Milton council moves ahead with Reed Street water main fixes

Milton Town Council is allowing Town Manager Kristy Rogers to move forward with plans to install a new water main on Reed Street.

In each of the last two years, there have been significant water main breaks on Reed Street, an alleyway that runs between Clifton Street and Tilney Street. The water main under the street is an old concrete pipe, and when it has broken, it has caused significant problems for customers throughout town. In April, a main break on Reed Street caused the closing of H.O. Brittingham and Milton elementary schools during the day. The same main broke in June 2022, and town crews were out until 2 a.m. trying to fix it.

After the main broke in April, Mayor John Collier vowed to get it fixed. At its July 3 meeting, council unanimously approved a resolution allowing Rogers to move forward with a full water main replacement. 

Rogers said after the break in April, crews were able to get it fixed enough so water was available, but barrels have been put out to protect the street as water has been seeping out. 

Collier said, “Depending on what direction it decides to break, someone may lose the front porch on their house in order for us to repair it. That will escalate the costs considerably. Some of the homes are built right up on the street.”

Because the action is framed as a resolution, the town will be able to move quickly, without a competitive bid process, which Rogers said would have added another 30 to 60 days because it would require the town to engineer plans prior to bidding. As the project is deemed time sensitive and repairs are no longer an option, according to the resolution, the project can be advertised with no delay for bidding. 

Rogers said doing the project this way allows the town to order parts and coordinate with a contractor with the goal of getting underway in August. While an exact cost is still unknown, Rogers said the town has two sources of funding: savings from water impact fees or realty transfer tax revenue. 

“We can’t put this off any longer,” Collier said. “It’s kind of like a ticking bomb.”