Utility issues dominated the December 2 meeting of the town council. Included were discussions of new water meters to monitor use outside the town boundaries; potential litigation over water main leaks; and, covering a drying bed at the wastewater treatment facility. Because it is a potential legal matter, council members only briefly discussed a report by Jana Laboratories concerning leaks in the three-year-old water system.

The report cites “poor workmanship” in connecting pipe couplings as a cause for the failure of three samples submitted for analysis. In its “overall conclusions and recommendations,” the report states: “Workmanship errors were the root cause of each of the failures examined. There is no indication or evidence that the couplers or the pipes of the samples examined were defective or inadequate in any way that contributed to the failures.”

The town has been in discussion with Bearing Construction, which built the system, and McCrone Engineering, which designed it, to get them to help pay for leak repairs. Dave Teel, the town’s circuit-rider town administrator, said the report has been forwarded to G. Mitchell Mowell, the town’s attorney, for his review. Councilman Dennis Hager said that the report also indicates that every joint in the system could be at risk of failing.

On another water issue, the town is going out to bid on two water meters to monitor the flow outside the town boundaries, to determine the aggregate amount of water used by customers who use the town system but get billed by the county.