Royalton seeks utility savings

Apr. 14—Town of Royalton water district projects are continuing and a major sewer project is just about wrapped up, said Brian Cummings, superintendent of water and sewer in the Town of Royalton.

Highway Superintendent James Spark also had good news to report. He said that the Town of Royalton will be receiving a 32.5% increase in Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) funding that will allow him to pave a few more streets in the town. Sparks said that equates to about $100,000 for his department.

"It's the biggest increase since 2009," Sparks said.

Cummings said that the current water district project is the Fisk Road Waterline Project. He said every year, the town has been saving close to $250,000 by using current town employees to add 2,700 to 3,000 feet of waterline each year rather than contracting out the job.

"The last five years we've been putting stretches of waterline ourselves, in-house," Cummings said. "It's kind of a part time job for us. It's not like we're a contractor where we hammer it in day-by-day. It's kind of our filler work. It (the Fisk Road Waterline Project) could take three months from start to finish, then the waterline is active and online."

Cummings said that each year the water district is expanded by two or three residences. Many residents in Royalton use well-water, which isn't always healthy.

"One house had their well tested and it wasn't even safe for bathing," he said. "You pick and choose areas where the wells are really bad and the ones that just need water. We're trying to get everybody water as fast as we can with the money we have."

The next big water project will be on Ditch Road and Griswold Street, as well as two lines along Akron Road, and is in its engineering phase, said Cummings. This project will be done by a contractor.

"It will possibly go to bid in December or January. All the contractors are looking to fill out work for the next year, so usually during winter is a good time to go to bid," he said. "That will be done by a contractor. It's too big of a job, there's state roads. ... There's just too much for our crews to tackle in-house. We have 36 homeowners that don't have access to water. By putting two lines down Akron Road and one on Ditch and Griswold, we would be picking up 26 of them."

Meanwhile Cummings said the sewer district project, called Sewer District No. 1 Project, is wrapping up.

"They started it last spring, but it's been in the engineering phase for a couple years now," he said. "It was supposed to be done by January, but with some change of orders and COVID happening, crews had to take some time off. Everything was behind with COVID. We gave them a contract extension, but they're wrapping it up."

Cummings said the final cost for the Town to be about $1.5 million.

"The plant was built in 1985, so we got 35 years out of it, but everything needed to be replaced," he said. "We replaced most of the major parts of the treatment plant and we also put a stretch of sewage line along the canal. We tried to keep everything under budget. There are only 365 residents in the sewer district, so we don't have much to work with, and we try to keep the price low for those residents."