CVSSD begins summer projects

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The Castle Valley Special Service District is moving along with their spring projects. Huntington City saw an early spring project of crack filling and seal on their asphalt on one half of town.
Emery Mayor Mistie Christiansen said Emery is still having concerns in signing the interlocal agreement with the CVSSD. This agreement deals with the outside water and sewer connections. Emery wants more of a say in who is allowed these outside connections. Patrick Sundstrom is on the Emery Town council he would like to see the cities have a say in who hooks onto the systems.
CVSSD board president Brad Giles, said it is the district who maintains and installs the systems. The current interlocal agreement in place allows no outside water connections. With the new agreement outside water connections are allowed pending board approval. Someone wishing an outside of town limits water connection first goes to the nearest city and requests a connection from them and that starts the process.
Mayor Hilary Gordon from Huntington said her town was happy to sign the new interlocal agreement which allowed outside water connections because she has had many requests for water connections outside the city limits.
Sharp said the district acts for the good of all those within the district boundaries and all decisions must take the entire district into account. Giles said many outside water connections in the county predate the district. There are rate increases for outside water connections. These increases equal what the people within the district pay in taxes. Ferron has 90 outside water connections. Castle Dale has the Wilberg Wash homes and the city maintains to the top of the hill and after that it becomes the homeowners responsibility. Each city has their own unique situations.
Gerry Hatch the Clawson representative to the board commented that he returned recently from Guatemala and the people there only had water for one hour a day. He said the people here take for granted their easy access to water and services and other countries aren’t as lucky as we are here.
The CVSSD board discussed the towns giving a percentage each year of their class C road funds to the district so when it’s their turn for the chip and seal project it won’t be a big chunk out of their budget. The district figured on a seven year cycle which is the rotation for maintenance work in each town. Each town would need to contribute 13 percent in order for the district to break even. The towns expressed a concern they would lose interest on that money by giving it to the district each year. The towns will discuss the proposal with their councils.
Giles said UDOT said a seven year cycle on maintenance is good. “The maintenance is important. We need to strike a balance between what the roads need and the budget,” said Giles.
Nielson Construction received the bid for the street projects in the county this season. B. Hansen Construction received the bid for the curb and gutter projects in the county this season. Mike Riley will do the work.
The CVSSD board awarded the drainage, water and sewer project to Terry Brotherson from Sanpete County.
The district is adding aerators to the second sewer pond in Huntington. The district employees will install the aerators as they have the most experience with them. The electrical work will be subcontracted out. The new aerators have been ordered and should arrive soon.
Sharp outlined the 2010 project summary for the CIB money. Some projects have come in lower than the engineers estimate these savings will be placed in a contingency fund for emergencies.
The city street project is $623,700 and bid came in at 526,048.75 for a savings of $97,651.25. In the curb and gutter project, estimate was $353,500 and the bid came in at $312,388.50 for a savings of $41,111.50; the drainage, water and sewer engineers estimate was $362,600 and that project came in at $444,612.29 for an overage of $82,012.29. The Huntington Sewer lagoon improvements are estimated at $100,000. This leaves $142,900 in the contingency fund.
All cities and towns except Orangeville are currently working on annexations into their city limits. Giles let the cities know that even if their annexations come into effect bringing services to those areas annexed in may lag behind.
The board approved an outside water connection for Castle Dale City for Nielson Construction for a water line which will come off the land fill line for a shop facility near the land fill.
Sharp will continue with negotiations for the Huntington/Cleveland irrigation company request for Elmo secondary water connection. It’s estimated the project will cost $25-30,000 and will eliminate two-three miles of canal.
Giles told of new legislation which requires any board which is a taxing entity have members which are elected. Giles will check on this legislation as there is a dollar amount attached, if you deal with money over a certain amount, then your board needs to be elected.
Water is in the secondary systems and things appear to be working well. Repairs have been made at the Castle Dale sewer lagoons, four stations would not keep running and a problem was discovered with the cable. Cable replacement of 1,200 feet will cost $5-6,000 plus labor costs.