NEWBURG — The Independence water project will be going out to bid soon, according to Sheena Hunt, executive director of the Region VI Planning and Development Council.
Hunt recently mailed a check to Morgan Coast, an engineer with Vaughn Coast & Vaughn Inc., who is working on the project.
Newburg Mayor Edgar Fortney said Coast will be putting the bid packets together to be sent to interested contractors.
“This is closer than we have ever been,” Fortney said Tuesday about the project.
In a recent email, Hunt said all final checklist items required by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) Program have been submitted to their offices and approval to bid has been given.
Hunt said upon bid opening, the lowest responsive, responsible bidder will be determined
She said typically there is a 60- to 90-day bid hold period during which time additional contracting requirements are fulfilled.
The project will extend the water line as far as the former Independence School and provide water to about 22 homes. This is less than half the 70 customers who requested service.
Newburg has worked toward providing water to the neighboring unincorporated community of Independence since 2008.
In other business, council members voted to hire Nick Bolyard as a water operator at $12.50 an hour.
The next meeting of the Newburg Council will be 6 p.m. March 3.
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