MONTICELLO — Town aldermen unanimously approved up to $15,000in additional funding to complete a water line improvement projectin Ward 1 Tuesday night.

The project, funded by an approximately $260,000 STEP grant, hadbeen expanded after the original project was completed with morethan $40,000 remaining.

“The expansion is the loop around Ward 1 that will providebetter water in the residential areas,” said Mayor David Nichols.”We’ve already done a lot of work actually in the Ward 1interior.”

The original project was estimated at $406,000, Nichols said,but the difference between the project cost and the grant was morethan made up from outside influences. Grant writer and projectengineer pay cuts, supplier discounts and volunteer labor to laythe line, required for the STEP grant, all brought those costs downbelow the grant money.

When the original project was completed, the town was left withapproximately $40,000 in grant money. The project was expanded toinclude the loop around Ward 1 to use those funds.

“We’re actually making the money go even further than originallyintended,” Nichols said.

However, the new loop will cost the town between $7,500 and$15,000 in additional funding, said Street Department DirectorBobby Selman.

In other matters, Monticello businessman Brad Blakeneyapproached the board about a sewer line concern at his new sitenear the old Kellwood Manufacturing Plant.

The lot was purchased about 4-5 months ago, Nichols said, andcity maps showed a sewage line would be behind the building. Whileconstructing the new building, however, it was discovered the linewas not as shown on the map and would run beneath the business’sfoundation, although not beneath the building itself.

“We were just concerned about some time in the future if therewas a backup that there may be a situation where the business wouldbe affected when they tear things up to repair it,” Blakeneysaid.

Several other businesses in the area have built over the line,Selman said, which is a clay pipe buried about four feet deep inthe earth.

In the event of a backup, Selman said, it could be fixed byusing manholes or rerouting the line and would not require the townto destroy the foundation to make repairs.

Nichols agreed.

“If something were to break it would have to be somethingtotally out of the ordinary for it to be a problem,” he said. “Withthe technology we have available today, we have several options tofix it.”

One of those options would be installing a fiberglass-typesleeve inside the pipe to seal a leak, Selman said.

Blakeney said he was comfortable with the town’s response.

The business owner said he hopes to have The Pit Stop open inearly July. The business will specialize in oil changes, brakeservice, tires, hand washes and waxes of vehicles and othermechanical work.