• Levan council votes to move ahead with water project

• Entire office staff walks out of meeting in joint resignation; council member later resigns

• Suspect flees scene, later caught, during drug search of vehicle

• Obits

• Classifieds

• Back

• Home

By Rebecca Dopp
Correspondent

Levan Town is working on a water project and they need to sign a general service agreement with Jones and DeMille Engineering to get started.

Tyler Faddis, Jones and DeMille Engineering, said they had approached the Division of Drinking Water for funding to complete a large water project in the town which would replace several water lines that are suspected to be leaking, or are old pipes.

“Levan was funded 50% grant, 50% loan to complete the project,” he said. “In order to move forward, Levan just needs to enter an agreement with Jones and DeMille to start off with design [and to get funding].”

Faddis said that he was there at the meeting to get the agreement signed.

“We have a general engineering services agreement which is the work order,” he said. “I thought we were going to do a GSA (general service agreement) which pretty much spells out the legalities of a contract and that stays in place indefinite.”

He said that then there was an assignment order where they wouldn’t have to go through all the large, contractual paperwork which was completed through the GSA. This order covers the scope of work and the cost for additional projects.

“I propose that we do the GSA and then with the assignment order to begin going on the water project,” he said.

Mayor Bruce Rowley said that he and Jason Worwood, town employee, and office staff had been at the meeting with the Division of Drinking Water and discussed the project.

“This is one of our first steps,” Faddis said.

Council member Chris Webb asked if the assignment order would help discover what needed to be replaced. Faddis said that the assignment order covers design plan sheets, surveying, environmental clearances with Division of Drinking Water, etc.

Rowley said that years ago the town had done a study on the water system so they already had that information about what needed replacing, how much water they were losing, etc. The information would be available in the office. That information was used to help get the funding.

Rowley said that the survey showed that the town had been losing about 20,000,000 gallons a year, or 30 gallons a minute.

“About 10% of your water,” said Faddis.

The town couldn’t wait any longer to do the project, said Faddis.

Council member Taryn Brooks asked how much the grant and loan totaled. Rowley said it was around $1.4 .“We have issues there that need to be fixed and comply,” he said. “It would be nice to not ever have a bond, but we have those issues that need to be fixed, we’re losing all that water, we need to address it.”

He didn’t want to miss the chance for the grant money. He said that only 20 cities in the state received grants.

There will be future hearings where residents can come and voice their opinions and concerns.

Webb asked how long the project would take. Faddis said that if they went through the bid process this winter, the construction would last around 6 months in the summer. He said by next winter the project would be completed, if there were no hang-ups with availability of materials.

The project will help with water savings, in-town water pressure on fire hydrants, etc.

“Those 4-inch pipes will be replaced with 8-inch pipes,” Faddis said.

Most of the water lines are already in the shoulders, said Faddis, but there will be some work that needs to cross the roads and road repairs will need to take place afterwards.

Water service should not negatively affect residents. Some would lose service for a very short time, Faddis said, as work was being done in a particular area.

The council approved the GSA as well as the assignment order with Jones and DeMille Engineering.