MURFREESBORO – The Murfreesboro Town Council, meeting Tuesday in regular session, agreed to transfer $11,050 from the water department budget to the sewer department budget to fund replacement of two pumps at the town’s Holly Hill Road Lift Station.

In a memo to the council, Town Administrator Cathy Davison said, “The original pumps in the station were not recommended to be upgraded in 2002 when the original plans for the upgraded lift station were done by Appian Engineering. It has been in the last few weeks that (the pumps have been inspected) more completely. Also, over the last three months we have had four outages on the pumps…”

The town will replace the pumps at a cost of $5,525 each. The old pumps will be “pulled,” cleaned and repainted so they can be used as a spare set “for emergency use only.” That will give the town a complete set of spare pumps, putting it in compliance with its wastewater collection permit, Davison told the council.

Public Works Director Gene Byrd told the council that the town’s Well No. 1 has been videoed and “is in good condition.” Byrd said use of a new steel brush system successfully cleaned the well’s casing and “the contractor has recommended that the pumps be put back in place and that the town maintains the current schedule for maintenance and videotaping every five years.”

The town administrator told the council the town has not been accepted into the state’s Small Town Main Street program, but will still be able to utilize some of the services provided by the Department of Commerce for smaller communities.

She also reported that the town attorney has finalized a “memorandum of understanding” between the town and the county regarding the stationing of an ambulance and emergency services personnel in Murfreesboro and the MOU has been sent to the county manager and the county attorney.

Davison told the council that, following a request by Councilman Billy Theodorakis at the group’s second August meeting, she had scheduled Eric Collins, Time Warner Cable’s director of governmental affairs “for this part of the state” to appear before the council on Sept. 22 at its next regular meeting “to discuss HD (high definition service) and their current offerings.”

Theodorakis asked that Davison ask Collins to be prepared to discuss the number of customers Time Warner has lost to the satellite services as a result of not offering HD or other factors. The town receives a franchise fee based on the number of customers Time Warner has in the town. If Time Warner loses revenue, the franchise fee decreases.