Visitors who wish to keep the plants and flowers around their loved ones? graves in Oxford Township’s cemeteries looking fresh and healthy will soon be able to water them.
Last week, the township board voted 7-0 to award a $66,488 contract to the Shelby Township-based H2O Irrigation to drill wells in two cemeteries and install new water lines and spigots in all four of the municipality’s resting places.
‘A lot of people like to keep the graves of their loved ones looking nice as a way to remember them,? Supervisor Bill Dunn told this reporter. ‘We want to help them do that as best we can. It’s just another service we can offer.?
H20 Irrigation, which has been in business for 27 years, was the low bidder amongst the five companies that attempted to secure the contract. The highest bid was $128,721, submitted by Falcon Lawn Sprinklers.
According to township engineer Jim Sharpe, two new wells will be drilled ? one at the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery on Baldwin Rd., north of Oakwood Rd., and one at the N. Oxford Cemetery on Oxford Rd., just south of Oakwood Rd. between Gardner and Delano roads.
The two cemeteries on the north and south sides of W. Burdick St. are already hooked up to the village water system, so no wells are necessary there.
A total of 5,270 feet of 1-inch and 2-inch polyethylene water supply lines will be installed throughout the four cemeteries.
Sharpe explained the existing water lines in the W. Burdick St. cemeteries are in extremely poor condition.
‘They’re leaking. They’re broken,? he said. ‘They’re so old that some of them are actually sticking out of the ground.?
The project calls for placing a total of 35 new water spigots for visitor use throughout the cemeteries ? 10 spigots at the cemetery north of W. Burdick St.; nine at the cemetery south of W. Burdick St.; 10 at Mt. Pleasant; and six at N. Oxford.
The goal is to have all these improvements completed by Memorial Day.
‘That’s the target,? Sharpe said. ‘We’ll push it as hard as we can.?