U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards presented the Spruce Pine Town Council with a ceremonial $4 million check for water infrastructure last week.
Edwards visited Spruce Pine Town Hall the morning of Feb. 17 for the presentation. The congressman chatted with Mayor Beth Holmes and council members about Spruce Pine’s need for new water infrastructure, asking about a planned water tower in Grassy Creek. Holmes explained that the new tower will feed the Mountain Community Health Partnership facility under construction in Grassy Creek.
“It’s going to expand the town’s limits, add additional property to the town,” Holmes said. “There’s additional land for projects as well — this is huge to expand our ability to provide water for a larger area.”
In response to a question from Edwards about current water storage capacity, Holmes explained that currently Spruce Pine stores water in a reservoir and also has two wells.
The mayor also explained that the town’s water system still needs work.
“We’ve got a lot of water infrastructure projects that need to be addressed,” she said.
Edwards praised town staffers for their efforts researching and documenting Spruce Pine’s water needs.
“My challenge is to get back to D.C. before you all cash this and make sure it doesn’t bounce,” he said jokingly.
Edwards asked for a moment before the picture to talk about his role on the House Appropriations Committee.
“I’m really excited to be an appropriator with the house — I see that it has its advantages,” Edwards said.
Edwards spoke briefly in defense of the practice of assigning federal funds for specific projects in specific congressional districts, sometimes referred to as “pork-barrel” spending.
“Not everybody in Washington, D.C. agrees with the concept of community-project funding — there are a lot of folks that believe that we should not be bringing specific projects back to our districts like this,” Edwards said. “The reality is it costs the taxpayers no more money for me to bring a project to the district than it would otherwise, because we appropriate an amount of money for the administration to disperse largely how they see fit.”
Edwards indicated that these spending earmarks utilize local knowledge better than federal employees can to decide how tax money can best be spent.
“I think you all and me know way better what is needed back here in the mountains than any set of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.,” Edwards said. “So, I take no shame at all in going to Washington and saying, ‘Folks back in Mitchell County know better what they need’.”