Water Project manager meets with seniors

The project manager of the ongoing water works project in Malta met with a handful of senior citizens at the Great Northern prior to the senior meal last Thursday to discuss the construction around town and answer questions.

Mike Grandy, from Helena Sand and Gravel, told the audience he has been in Malta for about a month and showed them a map of the project, pointing out where three of the crews are currently working and showing where they will be moving in the future.

"This work will spill into next year," Grandy assured the audience. "Before I got here, things weren't going like they should have. I have been here for a month and I am trying to get things back on track . . . the impact this is having on everybody is devastating and I apologize. I mean, I didn't wake up one morning and say ‘I think I am going to go screw up Malta.’ We are trying to get this done and we will try to keep it to the minimum dysfunction, but we can’t keep everybody happy, but we will surely try.”

Grandy said that the Malta water project is the largest rural replacement he has ever seen and unforeseen obstacles have slowed the work, including the weather and replacement of fire hydrants around town. Grandy said that a few leaks around town – most notably the gurgling water coming up through the man hole on Central Avenue in-between the GN and Art’s Furniture – are due to existing valves leaking when shut-off and are slated to be replaced at some point.

Grundy said that the estimates of the construction being 30-to-60 days behind schedule are correct and pointed to a foreman quitting, the lack of being able to isolate and find valves and the replacement of fire hydrants not scheduled for replacement as are few things that have slowed work. He said he believes Helena Sand and Gravel has picked it up as of late and are getting through the work faster now.

“We have closed that gap, but we have continued to run into some things,” he said.

Grandy added that the water system in Malta was absolutely in need of repair.

“And it is extremely difficult for communities like this to fund a project of this size because it isn’t just the water mains, you have so much other new equipment,” he said. “Bear with us. I am terribly sorry about how bad this is. Some of the decisions we are making are because of money, but some are done for the convenience of the public. Traffic is going to get a lot worse, but there isn’t anything that we can really do. You are going to be sick of us before we are gone, but bear with us.”

Grundy said that Helena Sand and Gravel will work into the Fall season as long as they can and as weather allows, but they don’t expect to have the work done this year and will return next year.

Following this meeting, it was reported to the PCN that Grandy was replaced on the Malta job and a new project manager will be put in charge.