Riley County approves construction contract for Fairmont Heights sanitary sewer district

Savannah Rattanavong, The Manhattan Mercury, Kan.
·1 min read

Mar. 8—Riley County commissioners on Monday approved a change order for improvements made to the Fairmont Heights Sanitary Sewer Benefit District, amounting to a $13,485 increase to the construction contract.

Public Works Director John Ellermann brought the changes to the commission. The changes include increasing the height of a manhole, using concrete instead of asphalt to repair road crossings, modifying existing water lines to avoid issues with a new sanitary sewer, relocating a water meter and other adjustments and repairs.

Fairmont Heights is a rural subdivision generally south and east of U.S. Highway 177 and the Kansas river. The project will add a sewer line to area where residents currently use septic tanks.

The changes amounted to a net increase to the J&K Contracting and BG Consultants contract from $430,600 to about $444,000.

Construction work on the project began in November and is scheduled to be completed in April. Officials said in a memo to the commission that workers are waiting for temperatures to warm so they can finish landscaping, cleaning up and asphalt patching.

Commissioners on Monday also recognized Susie Brown for her 26 years working for the county as she stepped back from her position as an administrative assistant in the county clerk's office.

Brown said she has worked in different areas for the county since she began in May 1995 and saw many changes over the years, including the county clerks' office moving spaces and helping with elections when everything was done by paper ballots to the now digital voting machines.

"It's just been crazy (and) wonderful and I just want to tell you I appreciate working for the county," Brown said. "It's been great for me."