The Fayette city council approved a change in plans for the ongoing sewer project on the southern edge of the Fayette City Cemetery. The council voted 4-2 on January 11 to re-route the project after workers preparing to dig underneath the highway located unmarked graves in October.

The macabre surprise briefly halted work on Tuesday, October 19, in an area between Highway 240 and the cemetery fence. Workers were laying new sewers from the city’s wastewater plant, which run parallel to the north side of the highway. A grave was found in an area between the road and the fence at the edge of the Fayette City Cemetery. 

Work immediately stopped and the city was notified. The wooden coffin was located approximately eight feet below ground level and within a few feet of the highway. Two more coffins are suspected to lie within inches of the exposed coffin but were left unearthed. It was determined that since no graves had been exhumed, the city was allowed to rebury the remains.

A memorial stone will be placed atop the area where the three caskets were found. An anonymous donor will pay for the $600 stone which will be provided by Audsley Monument in Glasgow.

On November 4, Terracon, a company out of Olathe, Kansas, with an office in Columbia, scanned the entire area with ground-penetrating radar to determine if any additional unmarked graves populate the area. The findings were inconclusive, most likely because of the depth of the ground. 

The decision by the council is expected to increase the cost of the project by around $35,000 to $40,000. However, Don Jenkins, from MECO Engineering who is overseeing the project, said that there is enough money left over in the roughly $5.5 million project’s budget to pay for the change. Another change in the area where Highways 240 and 5 intersect in the north part of town, ended up lowering the cost of the project by about $150,000.

“We can get started on it right away if that’s the way you decide to go,” Jenkins told the council.

Danny Dougherty, the city’s public works director, has been adamant since the caskets were discovered, to reroute the project away from the area. “It’s a lot of money to change. But they couldn’t tell us 100% certain whether there was anything else in there, especially down to certain depths,” he explained to the council. “We hit the other one at eight-and-a-half feet. I think we ought to avoid the whole area altogether. We have the extra money in the project. We should just get out of that area.”

Southwest Ward Alderwoman Hope Smith expressed similar thoughts. “I just think there are too many ‘ifs’,” she said. “I feel we need to go ahead and do the additional $35,000 and re-route it.”

The two dissenting votes by the council were made by Southwest Ward Alderman Grafton Cook and Northwest Ward Alderman Jeremy Dawson. Dawson is projected to be the next Fayette Mayor. He is running unopposed after current Mayor Kevin Oeth declined to seek a second term. He inquired as to what else that money could pay for instead of rerouting that section of the project. 

Jenkins said that additional manhole lining and lid and frame replacement could be done. “Just different stuff to additionally reduce the INI into the system.” (INI stands for inflow and infiltration, which are water leaks into the system).

“There’s still going to be a lot of funds left to add more stuff into the project, and do more manholes and stuff,” Jenkins said.

The long-awaited sewer project began in July 2021. Construction is to last 270 days with a completion date of April 28, 2022.