From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):
Wiggins officials had expected to hear from the USDA by now about the letter of conditions which would allow the project to begin, but that has not happened, said Wiggins Town Administrator Bill Rogers during Wednesday`s meeting of the Wiggins Town Council. Now it seems like it will be the end of September before that will happen, said Tim Holbrook of Industrial Facilities Engineering, which is organizing the project. He is working on exhibits for easements for the pipeline for the USDA officials, he said…
Wiggins could probably begin construction on the project and start receiving water next spring, and it would be good to begin with the augmentation ponds on the property from which the town bought the water shares as soon as possible, Kuntz said. That would make it easier to get a temporary water supply plan. [water attorney Rick Fendel] said that legal fees will exceed $100,000, but it is difficult to say by how much. That is partly determined by how long Wiggins has to wrangle with other water users, although sometimes these cases are pretty clean and easy, Kuntz said. There is very little chance the overall plan will be rejected by the water court, Fendel said. Costs of Kuntz` engineering will probably cost about $10,000, he said. Since the court case is just beginning, and the town has already spent more than half the money originally estimated for the legal fees, how is the town to pay for them, asked council member Karol Kopetzky. The pipeline costs should be less expensive than estimated, since they wee based on $40 a foot and a recent estimate for another project came in at $26 a foot, Rogers said. Also, contingency funds should be built into the USDA loan, he said.