BROWNSTOWN
A Seymour company has been awarded a second storm sewer project in Brownstown.
During a recent meeting, the Brownstown Town Council unanimously approved to have EnviroHeat LLC do storm sewer work in the 300 block of South Water Street.
Street Superintendent Phil Owens said a new catch basin needs to be installed along with 25 feet of plastic pipe and 20 feet of curb to address the issues on that street.
Lawyer Excavation Inc. of Seymour initially had a lower bid on that project, but when Councilman Tim Robinson let EnviroHeat know the council awarded it another storm sewer project in town, the quote was lowered by $400.
With the cost of the Water Street project going from $10,900 to $10,500, that put the quotes for Water and Bridge streets lower than Lawyer.
Robinson made a motion to award the Water Street work to EnviroHeat, and it was unanimously approved.
At Bridge and Main streets, the company will install a new catch basin and a new pipe. Owens said a leak in a storm sewer or basin on Bridge Street is causing the street to drop.
That’s a busy intersection with vehicles taking Bridge Street to go to and from the high school and town park.
The council initially added a stipulation that EnviroHeat complete that project in a month’s time of it being awarded.
During the recent meeting, Councilman Mark Reynolds said the school’s fall break Oct. 12 through 16 would be the best time to do the work on Bridge Street.
“That would be a good time to do it with a whole lot less traffic,” Owens said.
Robinson said he would reach out to EnviroHeat again to see if that fits into their schedule.
Ewing Street project completed
Owens also updated the council on another storm sewer project that recently was completed.
In July, he discussed issues affecting six homeowners on the west side of South Ewing Street north of Orchard Lane.
Efforts to address the issues in the past, including increasing the height of a curb on Orchard Lane to divert water in a storm sewer, had limited success.
Owens said the problem may be related to a clay stormwater pipe that runs through the back yard of the home of Alvin and Cindy Killey on the northwest corner of Orchard Lane and Ewing Street.
Some of the stormwater, however, could be coming from the east side of Ewing Street or from springs in the area, Owens said. That winds up backing up behind a stormwater drain in the back yard of a home owned by Terry and Debbie Roll.
Town workers completed work there to try to get the water to drain from the Rolls’ yard, Owens said. That helped drain the surface water some but did nothing to get rid of the groundwater, leaving a portion of the Rolls’ back yard wet all of the time, he said.
After consulting with a contractor, Owens learned the best solution would be to dig down to the top of the existing concrete storm sewer and install a perforated pipe on top of it. The ditch would be filled with stone.
That perforated pipe would then be attached to the existing catch basin near the Rolls’ property, he said.
The project also would involve doing the same thing from that catch basin to the next catch basin further to the north, which is in the area of the back yard of the home of Leroy and Velma Crees, Owens said.
The Creeses and several others along the west side of Ewing Street often have water in their basements.
In all, Owens said 15 feet of drain pipe was installed.
“It seems to be helping,” he said.