By Stephen Smoot
Although “orders are at a standstill” on the Town of Franklin water project, work should soon resume on the massive effort to update, modernize, and maintain service.
Frank Wehrle, town administrator, reported that Thrasher had to halt work on the new water crossing under the South Branch River. Bids for the contractors working with Thrasher on the project came in significantly higher than paid for by the grant.
The reason for the unexpected cost came in the use of federal funds which triggered prevailing wage requirements. Prevailing wage refers to regulations that require higher levels of employee pay when federal funds are used on a project. The State of West Virginia eliminated prevailing wage requirements for state funded projects years ago, resulting in significant savings and also more projects started and completed.
Franklin, however, had an out. “Emergency” projects can proceed without the prevailing wage requirements. The Franklin Town Council held a special meeting on Aug. 6 in which they declared the water crossing as an emergency project. The project does meet those requirements, so Thrasher went back to the contractors to receive adjusted bids that will cost the town less.
“We are not the hold up here. We are not going to be the hold up here,” Wehrle emphasized.
Jarred Rawson, Town of Franklin council member, inquired about the settlement of right of ways for the new river crossing. Wehrle responded that verbal commitments were made with completed paperwork soon to follow.
Wehrle said “everything else is pretty much simmering.” Russ Sasso, council member, quipped, “A water joke. That’s good!”
Next, the council heard an update on the sewer project from New River Engineers. They reported that the town should adopt their recommendations to enhance the its ability to get grant funding from the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council and also the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. These included accepting a somewhat higher interest rate on loans granted, as well as increasing sewer rates on customers.
New River Engineers stated that the suggestions should be passed prior to the next scheduled town council meeting so as to not miss the September deadline to submit a revised proposal. If that happens, then the application would have to start all over again.
The council passed the proposed interest rate increase. Wehrle asked New River Engineers, “Now you’ve got everything you need to proceed, right?” They answered in the affirmative.
Wehrle then said that the town should break the required rate increase on customers up into a set of smaller increases over the three-year period imposed by the conditions of funding. He said the goal was “to try to make the pain as little as possible for our customers. We can spread out the increase over a period of time.”
