SHILOH — Bryan VerBurg said Tuesday evening he is confident about current planning efforts regarding the Village of Shiloh’s major water project.
The $1.7 million, three-phase project includes installing water meters for all village customers; fire hydrant and valve replacement; dismantling the old water tower; and replacing the Main Street water line.
In November 2023, Richland County Commissioners voted to accept the low bids for the project, which came in about $500,000 less than engineering estimates.
Iseler Demolition Inc. from Port Hope, Mich., had the lowest bid for the water tower demolition at $70,700.
VerBurg, Shiloh village administrator, provided councilmembers with an update Tuesday relating to the demolition of the water tower located near Mechanics Street.
Preparing for demolition day
VerBurg met with Iseler Demolition Inc. on March 20 to discuss the water tower dismantling.
He said no demolition date has been set at this time — but the project will be completed before the end of 2024.
Representatives from American Municipal Power and Great Lakes Community Action Partnership Shiloh Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Center also attended the meeting.
The village administrator said logistics, precautionary measures and responsibilities of the village were discussed during the informational meeting.
“They expect us to cover the (power) lines with a fiber glass blanket of some sort,” he said, adding AMP will help the village with this task.
Power lines must be covered in order to avoid being burned by sparks from the demolition.
VerBurg said he’s connected with administrators at GLCAP Shiloh MSHS, 26 Mechanics St., who’ve shared dates when school will not be in session.
Due to the school’s proximity to the water tower, Iseler Demolition will be providing a “water curtain” to prevent sparks from landing on the building’s roof.
“We (Shiloh) are going to provide them with the water for no cost,” he said. “That’s just a precautionary procedure in case things do go wrong.”
Water tower will be ‘down in one day’
Iseler Demolition said the Mechanics Street water tower will be dismantled in one day, according to VerBurg.
“I was pretty impressed that it was going to go down in a day,” he said. “I figured two days at least, but they said they guaranteed it.”
The Michigan-based company plans to spend a day staging equipment and one day bringing down the aging tower.
VerBurg said there’s currently no plans to have residents in the demolition area evacuate their homes when work occurs.
“They (Iseler Demolition) didn’t seem to think that was going to be a problem because they’re going to try and do it all in one day,” he said.
The tower will be cut down piece-by-piece, using a crane to safely lower portions of structure to the ground, where the demolition company will have vehicles ready to haul pieces away.
“They’ll stage the trucks and have everything here,” VerBurg said. “Drivers will be waiting.
“They may not haul everything away that day, but they’ll have them all loaded and the next day it’ll be out of here.”