by MATT HUGHES
J-E News Editor
Sebree officials warned on Monday night that the city’s water customers could experience a large volume of boil water advisories and interrupted services during the next six months. That’s because of a water project the city started Monday morning.
“This project will probably last six months,” said city employee Emory Thomas. “I just hope customers will bare with us.”
The $1.2 million project will replace 35,000 feet of outdated and often leaky water lines within the city. Water leaks have been a thorn in the city’s side for some time. Over the last three week Thomas said the city has repaired nine different leaks.
In an earlier meeting Thomas told the city council that the city’s water lines date back to 1936.
“The lines are cast iron and full of debris,” he said. “We’re having one or two leaks per week, and it’s costly to the city of Sebree.”
Not only do the leak’s result in costly damages to the city’s streets, the city is also responsible for footing the bill for the lost water. The city has lost up to three million gallons of water before in a single month.
The city expects this project to eliminate most of their water related issues. Fire coverage is not expected to be an issue during the project.
In other business, the city council voted on the second reading of two budget ordinances. The first amends the city’s 2013-2014 budget from $3,145,243.79 to $3,184,522.80. The second adopts a 2014-2015 balanced budget of $3,257,464.73.
Mayor Ozzie O’Nan reported that the city had finalized plans for the 2014 Sebree Summerfest, which has been moved up to June 13 and 14.
“We were fortunate last year,” O’Nan said. “We had Summerfest in July, but the weather wasn’t up to normal July standards. We moved it up to June because we really didn’t think we’d get that fortunate again.”
Main Street in Sebree will be closed from Thursday, June 12, 2014 at noon until around noon on Sunday, June 15, 2014 to allow for the setup and take down of Summerfest equipment and booths.