Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

MURFREESBORO – American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds will be used to purchase 20 fire hydrants for the town of Murfreesboro. The council voted on the decision during their Oct. 15 meeting.

In the past few months, the Murfreesboro Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) has been working on testing all the fire hydrants in town as a part of their preparations for their upcoming ISO inspection, which will factor into local homeowner insurance rates.

VFD member Amy Giglio reported that many of the town’s hydrants need maintenance, and she has given the Public Works Department a list of ones that have been marked out of service and the reason why.

Town Administrator Carolyn Brown reminded the council that they still have some ARPA funds that need to be used before the deadline, and one suggestion was to purchase some replacement hydrants.

Council members Mike Bunch and Jay Revelle asked if 20 hydrants were the number they should purchase.

“Twenty is a good head start in the right direction,” answered Public Works Director Jeff Edwards, who noted that the most common issue with the hydrants were missing valve shutoffs.

Giglio added that there are 246 hydrants total throughout the town, and Edwards said it would safe to assume that they’d need to replace at least 20 of them.

The council considered two quotes for purchasing 20 hydrants and their necessary accessories.

Revelle motioned to approve the quote from Miller Supply Company at a price of $113,505,60, which was about $4,000 less than the other quote provided. Council member Berna Stephens seconded, and the vote passed unanimously among those in attendance.

Council member James Byerly was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting.

The council then considered two quotes for hydrant installation. Both companies quoted $3,100 to perform the work, so Bunch motioned to have one contractor install 10 hydrants and the other to install the remaining ten.

Revelle seconded, and again the vote was unanimously in favor.

Brown stated that they would still have some ARPA funds leftover, and the council said they may hold a special called meeting soon to discussion more possibilities.