By Cathy Higgins
BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Thanks to ADECA funding, approximately 75 Dyas community residents will soon have access to public water.
During the August meeting of the North Baldwin Utilities Board on Wednesday, NBU General Manager Jason Padgett updated the board on a project to provide water-access in the community where well water is currently the only option.
The $600,000 project is funded through a community-development-block grant, in which NBU is to pay $100,000 and the rest is provided by ADECA.
“The (Baldwin) County Commission applied,” he said in an interview after the meeting. “We are their agent.”
The project will fill in gaps in the Dyas community, which already has partial public-water access.
“We’ll connect the dead ends to make a loop,” Padgett said, explaining that this will enable NBU to reroute water to the area, if ever needed.
During Wednesday’s meeting, he told the board that NBU is ready to begin bidding on the project.
“We’re looking to begin construction at the beginning of November,” the general manager said.
In additional business, the NBU Board:
· Approved its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
· Heard an update from Bay Minette Mayor Jamie Tillery on the recent Digital Renaissance Launch at Baldwin County High School.
· Heard an update from Tillery on Bay Minette’s sidewalk project, which should connect schools with walkways. She told the board that the next phase’s construction is set to begin after Labor Day.
