Kemp Mayor Laura Hanna Peace told residents at a recent town hall meeting they held the future of the city in their hands in the upcoming Nov. 5 election. Voters will decide if the city should transfer its water and waste water systems and its water rights to West Cedar Creek Municipal Utility District. Peace warned residents that if they don't pass the proposal it will likely mean the death of Kemp. The city's water and wastewater plant and related systems need $3 million in upgrades to bring them into compliance with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality standards, and the city has only $3,000 in reserves. It the proposal is not passed and the TCEQ takes over the systems, the state agency's corrective actions will result in tax hikes and rate increases that most of the town's some 1,133 residents cannot afford, Peace said. If the proposal is passed, WCCMUD will guarantee the community has a safe, secure water and wastewater system to take it into the future, Peace said. She called the proposal the only viable plan that city officials had been able to formulate since the city ran out of water in the summer of 2011 because of the drought and water system failures. WCCMUD's proposal would not significantly raise current rates, according to information provided by city officials and the water district. WCCMUD President Clifton Smith Jr. said the water district's chief interest in Kemp is being a "good neighbor." The takeover would not be easy, nor inexpensive for the water district, he said. Kemp made national news in the summer of 2011 when the city had to haul in drinking water for residents. The city was without water for one week.