Use the money now, or spend much more later is what Granville Village Department of Public Works Supervisor Dan Williams is telling the Granville Village Board.
Williams said he advocates using the remainder of the loan money available to Granville to do more water main replacement work within the village, a job he said the village cannot wait to take on.
Due to economic conditions at the time of bidding, the project came in under bid by about $750,000. And it is that money Williams proposes the village use to prevent future issues with the water from the new $4 million water plant.
He sent a letter to the board expressing his opinion, but said he had not been able to attend the December meeting.
Williams said the village was approved for $4.7 million in low-interest loans when it was ordered to build the new water treatment plant off of Park Street. The village has a $4.7 million low-interest loan with an interest rate under two percent.
Mayor Brian LaRose said the board was aware of the issue and is considering its options.
“We brought that up, but we really haven’t discussed it yet, we just planted the seed. (The board) will review the issue again after the first of the year to see what the board wants to do. We’re looking at it and considering the options, but we haven’t met as a board to discuss a decision,” LaRose said.
Using the remaining money Williams proposes replacing water mains which in some cases are well over 150 years old or date back to before World War I.
“I know it’s hard to get people to think about; they’re underground and when you turn on the tap water comes out or when you flush the toilet water goes away, but that won’t always be the case,” Williams said.
It is not a chance the aging water mains will let the village down, he said, it is just a matter of when.
“It’s a guarantee,” he said.
“It could be a day from now, an hour from now or it could be 20 years from now but they are going to fail,” he said.
Calculating the cost of waiting to do the work, Williams said the same job was estimated to cost $11 million if the village waits as much as 20 years to replace mains in Morrison Avenue, North and Maple streets, Temple Place and parts of Quaker Street.
The job could be done now for about $800,000 Williams said.
“I think this is a good investment because they are so old you will eventually replace these mains anyway,” Williams said adding if it is when they break the time and place of the work will not be by choice and could mean emergency, no-notice work in the worst kind of weather.
In addition to being a good investment in the future, Williams said the increased pressure which will result from the work will help lower the cost of fire insurance for village water customers.
“I understand that everyone is hurting, but we’re playing Russian roulette here. Doing this project now will save our children and our grandchildren a fortune,” Williams said. Looking at other communities who now have large, costly and mandated infrastructure projects to pay for, Williams said he doesn’t want to have a future board looking back 20 years from now and saying ‘We should have.’
