Sept. 24, 2026
Jonathan Rich
BrevardBeagle.com
On Sept. 18 Brevard Mayor Maureen Copelof and members of city staff welcomed Congressional Rep. Anna Ferguson (District 119) to town and took the Raleigh lawmaker on a tour that included a visit to the Brevard Wastewater Treatment Plant on Wilson Road and several areas of the town which have failing septic systems.
In August Ferguson was selected by the Republican parties of Jackson, Swain and Transylvania counties to replace the late Mike Clampitt in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Clampitt passed away in March 2026 following a prolonged battle with cancer. Ferguson is currently running for election to House Seat District 119 this November.
Copelof said the brief visit with the western North Carolina businesswoman and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians was a productive one, as city staff members were able to show Ferguson firsthand the need for improvements at the aging facility and talk with people living in the Azalea and Rhododendron communities about the need to have municipal connections to their homes providing better sewer services than what they have now.
“We took Representative Ferguson to our wastewater treatment plant because that’s going to be one of the big challenges over the next seven to eight years to get phase two going and funded,” Copelof said at the close of the Sept. 14 Brevard City Council meeting. “We showed her what we’re using the $13 million that the state gave us three years ago for, but also what the need is going to be in the future.”
Ferguson came under fire this summer when $10 million in previously approved county grant funding was reallocated by state legislators in Raleigh as part of the recently approved North Carolina budget.
At the July 13 Transylvania County Board of Commissioners meeting, Rep. Ferguson told the public that funding for three projects (extending sewer service along Azalea Avenue, building a pump station at Brevard High School and construction plans along Calvert Road in Rosman) had been misidentified on the part of the state four years ago, but the issue was being corrected after it was discovered that money in the approved state budget had been moved to other infrastructure funding projects in western North Carolina as a result of what she said was a “clerical error.”
“We took her out to Fairhaven Meadows and we took her out to Azalea and Rhododendron, that part of our community that has problems with the failing septic system where we desperately need to get that three-and-a-half million dollars back that the state had removed to put in a sewer system there,” Copelof commented during the Sept. 21 Brevard City Council meeting.
“It was an honor to travel with the mayor and city staff last Friday to take a look at the plans and steps Brevard is taking to support its residents and development,” Ferguson commented via email on Sept. 24. “I was impressed with the innovative thinking I saw in several of the projects we toured. City staff not only looks at solutions, they look at methods outside of traditional thinking that will address the issue at hand often at a more efficient and cost-saving way.”
“Funding the neighborhood surrounding Azalea Avenue is not an option to me, it is a necessity,” she continued. ” The amount of multi-income housing that area can provide is invaluable for Brevard residents. The mayor said it best when she stated this is not $3.5 million we are talking about, it is 130 families and homes. I appreciate the time and effort the staff put into our meeting, and look forward to working with them on these projects.”
Brevard City Manager Wilson Hooper said he was optimistic about Rep. Ferguson’s visit and the future of improvements for the area’s septic systems.
“I’m so glad that she offered some of her valuable time to come hear about our needs and about what we could use her help with,” Hooper said Monday. “She pledged to do what she could to help us out in Raleigh with a couple of projects that we have on the books.”
* This news article was updated from its original draft to include comments made by Ferguson following its initial publication.*