Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Water project 20 percent complete

There were few questions for department heads at the November meeting of the Prescott City Council.

Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor had the department heads there to answer queries about the different departments, should the council or public need information. But, as few questions were forthcoming, the department heads, instead, provided updates as to what their crews are doing.

Perry Nelson, water superintendent, discussed the rural water project, saying construction began in mid-September.

The crew working north of Interstate-30, he said, is almost done laying pipe, with the project being almost 20 percent complete. "They're on track with three crews laying pipe and two crews boring under the highways."

Most of the boring, Nelson said, is being done south of I-30.

As to the water tanks, Nelson said the one on Highway 19 near Pleasant Hill is almost done. This tower will be 110 feet tall and has gone up quick. Once this tower is finished, crews will begin working on the second one near Shady Grove Church east of Prescott.

There have been some complaints, Nelson said. But, he added, the complaints are forwarded through a chain of command getting to the contractors.

"This is a large project," he said, "with everything on track. There's 121 miles of pipe scattered all over the place."

When the water gets turned on once the pipe is in place on the north side of I-30 will depend on when the booster pump station is built, Nelson said, and construction on the booster station hasn't begun yet.

He also updated the council and audience about the telephone outage situation. The problem, he said, was the fiber optic line was cut by the contractor, but it wasn't the contractor's fault. What happened was the contractor had called One Call to get the underground utilities located, and the locating company failed to give the proper location for the phone lines, yet gave the contractor the go-ahead to do the digging.

The end result was the lack of phone service for both CenturyTel and Southwestern Bell in Prescott and Emmet.

Nelson said the city's water tanks will be repainted inside and out next year, with the preliminary cost around $250,000. Bids, though, will be taken for the project and could come in below this figure.

The inside of the tank was last done in 1985 and has held up well, he said. Painting the interior of a water tank differs from painting the exterior, as there are more regulations for health reasons and a specialized type of paint  which Nelson described as being more of an epoxy than paint being required.

As to preparations for the possibility of a severe winter, Nelson said the work recently done to the city's water system included a new generator, which can operate the entire plant in the event of a power outage.

The generator, he said, is turned on periodically to make sure it's working properly, and is kept filled with 400 gallons of diesel fuel. It's also a fixed generator and can't be moved.

The plant, he said, can provide the city's residents with three days of water, as the system has no generator to pump the water from the river to the plant.

John Buford, sanitation superintendent, said the city's sanitation department has reached the point where one truck may not be enough to handle the work load. This is because the tonnage has increased each year, and in the past year gone from nine to 11 tons per collection.

Taylor said the city will get a new truck next year and try to utilize the current one with some additional help being hired at least on Mondays and Wednesdays, when the garbage pickup is the heaviest.

Jon Chadwell, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, said the city's street department did a good job clearing land at the Prescott Industrial Park and this will help marketing efforts.

Chadwell updated the council on the fire station/parks office, saying bids will be opened December 22, at 10:30 a.m. at the Prescott City Hall.

Five companies called about the bid, and the interest rate is lower than when the specifications were first written, he said.

The sidewalk project is continuing, with the higher sidewalks being done in two tiers. By doing this, he said, motorists won't bang their doors against the curb.

"When the project is done, people will be pleased. We're projecting it being done by Dec. 31, weather permitting," he said.

A meeting has been held with the architect of the walking trail project by the Nevada County Health Unit, with plans to be drawn up in January, 2004, and construction to start in the summer.

Letters were sent to 138 retail businesses and restaurants in Prescott concerning a Retail Merchant's meeting to improve business in town.

This meeting, he said, will be held at St. Michael's community room Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 5:30 p.m.