ROGERS CITY — Less than a year after a large water, sewer, and road project on First Avenue, a pair of water main breaks have raised questions about whether the new pipes were properly installed, whether the pipes have a defect in them, and who is responsible for the repair bills.

The Rogers City City Council is working with the contractor, MacArthur Construction, of Hillman, to get a one-year callback — or extension to the warranty — for the work to cover the city’s bases should more issues with the pipes arise down the road.

MacArthur did the repairs for the first water main break but was unable to fix the other and the city had to hire another company to make the needed fix. MacArthur told the city that it will pay that bill and also the costs to have the two sections of pipes — which each ended up having cracks about six feet in length — inspected.

The pipes are slated to be sent out to have them examined for possible defects.

Because all of the pipes came in one batch, if they are flawed, it could mean other lines under First Street could be compromised.

Contractors installed new water infrastructure and a new roadway on top of that infrastructure along a roughly mile-long stretch of First Avenue in 2022 thanks to a $1 million Community Development Block Grant, which covered all but $250,000 of the project’s cost. Rogers City paid a $250,000 match for the grant.

Shortly after most of the work was complete in November 2022, a large water main break occurred at the intersection of First and Huron Street in March 2023. Another pipe broke in October 2023 near the intersection of First and Woodward Avenue. In both instances, contractors had to bust open the new streets to make the needed repairs to the pipe.

Rogers City Mayor Scott McLennan said it is important to find out the cause of the water main breaks to prevent future failures.

Eric Cronk, of C2AE, the consultant who did the design work for the project, said it is unlikely the pipes are defective, but he couldn’t assure the council the pipes were installed the way they were supposed to be. He encouraged the study of the pipes, which will be done by a company in Midland, to rule out faults.

The council agreed that MacArthur needed to pay the current bills — for the work on the second pipe break to which MacArthur couldn’t respond and for the cost of the pipe inspection — within the next 10 days. Work on the amended warranty will also continue.

The cost of the contractor to fix the second water-main break was about $13,000, the pipe inspection $9,900, and the cost to ship the damaged pipe for inspection will be $400.

McLennan said he is confident the extended warranty will be implemented between Rogers City and MacArthur. He said that, as the process unfolds and more is learned as to why the pipes broke, the goal is to make sure the taxpayers got what they paid for and avoid taking either of the contractors to court.

“We are trying not to get this into litigation, because that is not good for anyone,” McLennan said. “I think we can work this out, entity to entity. We have a good relationship with the contractor and I would like to see it remain that way.”