JAY — Selectmen have agreed to use up to $60,000 from a reserve account for the Livermore Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant to replace an inline-channel grinder with a bar rack.

Livermore Falls selectmen had previously agreed to raise up to $100,000 and use up to $60,000 from the reserve account. The two towns are working in conjunction on the project.

Livermore Falls owns the plant, and Jay and Livermore Falls share the cost of operation and maintenance, based on sewage flow treated at the plant. For 2013, Jay’s portion of the cost is 54 percent, and Livermore Falls’ share is 46 percent. 

The bar screen and the building over it are estimated to cost between $160,000 to $200,000. The current grinder has deteriorated to the point that it is only partially working, sometimes not at all, which creates wear and tear on other equipment at the plant, sewer officials have said.

The new equipment would remove solids to 1/4 inch from the sewage flow.

Mark Holt, superintendent of Jay Sewer Department, said he believes the project could cost less.

“We could do a design build” as cheaply as anything else, he told selectmen on Jan. 14.

There is currently $92,400 in the plant reserve, which Holt said will be built back up. He has a reserve account containing $277,000. Holt warned that when the reserve money is gone, it is gone. 

He said that Livermore Falls Sewer Superintendent Greg Given, also chief operator of the plant, has a good place to put the new equipment.

“It just makes sense,” Holt said. “We can make it work, and do it as cheap as possible.”

Jay and Livermore Falls have not decided where the additional money will come from. 

Livermore Falls selectmen will be updated on the sewer project at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22, at the Town Office, Livermore Falls Town Manager Kristal Flagg said Friday.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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