Town Administrator David Varley reported that, "We have met with Mr. Brewer and will begin working on the details of the contract." The town received five bids for the work ranging from the low of $37,909 to a high of $68,407.

Trustee Jimmie Boyd told the town trustees that he had been contacted by board members of the Surface Creek Ditch and Reservoir Company who asked if construction of the town's diversion structure "could be pre-cast and not tied to their structure. I think this is a question for our engineer."

Varley replied, "The plan now is to have it pre-cast." He added that more discussions would have to resolve the method of the structure's attachment to the dam itself. Boyd said the Surface Creek Company board members were concerned about drilling into their concrete to make attachments. Varley said that current plans are to attach the town's diversion structure to the existing dam structure using stainless steel straps.

Varley told the town board members that in addition to the bid amount, an extra $8,000 to $11,000 would be needed for a project engineer and an inspector. The town's 2009 budget reserved a total of $46,000 for the project. Also in addition, Varley said another $2,000 to $3,000 might have to be appropriated for the work "as the project proceeds."

The town board is pursuing the project as a way of increasing the amount of its own cleaner, easier-to-treat mountain runoff water entering the transmission line and flowing directly to the treatment plant. It is hoped this will reduce the town's reliance on peak demand season raw water supplies diverted from the open-running Big Ditch. The town's treatment plant diversion structure from the Big Ditch is also considered inadequate.

The town's project is described as follows: It generally consists of construction of a concrete screen and diversion box, installation of 440 feet of HDPE pipe, a metering manhole, and joining an existing ten-inch steel water line.

Ward Creek Dam and Reservoir are owned by Surface Creek Ditch and Reservoir Company. The town has a raw water transmission line running under the dam and reservoir which taps several springs that feed the town's pipeline. Flow in the springs sometimes decreases to a level below the town water treatment plant demand. On these occasions the town would like to have a way to divert its surface water rights into the pipeline. This construction project will accomplish that and help the town use its water through this new diversion structure.

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