City of Georgetown staff members met with consultants Jan. 4 to kick off a four- to six-month study that will explore acquiring the Chisholm Trail Special Utility District, which provides water to about 6,300 customers, about two-thirds of which are in or near the Georgetown extraterritorial jurisdiction.

The City Council approved a motion Dec. 13 to direct staff to work on details of an acquisition agreement. In the same week, the Chisholm Trail SUD board of directors authorized the same of its staff.

This summer, a number of Chisholm Trail SUD's customers, including residents in Shady Oaks, Cimarron Hills, North Lake, Gabriel's Overlook and several other neighborhoods, reached out to the City of Georgetown to request a transfer into the city's water service area, Georgetown Utility Director Glenn Dishong said.

According to a news release from the city, the Chisholm Trail SUD hired Texas First Group, an outside consultant, to review the district's water system operations given the drought and mandatory water use restrictions for customers. The consultant said the best alternative for the district was to dissolve the district and transfer assets to the city, which would assure "quality service and dependable water" to Chisholm Trail customers.

The city could also benefit from the acquisition by improving service to residents in the city's ETJ, including areas that have potential for being annexed in the future, and the provision of water capacity for development in high-growth areas, such as Williams Drive, Hwy. 29 and Hwy. 195, according to the release.

"[Acquiring the entire district] was seen as a way to create some potential economies of scale. Usually if something gets larger, it's less expensive for the individual pieces," Dishong said. "So customers might enjoy either continued stable rates or a slower increase in rates."

At its Dec. 15 meeting, the Chisholm Trail SUD board of directors also approved the creation of a due diligence committee. The board also approved $100,000 for the feasibility study and requested that staff develop an interlocal agreement with the City of Georgetown to allow the city to provide water services to the Shady Oaks subdivision by May 2012.

Dishong said that with the completion of the Lake Water Treatment Plant expansion in the next three or four months, the city will have plenty of treated water to take on the additional customers.

"It's the status about how many water rights do the existing entities have," he said. "I think in the long run, Chisholm Trail needs more water rights, and so we will be going out and trying to acquire those additional water rights in the future."

Dishong said a report and decision by City Council and the Chisholm Trail SUD board of directors could come sometime in May or June.

"We are very early in the process," he said. "We've just started a four- to six-month endeavor to come to a final recommendation and potential approval to put the two utilities together. "