Site work for phase I of the secondary water source project is already under way, and officials expect structure demolition in the construction area to begin soon.

The Cullman Utilities Board is already advertising for bids to demolish 16 of the 18 structures that must come down before the Duck River dam is complete. The other two properties were not included in this bid at the request of the occupants, to allow additional time for relocation.

“Those sites are either in the buffer zone or reservoir itself,” engineer and owner’s representative for the city Bill St. John said.

Once awarded, the demolition bid is a 60-day contract for completion.

St. John noted the demolition work is not being handled by the project’s chosen construction firm Brasfield and Gorrie, but instead by the city, in an effort to handle some aspects in-house to reduce costs.

“The board is doing that separately, and we’ve separated things like that to try and get the best price by bidding it out,” he said. “We believe that’s the most competitive way to do that.”

Project manager Dale Greer said the handful of remaining property purchases still lingering around the watershd should be finalized by the end of the year, though the city now owns all lots needed to begin work.

A long-delayed cultural study of the site is also scheduled to begin next week.

The utilities board is tentatively planning an on-site presentation in the watershed in mid-December, to give stakeholders and those involved with the project an update on its progress.

Teams with Birmingham-based phase I contractor Brasfield are specifically working to excavate the dam foundation, and engineers say the project remains on track to bid the actual dam construction by mid-2013.

The City of Cullman, via the utilities board, is creating the 640-acre lake with a 32-million-gallon-per-day capacity in northeast Cullman County. The approximately $68 million water source will be used along with the area’s current water source Lake Catoma.

* Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 220.