TALLADEGA — Community Development Director Chris Stone reported to the City Council Monday evening that major construction on the Coleman Circle sewer project is complete, and the project will be closed out in time for the city to compete for a community development block grant funding for the coming year.

Completion of project closes an effort by residents of the area that has been going on literally for decades. The houses in the affected area had septic tanks, but the ground in the area is hard and does not perk well. The result is frequent overflows, especially during the summer months and when it is raining.

“The inspection of the Coleman Circle Sewer Project was performed Feb. 24,” Stone wrote in a memo. “No major deficiencies were identified, and the ‘punch list’ contained primarily minor superficial corrections such as general cleanup, additional grass seed and the repair of three small sections of curb along College Street. The project closeout hearing has been (tentatively) scheduled March 16 at 5 p.m. in the council chamber.”

In an accompanying memo, City Manager Michael Stampfler noted “This project has only been completed after significant delays, cost overruns and a significant amount of administration staff time by this office, purchasing, Community Development and the city attorney including an undercount of beneficiaries in the application for funding prepared by East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission and submitted to the Alabama Department of Economic and Commercial Affairs; a lack of full-time inspection which caused delays in construction due to miscommunications between the city, the engineer and the contractor; a large change order of $162,913, which was necessary due to the initial undercounting of beneficiaries. The city was forced to undertake the change order in order to honor the conditions of the grant; (and) administrative delays with ADECA regarding approval of the aforementioned change order, which very nearly caused the city to fail to meet the deadline for closeout.”

Although the grant was prepared by EARPC, the data contained in it was provided by the city.

Stone said Tuesday that 38 people had already tapped on to the new sewer lines, and some had been connected for as long as two weeks. Others are expected to tap on in the near future. The customers will contribute about $1,150 per month to the Water and Sewer System.

“It’s been so wet this year, a lot of people have had serious septic tank problems,” he said.

Talladega Council President Horace Patterson, who also represents the project area, said Tuesday “this is just a great hour in the life of our community. This is a visible statement that government can work, and that people of good will can come together to and make great things happen. I’ve gotten a lot of support across the years, from people who don’t even live in our ward, but who understands how important this is. I also want to thank the members of the community, especially the Terrell’s, and the other elected officials who helped make this happen. I am excited that I lived to see it.”

Herman Terrell is a resident of the project area and has made the issue of the unavailability of sewer service just a stone’s throw from downtown in the forefront. “I would really say that prayer, hard work and leg work finally brought this project to an end,” he said. “I am enjoying it and I am truly thankful. I am glad the city got the grant written and matched, and are working on the extension. You know, a lot of our septic tanks were less than 100 feet apart, so this is much healthier, which is a blessing in itself. It’s a blessing to have.”

The problems Stampfler outlined in his memo are merely the tip of the iceberg regarding problems encountered in providing sewer to the area.

For years, the Talladega Water and Sewer Board said they could not provide sewer service because it would too expensive, and the area did not qualify for federal funding because the income threshold had not been met. Since much of the area is located in a geographic bowl and would require a pump station, which would cost too much.

Former City Manager Thomas Christie first proposed making Coleman Circle a priority, but was fired by the Council before the project could be launched. His successor, Sue Horn, came up with the idea of applying for community development money through ADECA, and the funding was secured under the current administration.

Once the money had been secured, a single resident’s refusal to sign an easement across her property delayed the project for several months.

The lone holdout eventually agreed to sign the easement without going to court.