OAKWOOD — Oakwood City Council voted Monday night to spend $1.1 million to start construction on a pump station as part of a project that eventually could bring 2.5 million gallons of sewer per day from Braselton.

The pump station will be built on Martin Road near Winder Highway as part of an initiative with Braselton that began in 2006.

Council awarded the contract to Covington-based Allsouth Construction, which is set to begin work in January and finish in October.

“Our decision tonight fulfills our promise to meeting the long-time sewer needs in the Winder Highway corridor of the Upper Mulberry River area of Oakwood,” Mayor Lamar Scroggs said in a prepared statement issued after the vote.

The city plans to receive bids early in 2010 for the installation of a force main, the second major part of the sewer project, City Manager Stan Brown has said.

In the meantime, the city is working to collect the parcels of land, or easements, needed for the sewer line that will run along Winder Highway/Ga. 53 between Martin Road and the Braselton sewer system in Jackson County, he said.

Work on the force main could take six to eight months to complete.

 “The goal is, by the end of next year, to be in a situation where we start flowing wastewater to Braselton,” Brown has said.

Oakwood already has bought 50,000 gallons of capacity from Braselton, “basically to deal with customers we’re bringing on line right now.”

The city has requests for some 300,000 gallons per day of sewer capacity over the next five years.

As part of an agreement between the cities, Oakwood could acquire a capacity of up to 2.5 million gallons per day from Braselton.

The Braselton Town Council voted Dec. 3 to move forward with issuing bonds to pay for several water and wastewater system projects.

An ordinance passed by the council stipulates that the bonds will be issued at an amount not exceeding $11.2 million.

Braselton is planning to spend an estimated $16 million in future water and wastewater system improvements, including the project with Oakwood.

“We’re excited about this partnership and moving ahead,” Brown told the council Monday night.

The city also is talking with Flowery Branch about the neighboring South Hall city’s sewer expansion plans “and how that partnership will work over the next few years,” he said.