The Powell City Council approved a boring contract this month.

As part of an effort to move the city’s electrical lines along Seventh Street from overhead to underground, the council agreed to pay J&J Construction $138,090 to install the necessary conduit. The city had budgeted $140,000.

“It’s part of our ongoing burying what we can, getting rid of overhead aerial [lines],” City Administrator Zack Thorington explained at a March 2 meeting.

In a follow-up message, Thorington said burying the power lines provides better reliability in bad weather, improves safety, allows crews to access transformers on the ground, protects the lines from animals — squirrels have proven particularly problematic over the years — and generally makes the city’s streets look cleaner. He added that a change was needed, as the existing poles were nearing the end of their life.

City crews will pull the electrical wire through the conduit and set the transformers, but they don’t have the capability to do the boring itself, Thorington said.

J&J Construction, which was the only bidder, did the same work on another section of Seventh Street in 2023.

This time around, the Cody firm will install over 3,500 feet of conduit — from the electrical substation off Ingalls Street past the Park County Fairgrounds to the alleyway between Absaroka and Bernard streets.

The company must substantially complete the job by May 29 and be totally done by June 12.

Thorington said the work shouldn’t create any closures on Seventh Street, though some alleys will be temporarily closed on one end while cabinets are installed and wire pulled.