The Oconee County Water Resources Department expects to begin this week replacing 1,000 feet of the force main sewer line that runs along an unnamed tributary to McNutt Creek that separates Tanglebrook subdivision and the Pinewood Estates South mobile home park.
The line, a crucial part of the county’s sewage infrastructure, has experienced three breaks in the last year resulting in the discharge of untreated sewage into the tributary.
Each of those breaks has been at the belled joints of the PVC pipe and likely is the result of improper installation about seven years ago, according to the county.
Adam Layfield, Director of the Water Resources Department, said the new line will be HDPE pipe (high-density polyethylene pipe), and that joints “will be fused/welded together.”
Oconee County Administrator Justin Kirouac announced the replacement of the force main pipe in response to a question from Commissioner Amrey Harden at the Board of Commissioners agenda-setting meeting on Tuesday.
That meeting lasted just 30 minutes, but the commissioners, in producing the agenda for its meeting on Tuesday, tentatively approved spending $1.7 million across 10 projects, ranging from $1 for an emergency easement for Heritage Park to $457,133 for two road projects.
At the beginning of the meeting, Board Chair John Daniell announced that the Commission will hold its second Town Hall meeting of the year on May 13, that traffic will be detoured around the Snows Mill Road/Lane Creek Road intersection starting on May 23, and that the county’s recycling center on Jimmy Daniell Road will closed permanently on June 30.
Sewer Line Replacement
After County Finance Director Melissa Braswell completed her Third Quarter Financial Report at the meeting on Tuesday, Commissioner Harden asked for an update “on replacing that sewer line...that we're having trouble with” near Tanglebrook subdivision.
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| Kirouac 4/29/2025 |
The county has had breaks in the force main line that runs from the large pump station between Parkway Boulevard and McNutt Creek just west of the bridge carrying Epps Bridge Parkway across McNutt Creek to another pump station behind the shopping center where Trader Joe’s is located.
One of those breaks was in April, another was in February, and a third was in June of last year. All were at joints in the pipe.
County Administrator Kirouac told Harden the county had identified a section of the line that needed to be replaced and had ordered materials to do that.
After the meeting and in an email exchange on Wednesday (4/30/2025) Water Resources Director Layfield said “The pipe is scheduled for delivery this week, and our team plans to begin work next week. Installation should take no more than two weeks.”
“We're currently estimating the total cost at approximately $80,000,” he said, “which includes the pipe, gravel, fusing, equipment rental, and other miscellaneous materials.”
“Our typical process involves digging the trench, fusing the HDPE pipe alongside it (the existing pipe), and replacing the old line with the new one,” Layfield said. “Service disruption should be minimal, as we’ll have a temporary bypass system in place.”
In an email message on Thursday (5/1/2025), County Administrator Kirouac said that thermoplastic HDPE offers more flexibility than PVC, which can be beneficial when under pressure situation like force mains.”
Approved Road Spending
The April 29 meeting was in preparation of the regular meeting on this coming Tuesday (May 6), and the Commission put on its consent agenda the 10 funding requests made of them by county staff.
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| Woodall Before Commission 4/29/2025 |
Those projects will be approved without further discussion on Tuesday unless a commissioner asks that the item be removed from the agenda.
The commissioners approved a request to spend $175,000 for design services for the planned roundabout at Cole Springs Road/Clotfelter Road and SR 53 (Hog Mountain Road).
It also approved a contract modification with ER Snell for relocation of water lines for the roundabout under construction at Snows Mill Road/Rocky Branch Road and SR 53 (Hog Mountain Road). The additional cost will be $22,880.
Water Resources Department Director Layfield told the commissioners the contract amendment is needed because "an existing water line was not located within existing right of way and an additional 160 feet of 12-inch Ductile Iron Pipe (DIP) is needed to complete the water relocation.”
The county’s total financial responsibility for the utility relocation is $616,030, he said.
Public Words Director Jody Woodall told the commissioners that the Georgia Legislature approved supplemental funding for road projects for the current Fiscal Year and Oconee County is programmed to receive $927,866 of these monies.
Woodall said he is asking to use these funds, to be distributed by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), for the planned roundabouts at Union Church Road and New High Shoals Road and at Colham Ferry Road and Astondale Road.
The project cost is $750,000 for the first of these and $635,000 for the second, or a total of $1,385,000.
The county would cover the difference between the GDOT funding and the total needed–$457,133--from TSPLOST dollars, Woodall said.
Other Spending Approved
The commissioners agreed to spend $227,500 for replacement of the pump station that irrigates the athletic fields at Oconee Veterans Park.
Parks and Recreation Director Lisa Davol told the Board before the meeting that the current station is inoperable and recommended acceptance of the bid for Shoemaker Irrigation LLC for a new concrete wet well structure for the irrigation pump station and a new pump station building.
Davol also told the Board that at present there is limited emergency access to the rear of Heritage Park, and she recommended approval of an easement from Branch Road offered by Charles Roland at the cost of $1.
The county will place a gate at the Branch Road entranceway to ensure no public access, she said.
The commissioners also put on the consent agenda for Tuesday approval of spending $271,060 for replacement of the scale house at the U.S. 441 Recycling/Waste Center south of Farmington on the edge of Heritage Park.
They also approved the bid of $242,577 by Kevin Price Construction for a Construction Manager at Risk contract for renovations at the Courthouse to accommodate the needs of the county’s courts.
They also approved the purchase of two vans for the Senior Center at a cost of $117,150 each and the purchase of a vehicle for the Civic Center at a cost not to exceed $20,000.
They also put on the consent agenda the spending up to $54,368 for a replacement server for the county jail.
Quarterly Financial Update
Finance Director Braswell, in her Third Quarter Financial Report, told the commissioners that the county had received 85.8 percent of the budgeted revenue and spent 63.9 percent of the budgeted expenditures.
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| Braswell Before Commission 4/29/2025 |
Included in the revenue under Charges for Services is reimbursement from the Board of Education for 90 percent of the costs of the School Resource Office Program, she said.
In an email message after the meeting, Braswell said that as of the end of March, “we have invoiced the school system for $53,596 in reimbursements.”
Braswell said the General Fund Capital budget has been amended to add $300,000 for vehicles for the School Resource Officers, but those vehicles have not yet been purchased.
Costs for those and all expenses are reimbursed at 90 percent based on the agreement the Board of Commissioners, the Board of Education, and the Sheriff’s Office signed in January.
Braswell also told the commissioners that sales tax revenue for the first three months of the years is running ahead of those same months a year ago, Braswell said.
Local Option Sales Tax for those months is 5.9 percent greater than those months a year ago, as is Special Purpose Local Option Sales collection.
TSPLOST collection is 6.3 percent ahead of a year ago.
All are one percent taxes, but each has its own exemptions.
Announcements
The commissioners will hold their second Town Hall meeting at 6 p.m. on May 13 in the Commission Chamber of the County Administrative Building, 7635 Macon Highway, north of Watkinsville.
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| Detour Map Snows Mill/Lane Creek |
The county is building a roundabout at the intersection of Snows Mill Road and Lane Creek Road.
A detour of the intersection is scheduled to begin on May 23.
Traffic will be routed around the intersection via Cole Springs Road and Rogers Road on the east and via Ridgeway Road and Moores Ford Road on the west.
The county is permanently closing the recycling site on Jimmy Daniell Road at SR 316 on June 30.
That intersection is being converted to a flyover with on and off ramps as part of the upgrading of it and the intersections of SR 316 and Virgil Langford Road and the Oconee Connector.
The recycling center is on right of way owned by the state and will be in the path of an east-bound on ramp to SR 316.
Construction on all three intersections is scheduled to begin later this year.
Video
The video below is on the county YouTube Channel.
I attended the meeting and recorded my own video, from which the images above are taken.
The audio in the county video is better, and that video is embedded below.
The meeting starts at 8:53 in the video and is followed by discussion of the various expenditures listed above.
Braswell began her quarterly financial update at 17:49 in the video.
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