Fremont hoping to conclude sewer work in next few months
By Laura Collins
Published in News on September 16, 2009 1:46 PM
New-Argus Staff Writer
Fremont residents will soon see an end to the sewer projects going on in town.
At Tuesday night's Board of Aldermen meeting, Town Administrator Kerry McDuffie said Phase I and Phase II of the projects should end within the next month to a month and a half.
"If citizens can be patient with us for just a while longer, we should be getting close to wrapping the sewer projects up. I know there's been a lot of hassle with the traffic," he said.
Phase I of the project repaired about 80 spots along sewer lines. Phase II of the project replaced eight manholes and a Dickinson Street sewer line.
Also at the meeting, the board approved requiring customer-side water cutoffs for homes that have had utilities turned off more than a year. Before turning the water back on, the resident is required to put a water cutoff valve in the waterline.
"On some of the older houses that have been sitting there for a while, they are more likely to have water leaks," McDuffie said. "It'll take a little bit of work but it can be done in a couple hours. Definitely less than a day."
The board also is looking at the possibility of the town digging graves in the cemetery rather than funeral homes or someone hired by the family.
"We want to keep it much neater and cleaner. When you have anybody and everybody going out there to dig graves you end up with issues sometimes," McDuffie said. "We're trying to keep our cemetery in better condition. The person who digs it up needs to make sure it's filled in and packed correctly."
The town will also be moving forward with trying to get a USDA grant loan to purchase a new street sweeper and two new police cars. The grant would pay for 45 percent of the cost and the loan would be for 55 percent. The town's current street sweeper is more than 25 years old and is not equipped with a jet vac, which can clean out manholes. A new street sweeper with jet vac is about $100,000-$120,000. A new police car fully equipped is about $40,000.