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Franklin company is low bidder on TWSA's Dillsboro project

By Rose Hooper
At $358,760, Morgan Williams-J & R Specialty Equipment Co. of Franklin was the apparent low bidder on the Dillsboro water and sewer improvements project. Bids were opened July 18 at Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority board room.

The project will extend both water and sewer lines across the Tuckaseigee River at its intersection with U.S. 441 in Dillsboro.

Previous plans called for the lines to be buried under the river but after the endangered Appalachian Elktoe Mussel was discovered there, those plans had to be scrapped, said Jerry King, TWSA director. Because the mussels sit on the river bottom and filter in water, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services biologists were concerned that sediment from the project would kill the mussels.

"Since 1997, we've had engineers look at this thing and give us all kind of alternate proposals about how we could run the lines," King said. The approved proposal calls for the lines to be attached to the underside of the bridge.

The water line would be picked up on River Road in Dillsboro just below River Park Apartments, King said. The line will then turn left, go across the bridge and split to provide water lines on both sides of the highway, he said.

For the sewer lines, King said a pump station will be installed on Department of Transportation property next to Gordon Batten's business just across the bridge. Morgan Williams-J&L Specialty Equipment Company's total bid of $358,760 included a base bid of $330,290 and an addition of $28,462.

That addition is for an additional 400 feet of sewer line to extend from the bridge south alongside U.S. 441.

Other bidders were:

Clark and Leatherwood of Waynesville with a base bid of $358,550, and an addition of $14,200, for a total of $372,750; Terry Brothers, Inc. of Leicester with a base bid of $403,950, and an addition of $14,050, for a total of $418,005; and Stillwell Enterprises, Inc. of Sylva with a base bid of $360,000, and an addition of $12,000, for a total of $372,000.

King said the bids will be reviewed before the TWSA board awards the contract.

Appalachian Regional Commission funds are available to match up to 50 percent of the project, King said, as long as the match doesn't exceed $200,000.

Back to Archive: 07/20/00.