Demorest approves nearly $70,000 after emergency failures at two school-area lift stations

Demorest City Council unanimously approved $69,796.76 in payments to MPE Services on May 12, 2025, for replacement pumps at lift stations serving Demorest Elementary School and South Habersham Middle School. The 3-0 vote covered a $28,220.48 invoice for the elementary-school station and a $41,576.28 invoice for the middle-school station.

The expense is the city’s financial response to failures in equipment that supports its wastewater utility near two schools. Council minutes describe the old pumps as 25 years old and no longer working, making the nearly $70,000 authorization a response to an infrastructure failure rather than a planned routine purchase.

According to the council’s May 12 workshop discussion, both old pumps stopped working in February. City officials said the replacements had already been installed under an emergency approval conducted by email, then brought the two MPE Services invoices to the council for formal payment approval. Later that day, the regular meeting produced the unanimous vote authorizing the invoices.

The city council’s recorded position was unanimous approval of the two payments. MPE Services is the vendor named on the invoices, while the affected facilities are the lift stations serving Demorest Elementary School and South Habersham Middle School. The minutes do not identify public speakers, objections, or a separate position from either school in connection with the replacements.

The pumps had already been replaced when the council acted, and the May 12 vote formally authorized payment totaling $69,796.76. That is not the same as confirmation that the city disbursed the money: the meeting minutes record authorization only. They also do not state the exact date of the earlier emergency email approval or provide voting details for it, and they offer no later account of station performance, additional repairs, or maintenance results.

No additional council action or payment record is identified here. The next concrete public indication of follow-through would be a city financial record showing whether and when the MPE Services invoices were processed. Until such a record appears, the unresolved question is payment timing, not the council’s authorization or the fact that replacement pumps were installed after the February failures.