ROSEBORO — With infrastructure being at the forefront in most communities lately, progress is being made in Roseboro on a new well.

“Preliminary well site approval letter has been received,” said Mayor Alice Butler.

The sorely needed project is slated to continue to move forward.

“So we were very happy to receive that,” said Butler.

A few meetings back the town board unanimously agreed to approve the contract with Wooten Company for their U.S. Department of Agriculture engineering services.

“Next, at the test well site, they kind of have got a layout there, of where the test well will be put,” Butler had said at a previous meeting.

The contract was looked over by the town attorney, Sandy Sanderson, who addressed a few concerns with the board at a previous meeting. The board had agreed to enter into the contract as long as Sanderson and Brian Johnson with the Wooten Company could come into agreement on the projects.

“Unfortunately the engineer that we were working with on this piece of property has resigned from Wooten Company and is now working elsewhere,” she said.

“They haven’t officially told us who the Wooten Company has assigned to us,” said Butler.

Butler explained that this has all happened in the last week and that it is moving forward.

Previously Sanderson raised concerns about some contract language, but Johnson had explained that the contract language was standard per the USDA requirements, and that some items had already been removed.

The first step was surveying the area along Andrews Chapel Road and the well site itself, and from there it was about coordinating the test wells, which is what will be happening after they get the green light.

“If the site is approved then they will start advertising for procurement for the test well drilling,” Butler had added last month.

The town has to hire a well driller to drill that test well with a four-inch hole and drill down 400 feet.

“That’s just to confirm that everything that we think is there, is there, that water is actually there and it’s good quality,” Johnson had stated.

This is to prevent any work on a well site that is not viable, and it’s imperative that it happens first so as to not waste any time and allow for an alternative site if need be.

Next would be construction documents for contractors that would then have to go to the state for permitting Once that is in place, and approved, the town will be able to put the project out for bids.

“Once all that is all in place and approved, then we can go for bids.”

Estimates were that the process would take 18 months from start to finish, but now it has been pushed closer to 22 months. The actual construction will take six months.

Reach Emily M. Williams at 910-590-9488. Follow her on Twitter at @NCNewsWriter. Follow us on Twitter at @SampsonInd and like us on Facebook.