Southampton supervisors approve Boykins sewer rehab, authorize extra $350,000 to finish work

The Southampton County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 17 approved a county proposal to complete a two‑phase sewer rehabilitation in Boykins and authorized an additional appropriation to finish the work.

Staff reported that Tri State conducted CCTV inspections of gravity sewer mains on Main Street and Beaton Avenue and identified multiple point repairs, several manholes needing rehabilitation and one location lacking a required manhole. The contractor proposed a two‑phase approach: phase 1 (excavation and point repairs) for about $315,000 and phase 2 (pipe lining, manhole rehab and lateral repairs) for roughly $380,000, for a total close to $700,000.

County staff told the board they must obligate about $380,000 in ARPA funds by the end of the month and recommended completing both phases now to avoid higher costs later due to inflation and to reduce duplicated traffic control and mobilization costs. "If you execute now and do it all now, it will be cheaper to do it now than to wait 6 to 8 months or even a year or two," the presenter said, citing 30–40% recent inflation on similar infrastructure work.

The board voted unanimously to proceed with the repairs, obligate ARPA funds for phase 1 and to use approximately $350,000 from the general fund reserve to cover the remaining second‑phase gap. Staff said the county will use cooperative procurement to piggyback on an existing contract and retain oversight through the county’s chosen project manager.

Next steps: staff will proceed with awarding the work to the selected contractor under cooperative procurement, obligate the ARPA funds for phase 1, and implement phase 2 upon appropriation of the authorized general fund amount. The county indicated it will monitor traffic control, mobilization and inflationary impacts during execution.

Sources: staff presentation and board vote at the Dec. 17 Southampton County Board of Supervisors meeting.