Exmore sewer installation has ‘loose ends’, grease gums works for some residents

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BY STEFANIE JACKSON BOWMANN, Eastern Shore Post —

One Exmore Town Council member continues to voice concerns over the town’s ability to finish paying for the construction of its new sewer system.

Councilman Chase Sturgis said on Monday, Oct. 7, that the sewer project has a lot of “loose ends.”

“Is the engineer going to bankrupt us?” he asked, referring to Virginia-based firm Bowman Consulting.

Sturgis was concerned because the town council has been approving monthly payments to Kevcor Contracting, of Norfolk, of around $1 million.

Exmore has a little more than $1.5 million left to spend on the sewer system, with about three months remaining before project completion.

“We don’t have $1 million a month until January,” Sturgis said.

Town Manager Robert Duer pointed out that the contractor “signed a contract for X million dollars. He eats the rest of it.”

“That’s a lot to eat,” said Mayor Douglas Greer.

“There’s still some negotiation,” Sturgis said. “We control the checkbook.”

He made a motion to approve the 14th payment to the contractor, about $909,000. The motion passed unanimously.

However, Sturgis requested a meeting with a representative of Kevcor and town inspector John Maynard before the next payment date.

Director of Utilities Taylor Dukes reported that a contract had been signed with R.H. Contracting, of Atlantic, to re-plumb 15 homes that have not yet connected to the new sewer system because structures had been built on top of their septic tanks.

Dukes said the total cost is less than the amount the town council approved of $5,000 per home.

He also is working with a Maryland-based engineer to connect seven homes in Belle Haven to the sewer system. Exmore already supplies water to each of the seven homes.

The engineer “is thinking he’s going to be under $1,000 per connection.” The homeowners will be responsible to pay the connection fees, Dukes said.

He said grease is a “big deal” to the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, and Exmore must require certain cooks and bakers to install interceptors to prevent grease from entering the sewer system and blocking pipes. The tank sizes range up to 1,000 gallons.

Duer noted that one sewer pump at a home in New Road already has failed “due to bacon grease.”

The landlord had to pay nearly $2,700 for the repair and replacement of the pump, Dukes said.

During a public comment period, Brenda Bailey asked who is monitoring Kevcor employees working on the sewer connections.

“If we weren’t home when they ran those lines for the septic, they were going to go straight across our yard,” she said. “Who’s monitoring those people … to stop them from taking shortcuts?”

Dukes noted that Maynard inspects the work, and he has an employee who fills in when needed.

He told Bailey that, when Kevcor employees were working at Bailey’s home, they were following plans that “totally should have been changed.”

“I understand your frustration,” he said. “I’m glad … you caught it.”

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