Milton council grants contractor additional weekend hours for water tower construction

Milton Town Council will allow the contractor of the town’s new water tower on Federal Street to work additional weekend hours.

Town building regulations allow construction from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. CB&I, contractor of the water tower project, requested its workers be allowed to work extra hours on the weekend – either working beyond town-mandated hours Saturday or working Sunday – to keep the project on schedule through future weather delays this winter.

Ryan Wolseley, project manager for CB&I, told council Dec. 1 that ground work around the tower is nearly complete, and steel crews are about to come in. He said the project is entering the phase where more welding is required, meaning weather will be more of a factor. Once the steelwork is complete, painters will come in. Wolseley said the workers might not work weekends all the time, but the company wants the option just in case. He said the company is ahead of schedule; the town’s contract mandates the project be finished by next October. 

“We want to get in and get out,” Wolseley said. 

Town council approved the request by a 4-2 vote. 

Councilmen Scotty Edler and Robert Gray were the no votes.

“I don’t want to start setting a precedent where every construction project is asking to work on Sundays or wanting extended hours on Saturdays,” Edler said. “We have the work hours for a reason. I think, at least in my mind, we should hold firm to that. They asked if they could have a weekend day or two. They have a weekend from 8 to 3 on Saturday.”

Councilwoman Randi Meredith said she agrees with some of what Edler was saying, but she believes the project being associated with water infrastructure makes it a high enough priority to extend working hours. 

Councilman Fred Harvey agreed with Meredith, suggesting that if CB&I needs to work Sunday, they should use that day to do what he called quiet work, such as painting. 

“When you get construction, weather plays a big part in it,” he said. “If we need to give them some extra time, I think it should be done.”

Meredith moved to approve the request for additional hours with the conditions that Sunday work would only be for painting, hours would be limited to 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and that the waiver of the town’s construction rules would expire in March. 

The 500,000-gallon water tower will be about 130 feet high and 56 feet in diameter, similar in height to the town’s two existing water towers. Town officials say it will provide additional storage to meet daily demand and serve as a backup if the other towers are out of service for maintenance or repair. The $3.8 million project was approved by voters at a referendum in January 2024.