A looming deadline on a critical wastewater agreement has exposed a growing divide between Canton officials and their private partner, with negotiations stalled over cost, oversight and the data needed to shape the town’s long-term infrastructure plans.
Town leaders confirmed they do not yet have an extension in place for wastewater treatment services as the current agreement with mill site owner Eric Spirtas was set to expire at 5 p.m. March 31 — when The Smoky Mountain News went to print — leaving only days to resolve a dispute that has been building over months.
For decades, the mill’s owners treated the town’s municipal wastewater at nearly no cost to the town, but when the decision to close the mill was announced on March 6, 2023, the future of wastewater treatment became an urgent concern…