LIVERMORE FALLS — Sewer Department trustees voted Tuesday to spend up to $34,000 to repair sewer lines on Bailey, Knapp, Marion and Vine streets.
The money will come from the department’s savings account, which has about $140,000 in it, Town Manager Kristal Flagg said.
Flagg said department Superintendent Greg Given took about a quarter of the town that is served by public sewer and had Ted Berry Co. of Livermore inspect the lines and determine what needs to be done.
The company uses a video camera system that is capable of going inside the pipes to get a close look.
Bailey Street needs to have have about 245 feet of 6-inch pipe repaired. The estimate for the job is $15,500. Given is waiting to see if the cost would be cheaper if the pipe was replaced rather than having the repair done another way.
The other three streets have sections of pipes in need of repair. To do all three, the cost is estimated at $18,500. Trustees awarded that project to Ted Berry Co.
The sewer line on Reynolds Avenue also needs to be repaired, Given said. That line handles a large flow of wastewater coming from Jay. Instead of doing another quarter of the town next year, Given suggested that the Reynolds Avenue line be fixed.
“These are old, clay pipes,” Flagg said.
The sewer and highway departments will work together to coordinate any paving that needs to be done.
There is also a baseball bat in a sewer pipe on Cargill Street, she said. The highway workers will need to cut a section of the road to remove it.
The Livermore Falls Sewer Department is a separate entity from the town-owned Wastewater Treatment Plant and a separate entity from the town.
In another matter, trustees voted to use up to $28,000 from a joint treatment plant reserve account to have a building built over new equipment at the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Livermore Falls and Jay share the cost of maintaining the plant based on the amount of sewage treated at the plant. Jay’s share this year is 52.3 percent and Livermore Falls share is 47.7 percent.
Flagg said that Livermore Falls’ share of the building is about $18,000.
Jay selectpersons voted earlier this month to take up to $28,000 from the joint reserve account, contingent on Livermore Falls also approving it. Both towns need to approve taking funds from reserve, Flagg said.
The Jay and Livermore Falls boards voted in 2013 to take up to $60,000 from the joint account to help pay for the project.
Jay Superintendent Mark Holt told Jay selectpersons on Aug. 25 that if the $28,000 was taken from the reserve, it would leave about $10,000 in it. He also noted that there is a plan in negotiations to replenish the account.
The cost for the building is estimated to be $55,124, Given said. That doesn’t include the electrical part, he said. The department’s employees will be allowed to work with the contractor to construct the building, which might reduce the cost, he said.
Some of the electrical work has been paid for, Flagg said.
“We really don’t have a choice. We need to build a building. We have a (rag) press down there now” and that will freeze up if it is not inside a building, Given said.
Initially, the entire project, including the building, was estimated to cost $200,000 but it is now estimated at $150,000 or less.
Given also told trustees that a pump station went down but has been jury-rigged to continue running until an electrician can fix it properly.
He also said a truck has a broken frame.
Flagg said instead of looking for a used or new replacement truck, Given found a place they can get a part for it for $1,000.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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