Local Plumbers Take On $45 M Public Project

CHATTANOOGA – Hire HERE, a local community affairs organization, today commends the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority for choosing to hire local plumbers to implement a $45 million, eight-year program to inspect and repair home sewer lines throughout Hamilton County.

“The leadership of WWTA gets it,” Ron Tanner, a HireHERE spokesman, said. “Every dollar invested with local business impacts our economy throughout the county. The effect of local investment multiples as that money passes from one local businessperson to another.”

Hamilton County Attorney Mike Carter recently told the county commission that the county could have put the work out for bid, which would probably have resulted in it going to a large out-of-town firm. He said after several meetings with local plumbers, the government decided to hire locally. “This is truly a private enterprise solution to a public problem,” he told the commission.

Plumbers will be required to go through a WWTA training program and agree to program terms. An outside engineering firm will decide the payment amount and there will be a set amount of work per foot and surcharges for work done outside the bounds of that agreement.

“When the public and private sectors work together, we’re able to find solutions to most of our problems,” Tanner said. “This is an example of how well that partnership can work.”

Hire HERE is an organization committed to its ongoing mission to educate local government and business leaders on the importance of hiring local firms and employees.