Toccoa Approves Contractor for Reservoir Lake Project

By Charlie Bauder, WNEG Radio, Toccoa

A major water source for the City of Toccoa is filling up with silt and must be dredged soon before other problems arise.

That is according to Toccoa City Manager Billy Morse.  Davidson Lake is one of Toccoa’s three sources of water for its citizens.

Morse says the lake needs to be dredged soon in order to regain capacity in the reservoir and remove pressure on the reservoir’s dam.

At their regular meeting this week, the Toccoa City Commission unanimously approved a bid from a White County company to do the job.

River Sand, Inc. Of Cleveland, Georgia will dredge the lake at a cost of just over $1.014 million.  River Sand’s bid was the lowest of four bids received for the project and much lower than the other three.

Morse says saving that much money over what was estimated is great news.

“It was less than half of our project estimate,” said Morse of the bid. “That is a savings of $1.1 million to us.”

Morse said saving that much money over what was estimated is not only great news, but very significant in the city’s planning to pay for the work.

“If the bids had come in at the $2 million estimated project cost, we would have had to borrow the money to complete the project,” said Morse. “Now, we are able to use funds the city has already been setting aside for projects like this.”

He said not borrowing would save the city about $60,000 in loan fees.  Morse says that the city will use a number of in-house sources to provide the money for this project.

Morse said that the city will use a number of in-house sources to provide the money for this project and would cover any shortfall from the Commission Reserve Account.

Morse said any money used from the Commission Reserve Account to cover costs on this project would be re-paid to the CRA during Fiscal Year 2016.

According to Morse, River Sand Inc is expected to begin work in the next couple of months.