Hugh Bilyea likes his home in the 300 block of Rose Street in Northport.

With the first shovelsful of dirt being turned over for the joint Village of Northport-Leelanau Township sewer project Friday night, Bilyea is looking forward to having his aged septic tank system replaced with something more modern.

“My septic tank was put in 1932. I’m not sure it’s all still there. I’m all in favor of having a more modern system,” he said.

On Thursday, June 21, bonds to provide up-front money for the $15 million project were issued to the State of Michigan at 1.625 percent interest. To celebrate work on the upcoming project, which is scheduled to start the week of July 9, the Village Council will host a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Marina Pavilion.

Sure to be present are representatives from construction firms that submitted winning bids for three portions of the contract. DeVere Construction of Alpena submitted the low bid of $3,198,000 to build the wastewater treatment plant. Officials with DeVere said at the June 22 preconstruction meeting held in Northport that they would be “mobilizing” next week by getting supplies and equipment in place. Excavation work on the 68-acre parcel is expected to start Monday, July 9. Village officials were hopeful that a purchase agreement with the property owners could be finalized within the next week.

Arkansas-based Dunigan Bros., Inc., was awarded the bid for the gravity-fed portion of the sewer at $5,141,954. InfraSource Underground Services, Inc.’s bid of $1,673,412 was accepted for the low-pressure system portion of the sewer project.

Officials with InfraSource said their work could start the third week in July. James Schiffer, project engineer with Fleis and Vandenbrink Engineering, Inc., of Traverse City, said work on the sewer project will continue between now and the end of November or early December, depending on the weather. Work will resume as early as possible in the spring with a “substantial” completion date expected by July 31, 2008, and a final completion set for Aug. 15, 2008.

Dunigan will start work within the village before the end of July 2007 as well. Officials with Dunigan said that because its work on the project includes going into yards for digging-related work, company representatives will contact property owners. A Dunigan official said company representatives would be in the Northport area through the July 4 holiday to answer questions.

All three construction companies will be working 10 hours a day, four days a week through summer months. Schiffer said the public and property owners will be notified in advance of required road closures or traffic restrictions. “We are also staying out of some areas, like downtown, during the busy summer months,” he said.