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Windsor Town Manager William Saunders provided a brief comment Wednesday, March 26, on the status of the Duke Street and Virginia Avenue Water Main Replacement Project, which has featured little progress since August, according to Saunders’ monthly written capital projects updates delivered to the Windsor Town Council.

During the Windsor Planning Commission meeting on March 26, Saunders shared the following as he discussed the town’s fiscal year 2026-30 Capital Improvements Plan.

“We are working on the Duke Street and Virginia Avenue Water Main (Replacement) Project in hopes of finding alternative methods of completing that project,” he said. “So that is still in the foreground, and we have not started the next big project yet because of unknowns still related to Duke Street and Virginia Avenue.”

Later in the meeting, Commissioner Ricky Vaughan asked about the nature of the holdup in connection with the completion of the project.

“I can’t speak too much to that, but let’s say that the contractor has been nonresponsive,” Saunders said.

Vaughan said, “I know a lot of people who live on those streets that have spoken very negatively about the way their yards and driveways and everything have been left. I just didn’t know if there was any update on how things were going with it.”

“Not that I’m able to share at this time, unfortunately,” Saunders said. “But yes, it’s a terrible condition that their yards are in, and we hope to get them back to the way they should be as soon as we can.”

For the water main replacement project, the last substantive development described in Saunders’ monthly written capital projects updates came in an August 2024 memo: “The town has received a schedule from the contractor outlining the potential for the successful completion of the project; town staff and the town’s engineering consultants are working through questions about the balance of the work required with the contractor. 

“A meeting including all parties is scheduled for the week of August, 12th, 2024.”

Saunders noted that a meeting of all parties relevant to the project took place Monday, Aug. 12. 

Saunders told the council on Aug. 13 that they were expecting by the end of that week some deliverables from the contractor as it related to specific plans to finish the project.

In an Aug. 8 email interview, Saunders shared what issues had knocked the water main replacement project off track.

“The contractors have not successfully completed the sanitizing, flushing and testing of the newly installed water lines,” he stated.

Following was the content of Saunders’ written update on the water main replacement project for the Sept. 10 Town Council meeting: “The town is awaiting a revised plan for chlorination, flushing and sampling from the contractor.”

This also was the exact same content of the written updates on the project for the Oct. 8, Nov. 12, Dec. 10 and Jan. 14 council meetings.

The content of the written updates on the project for the Feb. 11 and March 11 meetings was as follows: “Due to the unresponsiveness of the contractor, town staff are exploring alternative options for the satisfactory completion of the project.”