The Harlem City Council heard an update from District 4 Commissioner Alison Couch during the recent meeting.
Couch told commissioners the contract between Columbia County and Gold Cross EMS was renewed at the June 6 Board of Commissioners meeting.
“The major change in that contract is that Columbia County will be taking over dispatch,” Couch said. “Right now, the county is focusing on hiring dispatchers, training and equipment transition and the actual assumption of taking over the dispatch will be concluded in the next few months. Initially we hoped for July, but it looks like it will be more in the fall.”
Couch said there are currently some resurfacing projects on White Oak Road, Sawdust Road and County Line Road. The contractor has 250 calendar days to complete the project, but the rain has resulted in some delays.
She also said representatives from the City of Harlem and Columbia County did a walk through at the Harlem City Park to identify SPLOST projects and to plan for future maintenance.
“I’m particularly excited about this and look forward to working with everyone on that,” Couch said.
Couch then provided several updates from the water utility services department. For the Harlem Euchee Creek interceptor, that design is 95% complete, but the county still needs to get permitting from the Army Corp and complete easements. The completion of this project will increase sewer capacity from 0.25 million gallons to 2.3 million gallons in the Harlem area.
The design for the Sawdust Road waterline is 95% complete and the line will let Columbia County to use the Sawdust Road tank and to keep a chlorine residual in the tank. The county is in the planning stages of a sewer inflow and infiltration study for the south side of Milledgeville Road.
The booster pumping station and ground storage tank on Old Louisville Road was upgraded earlier this year, Couch said. She added that a water and sewer master plan that makes 20-year projections and recommendations was completed.
“This is quite a robust plan,” Couch said. “I went through all the pages and tried to take in as much as possible. To summarize it briefly, there’s over $400 million worth of projects that will be done over the next 20 years.”
Couch added that the county is also working on relining 25 manholes in Harlem. She also said the resurfacing of Harlem Grovetown Road is expected to occur in 2025.
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
