By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- The LaFollette Utility Board held a special called meeting on Wednesday at 11am regarding an amendment for the Canon & Canon Engineering Proposal for the ARPA State Route 63 Water Transmission Main Improvements Project.
“It is an amendment to the engineering services; there were a couple of additional months of contract administration and six additional parcels that came in that easement work was required on,” said LaFollette Utility General Manager Dave Cross. He also said he recommended approval of the amendment, which passed unanimously after a brief meeting.
The other item on the agenda was change order number 2 for the State Route 63 water line project. This item was for informational purposes; the project came in under cost that was budgeted.
“We had already approved change order number 1, which had increased the budget on that, and this change order number 2 is a reduction of what was previously approved,” Cross explained.
The water line project in question is from South Massachusetts Avenue and East Elm Street in LaFollette.
The engineering firm designed a 12-inch water line replacement that goes all the way up to Glade Springs on State Route 63.
In total, the design with Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation approval was around 17,000 feet. The project was advertised last summer, and the funds for it were available from ARPA, only allowed to do phase 1 of three phases for the project. That allowed the line to go from South Massachusetts at East Elm, up to Myers Road, so that existing line that has caused maintenance issues in the past is now out of the four lane, according to the engineer.
The funding for the project was a 90 percent 10 percent grant, with TDEC putting up 90 percent and the utility having to provide the 10 percent match. Total funds were $3,059,474.92.
So far, about 98 percent of those funds have been spent, and there is still a balance of about $67,000 left over. The project came in below the projected amount with a decrease of $39,830. The amendment was needed because it was expected for the contract to take 10 months, but it took the contractor an additional 2 months to complete the project.
This was approved by the board.
Change order number 2, was a decrease in funds and was for information only and, did not need a vote by the board. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-09/17/2026-6AM)
