GALLIPOLIS — After nine months of negotiations, the Gallia County Board of Commissioners and the Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland have entered into an agreement in relation to the completion of the Kanauga-Addison Sewer Project.

According to a letter issued by the commissioners on September 20 to property owners affected by the sewer, the agreement signed by the bonding company stipulates that the company will tender the full amount of the project bond, $3.5 million, to Gallia County.

According to the letter, this amount will allow the county to take control of and fund the project completion.

“We are confident this amount will allow us adequate funding for project completion,” the letter reads.

The original contract with Trimat Construction, Inc., was terminated in January 2012 after the commission issued a seven-day notice of termination to the company on January 12, citing a “continued failure” to meet schedules and an “excessive amount of claims” placed on the project.

Following the termination, the project was turned over to Trimat’s bonding company, the Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, for completion.

In the nine months since the termination of the original contract, according to the letter, the bonding company has hired an outside company to “camera” and clean the entire gravity collection system in order to discover the areas of the project that need replaced.

Reportedly, the entire system consists of 60,000 linear feet of sewer line and there is approximately 13,000 of that line that will need to be reconstructed as it, reportedly, does not meet project specifications.

The letter additionally states that “Gallia County will also reclaim the areas disturbed by the original project construction that are not within the areas that need reconstruction work. … in the areas where reconstruction work is necessary, reclamation will be completed shortly after the construction work.”

Additionally, the letter states that a new contractor hired by the county will begin by completing the area served by the lift station in Kanauga and then move north, completing areas served by lift stations near the Bowling Alley and Georges Creek on Ohio 7, as well as the lift station located on Addison Pike.

“Our goal is to complete the entire project as soon as possible,” the letter reads. “This plan of action will allow residents and businesses to begin connections in the southern areas of the sewer project while northern areas are still under construction.”

Trimat Construction was awarded the bid for the sewer project on July 30, 2009, after the company presented the lowest bid for the project at $3,488,183.44.

Just prior to termination, change orders for the project totaled $938,895.94, increasing the contract for construction to $4,427,079.38.

As reported at the time of the original contract termination, the total cost for the project is $5.75 million and is being paid for through approximately $3 million in low-interest loans and $2.7 million in grant funding.

The settlement agreement signed by Gallia County Commission President Harold Montgomery and claims counsel for the bonding company on September 20 states that Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland will pay the county $3.5 million within 21 calendar days of the agreement signing.