplete and deficient mapping in the application.

Ciardo also informed the utility board that the Texas Commission on Environment Quality had also placed the City of Kemp under "enforcement" after an inspection of the city's wastewater operations. The “enforcement” status would extend to WCCMUD as well because of its oversight of the city’s utilities if the deal is ever finalized. Ciardo said.

Ciardo said the “enforcement” refers to the city utility plants sludge beds and ponding of waste materials.

Ciardo said the agreement with the City of Kemp had become problematic and “very, very expensive.”

Kemp Mayor Laura Hanna Peace said the story in The Monitor blindsided city officials, and she released a statement Oct. 27, 2016, after meeting with city staff and the city’s attorney.

The agreement between the City of Kemp and WCCMUD followed a lengthy public debate and many meetings with the utility company’s officials.

“The City is in the same position now as it was three years ago—we stand ready, willing and able to assist West Cedar Creek MUD in making this deal work,” Peace said in the statement.  “We believed three years ago that the agreement was in the best interests of the City and West Cedar Creek, and we continue to believe that."

Kemp voters approved the transfer of the utilities to WCCMUD three years ago following a shutdown of water to residents during a devastating drought in the summer of 2011. The city's loss of water made national television news.

WCCMUD agreed to take over the city’s aging utilities infrastructure, and it built an office in Kemp to manage the operation. The utility's officials began the lengthy process of gaining approval of the agreement by state officials.