Union, Nebraska - Sewer Project Update

SEWER PROJECT UPDATE

Well folks, the sewer project is just about complete. Since September 2003, the construction crew, ME Collins, have cleared 9+ acres, built a new lagoon, cleaned out the 2 existing lagoons, put in a new lift station, reseeded the lagoon & park area (where they based their construction trailer & equipment) and paved LaRue Street. All this & have remained on schedule!

There were some problems though but the construction company didn’t cause them. We had to purchase the additional property & get some temporary easements for them to drive their equipment on. This is where we ran into some problems. Also, the funding was different than with the other large projects the village had taken on before. We are supposed to get a low interest low though USDA but that wasn’t until the project was completed so we had to get a line of credit to be able to pay the crews as needed. This caused some difficulty with one of the subcontractors doing the dirt work, Mockleman Grading. Since payments weren’t made as quickly as they might have been, he decided to quit before the work was completed & the contractor had to complete the dirt work. There were a lot of comments made back & forth between the contractor, subcontractor & village that there was a misunderstanding as to whether Mr. Mockleman quit or was fired. Technically, he quit and we apologize for the confusion. It seems as you add more people to the mix, things get confused sometimes but nothing that we couldn’t solve.

So another project just about completed. In the last 3 years, the village has made over 1 million dollars in infrastructure improvements & we shall continue to make more.