| Ron Morrill of TNT Construction tightens up some fitting on a line that runs to a meter on 750 West in Carbonville. Morrill, along with other employees of the contractor are installing meters in the area and will soon be wrapping up the construction on the project. |
Meters are being set, pavement is going down and all of that is good news to many residents of Carbonville and Wellington.
After almost a year of torn up streets due to first a sewer project and then in the last few months a water line and meter replacement, things should soon return to normal in certain neighborhoods in the two areas.
“There are a lot of meters in odd places on certain properties,” said Jeff Richens, assistant district manager at the Price River Water Improvement District during the organizations board meeting on July 6. “We are spending some time to straighten these situations out.”
At present TNT Contractors are mopping up work in various areas around the project. Paving began in east Carbonville a couple of weeks ago solving a year long problem that was initially created when a whole road area for about two blocks was wiped out when water in new sewer line trenches caused the project to get bigger and bigger. That particular section of road that remained gravel and mud all winter, now has a new layer of asphalt on it and the crews are paving in the direction of west Carbonville a little farther each day.
“Some of the houses along that road had a horrible dust and mud problem from both projects,” Phil Palmer, district manager, told the board. “I made a promise to them that when we were done we would go through and do some cleaning in that area. So last week we authorized a pressure washing company to go in and clean not only the houses siding but also some of the vinyl fences along that route.”
The cost for those cleaning services amounted to between $150 and $200 per home. Palmer also said there may be some others that need the service as well.
Richens pointed out that the project would be completed soon. That also means that the local small water companies that applied for the loan to replace water lines will be giving up their systems to PRWID in the immediate future and the county agency will begin billing residents for service soon.
Residents of the water project’s area will be paying about $20 per month over their regular water charges for the next 20 years to pay for the project. As new hookups are approved they will also be paying the same amount, which will shorten the loan period.
The project, which started earlier this spring, was put together last fall and winter when five small water companies from the two areas approached PRWID about their failing infrastructure. None had the money to bring the lines up to state standards, and yet PRWID could not take over the systems until the systems were upgraded. So the water district acted as an agent for the private companies to secure money for the projects from the state. They were all put under one umbrella with about $1.3 million dollars going to fix the water systems.
This upgrade came on the heels of a project in many of the same areas last year that was intended to bring sewer to homes and businesses that have been on septic systems. While most of the work on that project is finished, there are still some loose ends that Claw Construction has not completed, and PRWID has decided to continue to hold some retainage in payments until that work is completed.
“We met with representatives of the company and they told us they would be back within 30 days to finish the minor items,” Palmer told the board. “However there are some things they can’t complete until the fall because of the situation with crops in the areas where the lines run.”
The problem is that some settling has taken place in agricultural fields where lines were run, but that presently land owners have crops growing in those areas.
“That would be destructive to what they are growing there so that won’t be done until the harvest is in,” he said.
However Claw has been asking for the rest of the money before all the details are finished. However after a discussion with the state, Richens says that those officials recommended the money not be released until everything is done.
“There is still about $100,000 worth of work to do and the state is reluctant to release the money,” he stated. “There is actually only about $44,000 in the retainage so we will hold onto that. There is also a reported problem with some of the suppliers who say they haven’t been paid yet. That amount only totals about $4,000 however.”
The board voted to not release the money until the work is completed.
Richens also told the board that the county is asking that the roads in the areas where they have been torn up for the water line have a complete one inch overlay of asphalt put over them.
“The county isn’t too happy with some of the oil that has been put down in Carbonville so we are waiting for a price on that work right now,” he said.