PEACHAM - Residents of the Peacham Fire District have voted to install a new waterline system throughout their sector of town. At this point, the budget for the project amounts to three hundred eighty thousand dollars, but is subject to reduction if the district is able to receive any state or federal construction grants.
The current system was built in the 1920's, and has been causing problems for the residents for many years. Yesterday at the polls, Prudential Committee Chairman, Jonathan Kaplan, recalled a recent water leak that left a speed bump-like ice buildup in the middle of town. That being said, this was an initiative that many felt was necessary, and that one voter even saw as "heroic". She claimed that, "Nature has taken its course, and nature has broken up pipes, and we've had tremendous leaks, and it's time for a complete overhaul."
Now that the project has been approved, Kaplan estimates that taxpayers' water-bills will increase to seven hundred dollars per year. Although the price-tag may have been a difficult factor for some to look past, he felt that this decision would benefit residents economically in the years to come. "When you have to repair old things, you get nickeled and dimed to death. So one of the benefits immediately is that we'll save a lot of repair money, because over the next ten years, twenty years, everything's gonna go," said Kaplan.
Kaplan predicted that if the bond were passed, construction would most likely begin in either the Spring or Summer, once things had thawed out from the cold winter months. He estimates that construction will take about three weeks to a month, and said that more information will become available to residents as the project plans are finalized.