Walkersville approves $120,000 emergency funds to replace failing water-main valve bolts

The Walkersville public works director told commissioners on Aug. 26 that crews have experienced an uptick in water-main valve bolts breaking and requested $120,000 in emergency funds to replace approximately 100 valves in the Deerfield area. "We're asking for a $120,000 in emergency funds to knock out the Deerfield area," the director said, and described that each valve has about 11–12 bolts that must be dug up, replaced and backfilled before blacktop is restored.

The director said an emergency contractor charge for a recent night response was about $9,800 for roughly 10 hours of work, and estimated that blacktop repairs on Polaris Drive would run $35,000–$40,000. Commissioners authorized the emergency transfer to address the valve failures and then approved a separate $40,000 authorization to cover the road repairs so the town's planned $250,000 paving budget would not be reduced. Staff said the town will plan to budget ongoing valve replacement in future annual budgets.