Several weeks ago, the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District (PRVWSD) issued a string of boil water notices due to the work of boring companies and named C-Spire as the company doing the majority of underground boring work — but C-Spire has a different side of the story.
While C-Spire has done work in PRVWSD’s area this year, they do not currently have projects in residential areas. Regardless, C-Spire representatives said their procedures would not allow for the lack of communication and unfinished work that was seen recently. Mark Beyea, Chief Engineer at PRVWSD, said that other companies are doing boring work in the area, including Atmos, when asked for the follow up.
“We take responsibility for projects that we head up and, if we are contracting for boring activity, we take responsibility if there is an issue and for communicating with residents from cradle to grave,” Dave Miller, senior manager of media relations for C-Spire said. “What I can’t tell you is what other providers do. We can tell you what we do.”
Miller said it is really important to the company that they not only comply with the 8-1-1 Call Before You Dig process and other procedures but go above and beyond. He said it is what their customers expect and what they would expect. In the case an issue does occur, Miller said they address it immediately and work to solve it as quickly as possible.
“The thing that is really important to remember is that we are not walking away from any issue or challenge,” Miller said. “We live here and work here. That is who we are and we’re fellow Mississippians. We are invested very heavily in making sure that Mississippi Call Before You Dig 8-1-1 process works and works well.”
Clay Branch, director of network development at C-Spire, is responsible for leading the engineering and deployment services to the area that will be serviced. He said when an area is selected for work to be done, he begins to work with local government, utility companies, and residents before any teams are deployed to the area. Once the design is finalized, they work with the communities through emails, texts, letters and meetings to show how the project will be executed. They then will apply for the permits, deploy teams, and start building.
“We like to educate the community before we come,” Branch said. “We try to educate them and help them understand how to communicate with us through the process so they have complete transparency, which is what we are trying to find there.”
This allows for residents to understand what the company is doing, why, and how long it should take. This communication also makes sure C-Spire is on the same page with the local government with protocols and rules each individual city has. This communication helps residents who may not have otherwise understood the construction efforts that sometimes bring eyesores into their neighborhoods.
“There are mistakes made and when there are, we typically do everything we can to have already created a protocol to communicate with the residents, community, and the right personnel within the utility or department,” Branch said. “Really the intent with our deployment is to be transparent and be communicative with the residents, the city, and state officials. That is the way we try to operate. There are one-offs where circumstances go outside of that potentially, but that is our effort and we try to strive to do that.”
Although he works for the company, Miller said he has dealt with C-Spire on a consumer basis as head of his homeowners association. During the company’s servicing, he said there was always a supervisor in the area to make sure everything was done correctly and when there was an issue, it was addressed immediately.
“I think it is really important that C-Spire is not just lip service,” Miller said. “One of the things that happens with this kind of infrastructure is that there is going to be disruption and, even though every step is taken and effort is made to minimize disruption, there is going to be some. What really impressed me was that C-Spire took all of the steps necessary to really address those issues and address them in a timely fashion so that there weren’t any issues that were lingering over the long term. That is really an exception. That isn’t the rule, that’s the exception.”
While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, Branch said sometimes it is out of their hands when it comes to other utility companies’ work. The 8-1-1 Call Before You Dig processes tickets that notify the utilities in the area when C-Spire submits a request to do work in a neighborhood. As a local company, C-Spire also works to directly communicate with the impact utility company in addition to the ticket. For example, PRVWSD would receive a ticket stating that boring work will be done in the area. Then, the utility company must go mark their underground infrastructure, such as water lines, to ensure they are not damaged in the process.
“State law requires 18 inches and so we work to be well outside of that so that we are away from any infrastructure,” Branch said. “The challenge comes when locates are not completed by the utility company or incorrectly located and that is typically the scenario that we run into as a company.”
Miller said part of the issue is that some infrastructure completed by utility companies may be decades old and difficult to locate.
“In the last year, over 50 percent of damages in the field to utilities have been because of no locate at all by the utility company,” Branch said. “Now, I can’t speak specifically to whether that is water, gas or electricity — I’m saying generally speaking. The responsibility of the utility company to be able to accurately locate their infrastructure before we come is critical.”
This is an underlying issue and one that they don’t run away from when these problems occur, according to Branch. They work quickly to notify the impacted utility company, notify impacted residents, and stay during repairs to offer their services, such as digging with their equipment.
“We want to continue to have a relationship with the utility companies and residents— we really don’t try to point blame here,” Branch said. “If it is truly our fault and we were outside of the state law and not taking the right precautions, we typically take the full burden of that from a financial perspective as well as the efforts to repair. But in many cases the reason something like that happens is because it wasn’t located or wasn’t located accurately. In most cases, it is really difficult for our contractors, as well as our employees, to really deploy without running into mistakes like that.”
Branch said it is important residents and businesses trust that they are deploying good technology and going to bring good advancements to their families, which is crucial to getting business. If they are creating havoc in the neighborhood, no one is going to want their services, Branch added. Therefore, they make every effort to be transparent and gracious in their deployment process while having open communication.
“We are held out — not only by the 8-1-1 organization — but by residents and homeowner associations and some of these local government organizations as a model for how to do it right,” Miller said. “We will hold our record up against any other provider. We’ve been consistently recognized as a leader in damage prevention efforts — not just in the Jackson area but across our service area. So, if we have an underground boring project that is going on, we are going to do it the right way and make sure our contractors do it the right way. We take that accountability very seriously.”
They understand there are services that will cause boil water notices to be issued, but at the end of the day, they strive to bring the best technology to Mississippi the right way.
“The number one thing we strive to do is doing what is best for the resident,” Branch said. “I know sometimes that statement could be not understood because we are digging in their neighborhood and impacting their life. But that is our effort to try to bring this really ground-breaking technology and to do it in a way that is transparent to residents and has the least amount of impact to their life.”
