PRWID Reviews Concerns about Road Compaction in Carbonville

By Sun Advocate

A resident of the Carbonville area brought up concerns about road damage to roads in his neighborhood caused by a waterline project during Tuesday’s Price River Water Improvement District meeting.
Phillip Palmer, a PRWID board member, gave a quick report about the situation and explained that the difficulties were being attributed to bad weather conditions. Palmer explained that extremely high amounts of water this year are possibly causing compacted areas to saturate and sink.
Robert Tanner, a Carbonville resident, told the board his concerns with the company and mentioned one instance where the company reportedly left the project and went to work on another project in Price.
A representative for TNT General Contractors, the contractor for the waterline project, explained that the company only took one crew to work on another project after the board decided they were well within their contract to do so.
Terry Messersmith explained the difficulties associated with working on the already uneven roads of Prazen Lane and other areas in Carbonville.
“We do take a lot of pride in our work,” said Messersmith after hearing the remarks of the resident. He later explained that the company used only approved methods for compaction and that the settlement was not due to the compaction methods used by the construction company, but rather the saturation due to heavy amounts of rainfall.
“We recognize there’s a problem,” Messersmith said, explaining that his company doesn’t perform substandard work and that they will honor their responsibility to PRWID and residents. “I want to regain and earn the trust of the citizens and will do anything to do that.”
He said that the company has been waiting for dry weather to fix the trench failures and work was being done that day on the areas in question. Messersmith said the project was completed except for the settling.
He also explained that PRWID is TNT’s first priority and that the company is willing to come back again for compaction to resolve the issue.
Messersmith also explained that some of the trenches the company has been fixing weren’t even theirs. The company explained that they were even fixing previous companies’ and private residents’ road work.
In an unrelated matter, PRWID board members voted to pay TNT and accepted a request for payment from the company. The board approved the payment of $80,588.21 and recognized that just one more pay request is left after this one and is expected to be for an amount between $50,000 and $75,000.
In another matter, board members discussed concerns about the Gardiner Gate Subdivision, an industrial area near the airport which the owner is attempting to subdivide.
Currently, a 50,000-gallon water storage tank near the site provides only 250 gallons per minute while 500 gallons is required by the county. The tank would have to be at least 60,000 gallons to accommodate this amount of water.
Dan Sheppard asked the board for suggestions on how to solve the problem of not enough water pressure to meet requirements for the four plot industrial subdivision.
Palmer suggested that PRWID could put in a different tank that could hold more water and update existing pumps. He explained that a taller tank would “raise pressure substantially.” Palmer also explained that if the tank was modified, it would benefit everybody.
Another idea discussed by the board was the possibility of adding another pump station next to the landfill which could also raise pressure.
Replacing the current tank would be very costly, but it would also be costly to rectify the problem no matter what they decide to do.
The board decided it would be beneficial to hear the county’s view on the matter before making a decision on it. Tom Matthews made a motion to contact the county and it was seconded by Betty Wheeler. The motion was carried by a unanimous vote.