DOBSON —Officials from all four county municipalities, the board of commissioners and all three school boards were in attendance at the Local Elected Officials Dinner held in Dobson at Harvest Grill Thursday night.

Surry County officials have been working together for some time to expand water and sewer services to connect each municipality to one another to promote economic growth. The facilitate that growth, Jeff Hughes from the N.C. School of Government (SOG) spoke to the group about joining forces to find ways to advance water and sewer systems across the county.

Hughes said he was hired by the Golden LEAF Foundation as an outside resource to share “thoughts and ideas on water partnerships.”

Hughes recommended that a committee be formed from members of each group to decide what direction county water and sewer projects should take in the future. He explained that the group should be made up of two or three members of each group to form a 12- to 15-person committee that could report back to their respective boards.

The Elected Officials Dinner is held once a quarter, with each municipality takes turns hosting the event. It is a time when officials from all parts of the county can come together and share ideas in an informal setting.

Hughes said he is encouraged by Surry County’s approach to working together. He said he saw the dinner as a unique opportunity for elected officials to connect and interact with one another, making the process of working together on projects easier.

“Everyone already knows each other and seem to work well together,” he said.

Hughes said while Surry County has already done a great job in working toward expanding water and sewer projects, the SOG will be sharing their resources and knowledge gathered across the state in helping other municipalities solve water and sewer issues.

“We want to bring you new information so that you can see what your future looks like,” Hughes said.

While Hughes and the SOG will be assisting Surry County officials in the process of expanding water and sewer services, he said he doesn’t see a solution to connecting all four municipalities to one water system coming by the end of the year.

“These things take time. We see these things as slow and steady,” Hughes said.

In closing Commissioner Jimmy Miller said he knows that there is a great demand across the county to expand water and sewer services

“I look forward to working with all of you to bring about water (services), but sewer as well. Our board has worked very hard over the last five years to see that we got as much as we could out to the citizens of Surry County. But we still have a lot of areas that still need water. We are going to try to do something about it. With your help, and you folks are going to be the ones to make it happen,” Miller said.

Contact Mondee Tilley at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.