Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Customers Are Needed For Prescott Project

Customers are needed for the Prescott Rural Water System.

The deadline for singing up early is Oct. 15, according to Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office Executive Director Jon Chadwell.

To keep the price down for those on the system, he said, 600 customers are needed, though it can be built with 400 or 500 customers without losing any parts of the planned route.

At this time, Chadwell said, customers can sign up for $180, while it will cost them $400 to $500 once the system is in place.

There are few areas of the planned service area where people haven't signed up, but the signing up has been slow going with only around 300 having paid their early deposits.

Some areas could be cut if the 600 customer base isn't obtained, or, Chadwell said, the state can require all areas to be served, which would increase the cost of the basic monthly bill to everyone on the system.

The Midway region, he said, has had the best response with about 35 percent of the residents having signed up. However, the slowest going has been along Highway 67 South, with only 12 percent of the potential customers signing up.

"If we have 300 customers now," he said, "we should be able to get 100 to 150 more to sign up by the deadline."

Currently, Marlar Engineering of Little Rock is working on the plans based on the current number of customers. McKenzie Title and Abstract Co. is getting the paperwork together for the easements which will be needed for the project.

Once customers are signed up the project can be let for bids by the first quarter of 2001. When the contracts have been signed with the contracting firm, it will take 12 to 13 months to complete the project.

"Those who have already signed up," Chadwell said, "should encourage their friends and neighbors to sign up as well."