The long-term potential for development in the north and west of U.S. 441 received a relatively small, but critical, boost at last week’s meeting of the Putnam County Board of Commissioners.
With the beginning of widening U.S. 441 to four lanes and median already underway, the county must relocate 2,100 feet of a 10-year-old water line it built to serve the Rock Eagle Technology Park and, in cooperation with Piedmont Water, Putnam County High School. The 12-inch main runs in the current right-of-way along the eastern side of U.S. 441.
Last week’s action awarded the relocation project to Putnam-based Fortis Engineering for $14 dollars shy of $350,000. Some of the money, at least $140,000, is expected to come from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
However, most of the discussion focused on a $100,000 addition to the contract. The idea proposed by ESG engineer Charles Bridges and EPWSA manager Brice Doolittle was to go ahead and bore a line extension under the current two-lane highway to reach its west side. Waiting until later to go under four lanes and a median would cost an additional $200,000 at today’s prices.
Much of the land on the west side is part of the Oconee National Forest or the Rock Eagle 4-H Center. However, land ownership within the national forest boundaries is a checkerboard affair.
Commission chairman Billy Webster worried about why the county should fund it if EPWSA was going to benefit, but District 1 commissioner Gary McElhenney countered, “It will benefit the county in the long run. You know growth is coming.”
According to Dolittle, the immediate prospects for expanded water service would probably be a line running back south toward Eatonton for homes and several small businesses.
The longer-term prospects lie further to the north and might include the 4-H Center, several large tracts on or near Union Chapel Road, and the Roseland egg farm, whose entrance road may lie in Morgan County but with the plant operations actually lying in Putnam.
In the recent past, the egg farm in particular was looking at a significant expansion of its operations but needed more water. “The egg farm has run out of wells,” said Commissioner, and Commission Chairmanelect, Bill Sharp. “It (the line extension under U.S. 441) is a good investment.”
Any extensions of service along the upper reaches of the east side of U.S. 441 falls with the privately-owned Piedmont Water Co. Under a service delivery agreement with Putnam County signed more than a decade ago, Piedmont was to serve the east side and the Harmony Road corridor. However, silica build-ups in their lines to the high school and technology park triggered the county 10 years ago to build a water main out Lower Harmony and Bethel Church Road to serve the tech park and high school. That agreement expires five years from now in 2027.
In other actions, the commission:
• Signed a $93,000 annual agreement with the regional indigent defense services group.
• Declared surplus four 30-year-old pieces of large equipment in the Public Works Department.
• Appointed EPWSA manager Brice Doolittle to a second five-year term on the Putnam Development Authority board.
Employee secures deal on generator
Publicly acknowledged some recent work by an employee in the Public Works Department. At the very end of the meeting, County Manager Paul Van Haute asked Carola Woods to come to the podium.
Woods is the person who takes the calls from frustrated citizens who want the county to do something about anything from potholes to barking dogs. She takes guff from work crews leaving and returning from their daily tasks. And she takes care of ordering the best (and sometimes quite expensive) repair parts for the best price.
In this latter duty of scouring the internet, Woods some time ago noticed an offer from an outfit somewhere up in Kentucky. They offered to sell a used 150 kW emergency generator for $41,000. The price was not out of line for either used or new such generators, depending on features and usage, and it had fewer than 200 hours of operation on it.
Trouble was, the generator – about the size of a typical sedan – was buried in the bowels of a dam the sellers wanted to demolish, and the purchaser would have to dig it out and deliver it to wherever home was.
Apparently, there were few, if any, takers on such an offer until Woods offered $3,500, which included no involvement in dam demolition and the seller paying delivery costs.
The commissioners appeared well pleased.
The generator will be used as backup power for the county administration building in case of outages. The administration building, formerly a glass window plant (and currently dubbed “Fort Putnam” in some quarters), now houses the county’s administration offices, large and small meeting rooms, the Planning and Zoning offices, the health department, the board of elections and registration, records storage, and the Public Works Department.