By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Grayson Utilities Commission met for its regular meeting last Wednesday (July 30). Director Gerald Haney updated the commission on the progress of the pipe replacement project and said that the projected completion date for September was still in place. Haney also made the commission aware of the recent replacements near Kentucky Christian University and surrounding areas. Once completed, the project will eliminate pipes in those areas that had previously been in use for over ninety years.
“It’s winding down to the final tie-ins,” Haney told the commission. “There still remains two segments of sewer we need to get a change order price for,” he continued. “We need to replace that while we have the streets dug up.”
Bell Engineering, Haney said, will have the change order in soon for the streets impacted, which are on Fourth Street and Landsdowne by Southgate Court.
Haney commended the efficiency of the contractor, telling the commission that the work done by Opell Excavating was very efficient and ahead of schedule. He was especially complimentary of their use of a paving attachment which allowed the company to better control the amount of asphalt used and reduce waste.
“They can make use of that attachment and just work the width of the trench, as opposed to using the larger paving machine,” Haney said.
Once completed, however, the entire affected roadway will be paved.
Another topic Haney discussed was the treatment of sewage ‘sludge.’
“We have talked about this over the years,” Haney reminded the commission. “We had purchased the property behind the water plant. That was in preparation of having more land available to allow us to treat our sludge differently. Right now, if we have equipment failure, we have no way of treating the sludge without doing a bypass.”
“It isn’t an agreed order or a mandate that we fix that,” Haney said. “But it is a recommendation that we come up with a better way to do that.”
Under the current setup the sludge goes through a press and is then sent to a landfill. But the new redesign will have a sludge drying area with a land bed. This is similar, he said, to what is currently in use at Rattlesnake Ridge and in Morehead, and will allow much more space for storage. It will allow for better maintenance of the site and for improved cleanup, Haney said.
“The estimate for that is about $3.5 million,” Haney told the commission.
He said he had been speaking with the state about potential funding for the project and would know more about that by the fall season.
“If we are able to qualify, it will be for 2027,” Haney said. “There is also the Kentucky Water Grant Fund I talked about last year. We didn’t apply last year, but after discussions with KIA (Kentucky Infrastructure Authority), they suggested that we go ahead and apply for that. We do qualify as being a distressed county, being low income.”
The deadline for applying for that grant is August 28, Haney said. The commission voted to authorize Haney to apply for the grant on behalf of Grayson Utilities. Applying for revenue sources and planning future projects that will decrease maintenance costs and improve the utility system are typical meeting points each month as the commission works to be more proactive in serving the community.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
