The emphasis on the county’s sewer projects will move to the forefront in the next two months, according to Operations Manager Bob Hohe and Wastewater Services Director Mark Whiddon.

Whiddon said the No. 1 issue with the county’s sewer projects has been funding, but the county intends to take advantage of the currently low construction prices.

"We need to go after today’s construction prices and utilize today’s value of the dollar," Whiddon said. "Contractors are ready to go to work and people are desperate to work."

Hohe said if the county requests bids now, it might receive as many as 25 bids.

"We’ll never get them cheaper," he said.

At its Oct. 27 meeting, the County Board of Commissioners voted to amend an intergovernmental agreement with Auburn to extend the deadline for construction of the Shackelford Pump Station to Dec. 31, 2010.

Hohe said the county has decided to move the location of the pump and it will have "an improved concept."

"It’s a more efficient use of taxpayers’ dollars," he said in an interview.

Auburn, Winder, representatives of the Barrow County Water and Sewer Authority and the county have looked at the new plans and agree it’s a better plan, Hohe said.

Whiddon said the county still has "very specific details to work out" before releasing more information about the pump station.

He said the county is finalizing details on the Highway 211 project and soon will bring the plan to Hohe to begin accepting bids.

Whiddon also said the county has been in talks with the Water Authority to use the department as a funding mechanism for the project, but the project still lacks funding.

The need to involve the authority became even more apparent during a recent meeting with representatives of SCHUTZ, which will construct a new manufacturing operation in Carl. While Barrow County pursued a $500,000 Employment Incentive Program (EIP) grant through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to help get sewer to the property, SCHUTZ representatives rejected involvement in a grant.

Water and Sewerage Authority Chairman Stanley Coley said he intends to work closely with Auburn and the county to bring service to the Carl-Auburn area.

"We believe that Auburn needs sewerage and we believe that we need to work as closely with the county commission as we can to see future sewage infrastructure installed as close to the master plan as possible that we had three to four years ago," Coley said.

Construction on the Highway 53-316 wastewater pump station and pipeline project is under way, Whiddon said of the design to get sewerage service to that part of the county to "open gateways to Barrow County communities to go after industrial and commercial development."