“There’s no condemnations, everyone’s willing to negotiate,” Sherrard said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Thrasher Representative Eric Sherrard presented an update on ongoing projects to the City of Parsons Council February 4th during the Council’s regular meeting at the Charles W. “Bill” Rosenau Municipal Building.
Sherrard began his update with the status of the nearly completed Parsons to Hamrick Emergency Water Connection Project. According to Sherrard, the project is expected to be completed under budget with money left over that will be returned to the City. “There is a little bit of money left in Small Cities and of course you all’s contribution is also in there,” Sherrard said. “That way we will get to work on getting that closed out and then that money can be hopefully reallocated back to the City.”
Thrasher is working on closing out the project currently, Sherrard said. The process involves contacting the contractor for last minute items, according to Sherrard. “In the meantime we have just been working on the closeout items,” Sherrard said. “Contractor’s been providing us the information that we need, just redline drawings. We’re working on sending them a letter on the remaining items that’s needed.”
Sherrard said he expects to have all the final numbers for the Council at the next City Council meeting. “I do expect at the next meeting to have a pay app at the next meeting that will have everything but a little bit of the retainage that they keep billed out and then close the project out over the next couple of months,” Sherrard said.
The project is undergoing its final inspections currently, Sherrard said. “Just doing the final inspection of everything,” Sherrard said. “At least everything is stabilized for now.”
Sherrard said crews will be making sure the area is stable and that issues do not arise after the grass begins to grow in Spring. “Make sure there aren’t any issues, especially after grass starts growing,” Sherrard said.
The project does include a one year warranty, according to Sherrard. “There is a one year warranty on all of it,” Sherrard said.
Sherrard also said he has been in touch with the Department of Highways about the completion of the project and that the DOH does not have any concerns on the project. “I have been in touch with DOH and they don’t have any concerns at this time,” Sherrard said.
Sherrard then moved onto comments on the status of the ongoing Sewer Improvement Project in the City. “We got just a handful of minor comments back from DEP,” Sherrard said. “Looking at getting those turned back in sometime next week.”
According to Sherrard, the project is currently in the hands of the Public Service Commission and it should not be long before a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity will be issued which will help pave the way for the bidding process to begin. “And should get our Plans and Specs Approval,” Sherrard said. “It is in the Public Service Commission so it shouldn’t be too long to get our Certificate of Convenience and Necessity. So we will be able to lay out a schedule to start bidding that.”
Sherrard was asked by Mayor Bruce Kolsun about the status of property easements for the project. According to Sherrard, the easement process is currently underway with half of the easements already completed. “I don’t know if they got any recorded yet, but they’ve been out there,” Sherrard said. “I’ve had to call and have conversations with property owners and I believe they have at least half of them last time I talked to them.”
Sherrard said that Thrasher did not wait on approved plans and specs to begin the easement process on the process which helped to accelerate the project. Sherrard said that Thrasher has not encountered any issues with the easement process thus far. “One of things we did on this project is we didn’t wait until we had approved plans and specs to start the easement process,” Sherrard said. “Because that sometimes can be a variable because you are somewhat dependent on everybody’s willingness to negotiate, but haven’t had any issues here.”
There is one property that Thrasher is attempting to confirm ownership of for the project, however, according to Sherrard. “There’s one that we are trying to confirm who owns it,” Sherrard said. “And there’s no condemnations, everyone’s willing to negotiate.”
Sherrard said that Thrasher preemptively submitted the project to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund ‘s Priority List for fiscal year 2026. “We did go ahead and submit, even though we are going to go ahead and bid this out before its needed, a Clean Water State Revolving Fund,” Sherrard said. “They put out an Intended Use Plan every year and they have what they call their Priority List and your projects have to be on it.”
The move came as a precautionary measure in case of any needs for the project in fiscal year 2026, Sherrard said. “We’ve included this project on it the last few years,” Sherrard said. “So we did go ahead and submit just in case anything came up that would need to be on the list for fiscal year 2026.”
Sherrard said Thrasher also submitted the City’s Wastewater Treatment Project, as well. “We also did one for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Project,” Sherrard said. “Just because of the timing we went ahead and set down and finalized everything and wanted to go ahead and have at least have the project in there.”
The move paves the way for the projects to qualify for loans and grants through the Department of Environmental Protection in fiscal year 2026, Sherrard said. “That’s the only way to qualify for any loans or grants through the DEP program for the next fiscal year,” Sherrard said.
The submissions were due and completed last month, according to Sherrard. “So we went ahead and got those submitted,” Sherrard said. “Those were due last month.”
Sherrard said that easements are also being completed on the water project with one property being researched. According to Sherrard, the property is State owned, but what exact State entity is uncertain and for what purpose, as well. “Easements for the water project are also in progress,” Sherrard said. “That one also has a property we are trying to determine. We know that it is State owned, but we don’t know who at the State owns it or why. It just looks like they widened the road at some time , but it doesn’t make any sense as to why anybody would in that particular area. We’re just trying to get that determined.”
