Holton commission approves sewer work change order

Additional sewer line point repair work in Holton has been approved by the Holton City Commission, which on Monday approved a change order to a work list for 2026 that included four sewer line point repairs and the installation of five manholes.

Commissioners approved a change order as submitted by The Havens Construction Company of Liberty, Mo., that increased their total bill for sewer system work to $164,100 for the year. The change order, for line point repair work in the 400 block of Banner Road, totaled $9,500, according to a pay estimate provided by Andrew Brunner of EBH Engineers of Pratt, which is working with the city on sewer system improvements.

The city’s ongoing sewer line maintenance project involves identifying sections of clay tile sewer lines that need to be dug up and replaced with new heavy plastic lines, as well as other sections that can be relined using the cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) process, in which a plastic liner is installed in an underground pipe to repair minor issues without having to dig it up.

The original base bid for The Havens’ work, including four sewer line point repairs and the installation of five manholes as part of the city’s sewer maintenance program for 2026, was $148,900 as approved by commissioners at their April 6 meeting. The cost of the actual work, commissioners noted on Monday, had increased to $154,600, with the difference included in the change order approved on Monday.

Holton Water and Sewer Superintendent P.J. Oldehoeft told commissioners in April that the point repairs were necessary in the lines before they could undergo the CIPP process. It was not clarified during Monday’s meeting whether the repair to the Banner Road line was needed for that reason.

Payment for the change order will come from funds generated by the city’s half-cent sales tax for infrastructure repairs — funds that are also being used to pay for the rest of The Havens’ sewer system improvement work this year in Holton.

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