The Martin Creek waterline project now enters the engineering phase after the Jackson County Commission approved the joint project Monday.
Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said the two groups will work together to submit the project to TDEC come April.
“This amount of money has been given to each county, and they just want to approve whatever you’re going to do with it to make sure it meets the guidelines for the American Rescue Plan,” Porter said. “So, we think it will be a pretty fast turnaround, 30 to 60 days.”
Porter said if the timeline works out, dirt could start moving as soon as August. Porter said the project should not be too difficult since majority of the land is flat.
“I guess out goal would be to finish it by the end of the year, but that’s probably in a perfect situation where we don’t have a lot of rain or a shortage of water pipe,” Porter said.
Porter said Jackson County Utility District would prefer Double Springs Utility District to own and maintain the six-inch line. Porter said that decision would be final once fully installed.
“It runs in Double Springs territory and Baxter city territory,” Porter said. “I already talked to Mayor (John) Martin, and he’s okay with either Jackson County Utility District or Double Springs Utility District to own the line.”