Rural Water District No. 2 Expansion - Purpose of this Blog

Introduction
On March 7th, 2011 a meeting was held by the District to discuss the expansion of Rural Water District No. 2, Brown County to the northeast portion of Brown County.  At the meeting, 38 people attended representing  approximately 27 households.  An earlier inquiry to 127 houses by the District showed that 51 people were interested in water, 26 people declined, and 40 did not respond.  The remainder returned, unable to forward.  In order to expand, the District needs to take some steps to look at the costs and benefits for everyone involved.

Feasibility Study
The first formal step is a feasibility study which will look at the infrastructure such as piping, pump stations, and water towers required to provide water to all of the interested people.The feasibility study will then examine the costs for construction and calculate the cost per unit to build the improvements.  Since the District does not have enough cash on hand to pay for the improvements funding will be needed.  The report will look at available funding sources as well.  The study will serve later as a support document for the funding applications.  For this feasibility study, the District is asking for $150 per applicant to support the feasibility study.  If the District proceeds with the expansion the $150 will be credited as part of meter connection fee when customers are brought onto the system.

Petition for Expansion
If the costs are favorable then the District will move to formally add the area to the District.  Depending on the location of the people interested, this will dictate the shape of the area.  The petition needs at least 50% of the land owners in the designated area to sign and then it will be formally filed with the County Clerk and also approved by the County Commission.

Design & Funding
Once the petition is approved the the design and funding phase will begin.  Each project is different, but usually the funding agency is made aware of the project early on in the design.  The applications, environmental reviews, and any other funding requirement usually occurs while the project is in the design phase.  Once the funding is secured then the project can move on to the next phase.  Due to the various programs out there, separate postings will be made for each of the entities to explain them further.  Links are provided at the right side of this page for each of the programs.

Bidding and Construction
Once things can go to bid, the invitation is mailed out to contractors and interested bidders will pick up a set of contract documents.  Bids will be opened at a set date and time and the bid is awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.  The winning contractor will then be given a set amount of days to complete the construction.  Once construction is finished and the water is flowing then the final paperwork is completed.

Typing this up was tremendously easier than what it will physically take, but this is a general overview of how the process will go.