By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
Grayson Utilities Commission Director Gerald Haney reported at the commission’s April meeting that the project near East Carter High School had been completed; at least the utility part of it.
“Steve Opell of Opell Excavating said they were completely done with the high school utility relocation project,” Haney told the commission.
Haney also reported that the project had been completed under budget by $10,460. The savings were due, Haney said, to a combination of the plans for the work being very thorough and Steve Opell and his subcontractors for the gas portion of that project. The project was also completed a month ahead of schedule.
“Overall, it was a very successful project,” Haney said.
Haney referenced the March meeting where the commission discussed future projects and the need for a qualification list from some contractors on certain projects. One of the projects in question was the lead service pipe GIS work (in order for the commission to secure the lead service line grant).
“That’s where we inventory what we have on the service line,” Haney explained. “And what the customer has beyond the meter. As part of that funding requirement, we have to put that out for an open bid.”
“We only had one request for qualifications on that. It’s from Terra Graphics,” Haney told the commission. “They have been helping us for years.”
Haney said the commission is looking for a specific service and firms that are capable of doing the work to map the features and the service line, Haney said.
“There is a submittal process to the Division of Water that lists what was looked at, and how it was disqualified or qualified for possibly having lead.”
At the October Grayson City Council meeting Haney had presented information to the city council on where the city stood, Haney said.
“We had already started well beyond having him (the contractor) procured because I didn’t realize that was going to be required.”
The mapping comes with challenges due to a shortage of contractors that might have the skillsets needed to provide the services, Haney said.
“There aren’t a lot of people doing this type of work yet,” he said.
The commission voted to select the submission from Terra Graphics, and that will be followed by crafting a contract to pinpoint exact duties, responsibilities, and price for the project.
Haney said the other request for qualifications he had posted was for the sludge sediment basin project.
“For this project, we actually received the loan back in the fall for 3.4 million,” he told the commission. “Moving forward with that one, you will have to procure the engineering services.”
“We have an established relationship with Bell Engineering,” he reminded the commission.
Bell Engineering, he said, had helped with initial planning of the project.
But they aren’t the only firm in the running to complete the project. Three engineering firm bids were received for the sludge project, Haney said. These bids included the qualification criteria as well.
“Essentially you will have to spend about a year of design time for this project,” Haney said. “This includes going through all of the environmental reviews and coming up with the design, and hopefully we are going to go through some other systems to see what they have. This is before you can start drawing any of the funds that will pay for those services.”
That would necessitate either the commission pay the initial services “out of pocket,” or the firm in question presenting a huge initial invoice, Haney told the commission. The three firms submitting were Bell Engineering, Howerton Engineering, and New River Engineers. Haney said that what the commission received were proposals only, and did not include a dollar amount. The standard RD fee is 13 percent of total project cost, Haney said.
There was no vote concerning the project at the April meeting, with the commission deciding to do further due diligence and research before the next scheduled meeting in May of 2026.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
