Progress coming quickly on Onaway’ s sewer system
At Monday?s meeting of the Onaway City Commission, the first order of business was the Phase 1 sewer report to the commissioners. City manager Joe Hefele covered both the treatment plant and Phase 1 collection system.
?Last week, Glawe had two crews working on the collection system. Things continue to move swiftly,? said Hefele. ?One crew was working on the last of three alleys on the north part of town, the alley between Elm and Lynn Streets.
?The other crew was working up Huron and Pennsylvania Streets and the school drive.? Hefele told commissioners he had met with Glawe?s representatives Mike Altobelli and Phil Hoffweber earlier in the week discussing the wrapping up of the collection job this fall. Hefele reported Hoffweber and Altobelli believed there could be money left to do more. Hefele advised the commissioners although remaining funds could be spent, the city should wait until closer to the end of the pipeline installation before committing to anything.
Hefele informed the commission the treatment plant was proceeding nicely, and the contractor was on schedule on that project as well.
?Don?t get too excited, there?s still a long way to go and, if I?ve learned anything over the course of the past few months, we will hit some snags along the way,? said Hefele. ?But so far, so good.?
The commissioners were informed by Hefele of three small glitches that occurred since the last meeting. One involved a trio of easements that needed to be shifted slightly. Vogler advised the commission the legal way to do it was to quit claim the original easements back to those property owners, and have the new easement signed and recorded. Secondly, a pair of temporary construction easements were needed to allow sewer main to be bored from the west side of M-33 to the east. Thirdly, service line specs had not been coordinated with the collection system specs when the service line job started.
Some service lines had been adjusted after the collection system job already had stated. According to Hefele the third glitch was that no one thought to sit down and compare the CMI plans to the Phase 1 plans, to make sure that the ?Y? attached to the mains were in the right location for the service lines. Hefele said some people weren?t home when house checks were done. ?We didn?t know the locations of some connection points until the owners came in to city hall to look at the
?This meant Glawe, in following the Phase 1 plans, put a few ?Y? in locations that, (a) weren?t ideal or (b) wouldn?t work, based on the connection points. In all but one case, we were able to adapt,? said Hefele. As of Monday?s meeting, 11 service lines had been installed. F & V has two crew, which soon may increase to as many as five. Hefele reported to the commmissioners that he has been impressed with both contractors. Restoration people will be on the tail of the excavation crews so yards can be restored and grass seed planted fairly quickly, reported Hefele.
The sewer Phase 2 project along M-211 and west M-68 will include three pump stations. There is solid rock near the surface, which means blasting, and very high water tables, which means a lot of pumping. The city hopes to get to Phase 2 construction this fall.