Halifax, Vance, and Warren counties should remain vigilant for a repeat of the controversial provision of a Senate bill that aims to let Franklin County take land without consent. 

Perhaps Franklin County should not have lawmakers do their dealing for them and should instead engage in conversations with Halifax County before mounting a sneak attack.

Thankfully, the conference committee report on Part 5, Section V of Senate Bill 214 was struck, thanks to the voices of those in the counties that would be impacted by this proposal and the work of House District 27 Representative Rodney Pierce, as well as allies across the aisle in the General Assembly.

It is noteworthy that Republican Senator Bobby Hanig voted for the report and Northampton County should stand on guard should the proposal come back in some form or fashion. After all, a large part of the Roanoke River Basin and Lake Gaston are in Northampton County, and Hanig did a disservice to his neighbors in Halifax County.

Republican Senator Norm Sanderson, however, did right by his Halifax County constituents and voted against a poorly written and vague conference committee report that made no mention of Franklin County’s water needs. 

It was, as Pierce stated last week, a vehicle for overreach — stripping rural counties of their rights and opening the door for unchecked property acquisition.

We can only speak on the impact this would have had on Halifax County. We do not provide deep-dive coverage of Vance or Warren counties, and there has been no need to even consider issues affecting Franklin County. Perhaps that is about to change.

WRAL reported Tuesday night that House Speaker Destin Hall said the matter might not be over. The station reported that Hall said if Vance, Warren, Halifax, and Franklin county leaders cannot find a solution to their disputes, the legislature could resurrect the proposal. “This body will probably do something on it one way or the other if they don't get it worked out. If they can do that themselves, that'd be much better for everyone,” Hall said.

To our knowledge, Franklin County hasn’t reached out to Halifax County, and Halifax had no disputes with them — at least based on our coverage of the board of commissioners here.

This whole issue has left a bad taste in our mouths regarding Franklin County, especially given the way a statement from the county manager’s office was written, claiming the proposal was a "last-ditch effort" should negotiations falter. 

As you dive deeper into the statement, it seems negotiations have persisted for the past 20 years, yet Franklin County saw fit to say it would simply take what it wants without asking.

While we were saying it prior to Pierce’s press conference Tuesday, Roanoke Rapids Sanitary District Attorney Melissa Dixon said it publicly: Franklin County is getting "too big for its britches."

“And respectfully, I would suggest that if Franklin County is getting too big for its britches, it needs to find a way to work with other local governments and get it done the right way,” she said.

House District 32 Representative Bryan Cohn, who represents Granville County, said the county is willing to discuss what a broader partnership across the region would look like. “These are things we have talked about and discussed, and we’ll continue to do so. We began studies last year about regionalization.”

To engage in such an ambitious infrastructure project, Cohn said, will probably cost upwards of $300 million to $400 million. “These are things that take significant amounts of time and significant amounts of investment. For Franklin County to say they’re going to stick a straw in the lake — it’s not going to happen tonight. I think if we were moving at warp speed, you’re looking at 15 years.”

And those 15 years would likely be extended by engineering studies and permits, he said, not to mention that “you’ve got to deal with North Carolina, but also the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

Cohn said the smarter play is to cooperate with your neighbors. “We all share the same resources and we have a responsibility to make sure that we maintain and protect that resource.”

The complexity of this is enormous, Cohn noted. 

Franklin County’s growth as a bedroom community did not occur overnight, and it is not going to be solved overnight.

“While we understand that Franklin County has specific needs, especially in water to meet future demands, and given that we support intergovernmental cooperation and partnership, we cannot stand by while our critical resources of land and water are threatened by legislation that has no means of collaboration or transparency,” said Halifax County Board of Commissioners Chairman Vernon Bryant.

Like Hall said, we fully expect another "end-run" to occur. 

We believe that because it seems leadership in Franklin County thinks it is the simple thing to do. 

But it is not simple, and it is not right to twist existing state laws to take on the role of a bully — Editor