The Commonwealth Regional Council (CRC) is continuing to assist the Town of Phenix in its effort to improve its municipal water system.

The town was awarded $500,000 in grant or loan funding from the Virginia Department of Health-Office of Drinking Water (VDH-ODW) in 2017.

The project entails replacement of water lines and a new tank with supporting equipment to stabilize water pressure within the system.

According to a Feb. 6 memorandum from CRC Community Development Planner Todd Fortune, the town has sent written authorization to Appomattox Well Drilling (AWD) to perform the 48-hour drawdown/yield test on Well #2.

“CRC staff coordinated with the town, AWD and Karen Austin (W.W. Associates) to make sure AWD has the correct paperwork for the test,” Fortune cited in the memorandum. “As of Feb. 6, we are waiting to hear from AWD on a planned start date for the test. Once the test is complete, Karen Austin can finish her revisions to the Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) and send it to VDH-ODW for review.”

He said that the CRC distributed the Request for Proposals (RFP) for bond counsel services. Five firms were contacted using Virginia Small Purchase Procurement procedures.

“The firms were selected through consultation with an attorney from the Virginia Municipal League and a check of the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity web site. Proposals are due by Feb. 23,” Fortune cited in the budget. “Just to reiterate, this item is in the project budget. Once proposals have been received, the town will need to appoint a selection committee to review them and select a firm.”

He said the other main pre-contract item is a revision to the project schedule, which will be done once the revised PER is sent to VDH-ODW.