Extended water shut-off raises questions at Townsend City Council
Author: Linda Kent, MT43 News Staff Reporter
Extended Water Shut-off Raises Questions at Townsend City Council
Linda Kent
MT43 News Staff Reporter
Unexpected issues with a valve replacement adjacent to the 200 Block of Broadway closed several businesses for the day Feb.18 and led to questions about improving communication and procedures as the city’s water system improvement project moves forward.
“Today proved to be very disruptive,” Councilman JB Howick, owner of Townsend Hardware, said during the regular City Council meeting that evening. He estimated that restaurants, bars, and other businesses along the affected stretch of Broadway lost $20,000 in revenue from the need to close all day, when several business owners told Howick they anticipated water being off only for 2-4 hours. “How can we better manage this moving forward?”
Chris Hayes with Robert Peccia and Associates told the council that contractor CK May is already providing businesses with 48-hour written notice on their doors when water service may be disrupted. He added that the notices set the expectation that water will be unavailable for eight hours.
Councilwoman Angie Wintour, who owns Mountie Moose Bakery, said she took the opportunity to call the project contact person listed on the notice she received in advance of the shut-off. He was able to answer most of her questions immediately, which she said gave her the information she needed to make a decision about her business.
“All of us had the same opportunity,” she added.
“There are a lot of unknowns out there,” Hayes had told the council during his update on the project.
Construction workers encountered one of those unknowns at Spruce and Broadway, which required a full day to resolve.
“This is the biggest project Townsend’s had since they paved the roads, and it’s not going to be easy. There are going to be bumps in the road,” Councilman Doug Sitton said. “They’re going to do everything they can, but you’re dealing with old, old pipes, old, old stuff. . . .”
Eric Crusch, City Public Works Director, gave the example of work that took place that same week to replace a valve at E Street and Front, where the old valve had been encased in concrete, requiring significantly more excavation to remove it and install a replacement.
“Nothing about this thing is as simple as Legos,” Crusch said. “We’re trying to figure this out as we go.”
Howick emphasized that his intent was to see what could be learned from Tuesday’s full-workday outage, rather than criticism. He also noted that an earlier notice might help businesses better adapt.
“Every job’s different,” Councilman Nate Brown added, supporting the idea that earlier notification may not be possible given the tight scheduling of the water project and the unpredictability of what crews will find once they get to the valves and pipes to be replaced.
Work to replace 103 fire hydrants and 47 isolation valves will continue throughout the spring and summer, with work expected to be completed on this phase of the water system project by Sept. 10.
