Private investment firm seeks partnership with Fayetteville Public Works Commission

But recently, it's caught the eye of a private investment firm, which has submitted a proposal to help manage the utility.

The proposal would keep the Fayetteville PWC in charge and all current employees would keep their job. It also calls for the PWC to continue to set rates for customers. 

Louisiana-based Bernhard Capital Partners has proposed a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars that Fayetteville could use to make several needed improvements that would otherwise take years to complete, according to Bernard's Thomas Henley.

"There are stormwater and drainage challenges as it relates to safety," Henley told WRAL News. "Police, fire stations, construction, economic development initiatives."

Elaina Ball is the new CEO of the Fayetteville PWC. She says it's provided revenue to the city for years.

"That equates in any given year to around $12 to $13 million, and it grows every year as our system grows," Ball said. "As we reinvest, as we grow out, that asset base grows, and the city gets more of a transfer."

But Bernhard's Henley says the large amount of capital his private equity firm would provide in the deal would allow the city to move more quickly on important projects. In return, the company would receive a fair-market return on its investment.

"We're getting a return, a return that is again comparable and commensurate with utilities across the country," Henley told WRAL News. "But more so, we actually ar making an impact on communities in which we're going in to serve."

Bernhard and the PWC are under a non-disclosure agreement which limits the amount of information they can share for now. But Ball says while Bernhard's deal sounds sweet, there's more the public needs to know before it's approved.

"The concern I have in putting only elements of the offer out there," Ball said, "is that it's incomplete, could be perceived as one-sided, and may not give the public all of the information they need to understand what a deal like this could mean for their future and future generations."

Mayor Mitch Colvin says the city hasn't received a formal proposal yet from Bernhard. When it comes, Colvin says, the public will have a chance to weigh in on it before a decision to accept or reject it is made.

A timetable for when this deal might be approved has not been released, but we're told if it goes through, it'll last for 30 years.