The years-long legal battle over the fate of the water for more than 3,000 people in Lakeview Estates may finally be coming to a close. After a week of testimony from witnesses and experts, the jury will hear closing arguments on Monday and begin deliberations in the lawsuit and counter suit between Rockdale County and PoyntSource Solutions, Inc., a private company which supplies water to the mobile home neighborhood in north Rockdale.

In his opening statement, attorney Ralph Goldberg, representing PoyntSource Solutions, Inc., said “We think we can show that we do not owe any money. We think we can show that they’ve been stealing water.”

PoyntSource draws water from wells on its property but also purchases water from Rockdale Water Resources, the county’s water agency, to supplement its water supply for its more than 700 customers. PoyntSource alleges RWR overcharged with a price of $3.21 per thousand gallons instead of the wholesale rate of $1.25 per thousand gallons that Newton County is billed. 

After meetings and discussions with the county deteriorated, PoyntSource stopped paying its bills and the county sued the company in 2007 to collect about $77,000. PoyntSource then sued the county, claiming it was overcharged by more than $300,000 from 2000 to 2007.

Attorney John Myers, representing the county, said in his opening statement that the company had not been treated any differently than any other residential or corporate customer of RWR. 

“The central position of the county is that there is a difference between the arrangement with Newton County and the private regular customer that PoyntSource Solution is. That draws the basic distinction. There is no benefit PoyntSource could provide to the county. It’s a one way street because PoyntSource lacks sufficient water and would have to purchase. They are treated like any other customer,” said Myers.

Goldberg pointed out that Rockdale firefighters use PoyntSource’s water to fight fires, which drains their supplies, but the county does not compensate for the water used. 

“Let me put it to you this way,” said Goldberg. “Let us suppose the fire department comes down your street. And let us suppose they cannot find a hydrant and it’s your neighbor across the street whose house is going up. So they come into your water spigot and they start using your water to fight that fire… And the next month, you get a bill as though you used that water. And they didn’t even give you a discount.”

PoyntSource also alleges the county did damage to the lake dam wall and to water pipes by dumping construction debris material. The county claims the wall of the earthen dam along Frontier Drive was deteriorating and that the material was an effort to shore up the wall. The county also claims it had right of way access to that wall. 

“Until the week of this trial, they never made that claim,” said Goldberg.

“My client’s property has been irreparably damaged. The problem is that now nobody will buy it for a utility. They don’t want to buy the possibility that they’re buying a lake whose dam is going to break.”

The dispute between RWR and PoyntSource came to a head in 2009 when RWR threatened to turn off the water after PoyntSource fell behind in about $50,000 worth of payments. By court order, PoyntSource had agreed to pay current bills to RWR while the lawsuits were ongoing. In March 2009, RWR distributed notices to PoyntSource customers and held a meeting saying that RWR would turn off its water supply to PoyntSource. During the trial, Randolph Poynter testified he received a notice in the mail after it was handed to his customers about RWR's intent to turn off the water. Before the two parties came into court again, the bill was paid. 

The company was previously owned by Martha Ann Bailey and purchased by the late and former county commission chair Randy Poynter and his wife Libby in 1999.

The closing arguments will begin on Monday in Judge David  Irwin’s courtroom in Rockdale County Superior Court.