Some of the circumstances are different, but Genesee County could be like Jackson, Mississippi if upgrades aren’t made.
Things might not be as harsh as the southern state is experiencing, but it’s a worthwhile scenario to keep in mind, county Highway Superintendent and Engineer Tim Hens says.
Hens shared that perspective with county legislators during a meeting Wednesday. He reviewed the last pieces remaining for the second phase of the county’s water project that began three years ago.
“This is the last significant piece of Phase Two required to get the full expanded capacity that we anticipated long ago,” Hens said. “And with the continuing supply chain disruptions and labor shortages and equipment delays, and everything that you can imagine under the sun in a post-pandemic world, every day and week that we can grab onto the schedule to advance these projects is much appreciated.”
He laid out two bids each for general construction and electrical work within this phase, selecting C.P. Ward, at $4.17 million for existing pump station upgrades, and electrical construction work to Concord Electric Corp. for $2.2 million, for a combined total of $6.35 million for the project. That is “a staggering double” figure to what pumping station upgrades would have been pre-COVID, he said.
“That’s obviously a significant pill to swallow,” he said.
The county received a $1.23 million grant, which isn’t nearly enough for that $6.35 total, and other options considered were to apply for another grant, or rescind the one received and go for a larger amount, plus obtaining a loan. The risky part of rejecting that grant money already in hand is that the county might not receive that larger request, he said, and the county cannot apply for a second grant on the same project.
Assistant County Engineer Justin Gerace was talking with New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation on Wednesday to learn how to go about applying for funding that is available through that state agency specifically for water, and he will be working on applying for a $2.7 million low-interest loan, Hens said.
“So Justin's already diving deep with the EFC on how to apply for that and when to apply for that,” Hens said.
That would alleviate the county from having to come up with that cash right now, he said.
Why such an overage from what was originally calculated, Legislator Marianne Clattenburg asked. It was a number of issues, including overly busy contractors, inflation, and supply chain and labor shortages, Hens said. Other than those reasons, “nothing substantially changed … nothing that significantly increased the cost.”
“It's probably the worst time to try and build anything,” he said.
Legislators — somewhat begrudgingly — agreed that it shouldn’t be put off any longer. Legislator John Deleo suggested that “kicking this can down the road” wasn’t a tactic that will accomplish anything. Fellow Legislator Gary Maha agreed.
“I don’t think we have any choice but to keep going,” Maha said.
The group unanimously approved:
- A construction contract as specified in the bid documents for the existing pump station upgrades – General Construction — to C.P. Ward, Inc., 100 West River Rd, Scottsville, for a total amount not to exceed $4,166,000.
- A construction contract as specified in the bid documents for the existing pump station upgrades – Electrical Construction — to Concord Electric Corporation, 305 Pinewild Drive, Suite 4, Rochester, for a total amount not to exceed $2,185,000.
The total cost of both contracts is $6,351,000 and will be funded from the bonds issued by Monroe County Water Authority for the Phase 2 construction and grants secured by the county under the IMG program offered by the state Environmental Facilities Corporation.
As for the turnaround time, Hens said “realistically,” completion would be around the end of 2023 into 2024.
“It’s going to be a long project,” he said.
If the work isn’t done, however, Genesee County could be looking at — instead of close calls during hot, dry summers — actually running out of water due to the pumping stations’ current production abilities, he said. Poor infrastructure and lack of upkeep has led citizens of Jackson, Miss., into a dire situation with no drinkable water, and although that’s due to the actual quality of water due to flooding, it’s a lesson to be learned, he said.
“So for the last three years, we've been kind of maxed out on our water supply. And then the few hot dry days we get in the summertime, we're tapped out, we don't really have a lot of water to go around,” he said. “So the last couple of summers we have been asking people to save water, not water their lawns, not fill their pools. It usually ends up being like two or three weeks of summer. But until these pumping stations are completed, we're gonna have the same thing happen again in 2023.”
The problem with a continuous message to conserve water use, he said, is that people eventually tend to ignore it. He becomes “the boy who cried wolf,” since there hasn't been an actual water shortage that they can see. Hens argues that it’s because of the messages and cooperation from at least some folks to conserve, that the well has not run dry, so to speak.
“We have a water supply in Genesee County, it’s just that we're using everything that we produce. Okay, so this phase two project that we've been working on since 2019, is designed to increase our supply from Monroe County. So it's basically bringing another two and a half million gallons a day into Genesee County from farther away," he said. "So these pump stations are the last piece of the puzzle to get that water here. Once these four projects are done again, which will be a year, year and a half away, we won't have to do the emergency water restrictions every summer, hopefully, for a while.”
Photo: Genesee County Highway Superintendent and Engineer Tim Hens answers questions from The Batavian in the lobby of the Old Courthouse after a meeting with the county Legislature. Photo by Joanne Beck.
