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Anthony Cloud

Staff Writer

Bids for the Brownies Creek water project were opened on Thursday at Vaughn and Melton. Ash Mountain Inc. placed the lowest bid, with a base bid of $466,275 and an additive alternate bid of $398,600.

The other two companies who placed bids were Akins Excavating and Flowline Contracting. Akins’ bid came in at $488,653.75 for the base and $439.433.75 for the additive alternate bid. Flowline Contracting’s base bid came in at $538,212.50, with an additive alternate bid of $432,381.

No bids were awarded during the meeting. Each bid will be reviewed and a recommendation will be given by Vaughn and Melton. The bid will be awarded at the next fiscal court meeting.

The project is expected to begin at least a month after the bid is awarded.

“The people that are serviced by the Pineville Water System in the Hutch, Brownies Creek, Cubbage and Colmar areas are going to be positively affected by this in a big way,” said Bell County Judge-Executive Albey Brock.

The main issue causing the reliability issues has been line breakage. The project will replace some of the old lines that continue to break.

An area between the pump station and the tank will be fixed, along with sections between the tank to Shillalah Garage.

“There is still more work to be done, but this is a huge step toward getting this problem with reliability…taken care of,” said Brock.

During the construction, there may be some temporary service disruption, according to Brock.

The Brownies Creek water woes have been an increasing problem over time. At one point a Brownies Creek resident, Jennifer Wilson, addressed the fiscal court stating the water wasn’t healthy enough to drink.

The residents in the community have to go without water for long periods of time when the service goes out. Pineville Utility Manager Bill Bunch stated (at a Pineville City Council meeting a month ago) that it is was act of faith to get into the shower most of the time in the Brownies Creek Community.

Anthony Cloud is a staff writer for the Middlesboro Daily News. He can be contacted via email at acloud@heartlandpublications.com or by phone at 606-248-1010, ext.208.