Construction of a county water line along Harris Lord Cemetery Road and Bolton Gordon Road to an eventual tie-in with a Commerce water line will apparently not cost as much as feared.
The Jackson County Water and Sewerage Authority opened bids on the project last Thursday and the apparent low bid — from Griffin Brothers, Maysville — is more than $100,000 under the estimate for the project.
Griffin Brothers bid $611,036.
“We had quite a range on the bids,” observed manager Eric Klerk. “We had a spread of over $250,000.”
Staff will go over all of the bids and make a recommendation on the award at its May 10 meeting, Klerk said.
The project was instigated by citizens of Harris Lord Cemetery Road who petitioned the authority for water because wells in the area could not provide adequate water.
Because of the need for a backup supply and because it was in the authority’s long-range plans, the authority decided to extend the line on Bolton Gordon Road to Georgia Hwy. 334 to a connection with Commerce near Huber Engineered Woods. The authority and Commerce plan to share the cost of a pump station that will enable either party to send to or take water from the other in time of need.
Chairman Randall Pugh expressed relief about the cost of the project.
“If we could do the project for this, it would still leave us with a pretty good reserve,” he said.
Klerk agreed, saying the authority would have “probably a half million” in reserves upon completion of the project.
