WENDELL — The culvert that was replaced on Mormon Hollow Road over the summer is already in need of repairs following heavy rain, and the contractor has worked to prevent additional erosion despite insisting responsibility for the culvert’s failure lies with the project’s designer.

Clayton D. Davenport contractor crews completed an emergency water diversion repair, in good faith, so excessive water will not cause further damage, but those with the Greenfield-based company believe fault belongs to the engineering and landscape architecture firm SVE Associates.

Anthony Davenport, with the Clayton D. Davenport construction company, said at Friday’s special Selectboard meeting — which was called to authorize emergency spending for the repairs — that an oversight by the engineering firm caused the material washout. No one with SVE Associates was present at Friday’s meeting.

Selectboard member Dan Keller chimed in to say the meeting’s purpose was to mitigate the problem, not to assign blame or responsibility.

“That’s something that’s going to have to be worked out down the road,” Keller said.

When reached for comment, a representative for Brattleboro, Vermont-based SVE Associates referred the Greenfield Recorder to Wendell’s town government. Town Coordinator Glenn Johnson-Mussad had no comment.

A $623,154 contract was signed in late spring 2022 for the culvert replacement work, which closed Mormon Hollow Road from late July through early November. An amendment to that contract in the fall added $51,053 for additional materials used, bringing the cost to $674,207.

However, recent heavy rain caused materials to wash out. Davenport estimates repairs will cost $84,000. Phil Delorey, chair of the Road Commission, said the long-term repairs have not yet started because the water diversion repair bought enough time to formulate a quality plan.

“The streambed is essentially gone,” Delorey said at the special Selectboard meeting on Friday afternoon, when Selectboard members voted unanimously to spend the $84,000 on repairs. “The water actually has undermined the footing of the culvert.”

The culvert replacement project was engineered in 2019, Delorey said previously. The town had been waiting for money to fund the project, which came in the form of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Chapter 90 and storm damage relief money. Davenport workers tore up more than 60 feet of road to replace the culvert, which was nearly 30 feet below the roadway.

Attempts to reach Davenport for more information were unsuccessful by press time on Tuesday.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-772-0261, ext. 262.

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