Chris Berendt
Staff Writer
The City Council signed off on capital project ordinances and amendments regarding several projects, including a water and sewer revamp, an elevated water tank and a comprehensive program to digitally locate and record all sewer utilities citywide.
The utility line inventory project and the elevated water tank project each benefit from 50 percent N.C. Rural Economic Development Center grant funding, while the Wall Street alley water and sewer revamp project required funds to be transferred from the Water and Sewer Fund.
The city’s $40,000 contribution to the $80,000 utility line inventory project is included in the 2012-13 budget, while the full budget for the elevated tank — a Rural Center grant of nearly $900,000 was awarded to the city earlier this year — is not yet known and budget amendments will be required later, city manager John Connet said.
Public Works and Utilities director Jeff Vreugdenhil told the Council about the $80,000 inventory project, which was discussed during budget deliberations.
“The primary focus of the grant will be to complete a sewer utility inventory while GPS locating critical infrastructure within the city and assessing the conditions of that infrastructure,” said Vreugdenhil. “This will be a first step in building a digitized database for water and sewer utilities throughout our system. We currently operate off very dated paper maps. We’d like to get our directional flow and drainage basins identified and get our sewer manholes, hydrants and water valves located on a digital database.”
Vreugdenhil said the project would also help the Clinton Fire Department with its ISO rating and get both departments on the same digital page. “It would help both departments,” he noted.
The Council also approved entering into a contract with The Wooten Company for engineering work for the elevated water tank project.
The N.C. Rural Economic Development Center awarded the $885,000 grant to the city in April, funding half the estimated $1.77 million project cost to establish the elevated water storage tank to serve Smithfield Foods. City staff is in the process of working out the additional financing and final details for the project, but Connet said to move it forward, the city must enter into a contract with The Wooten Company for the first phase of design.
“We are working on the other financing, but we do need to start with the engineering so we have a limited engineering services agreement not to exceed $30,000 just to get the project started so we can get other financing approved from the Local Government Commission,” the city manager said. “The limited service agreement will expire in November.”
The contract was approved for $20,000.
“That is something we’ve been working very closely with Smithfield on,” said Mayor Lew Starling.
The elevated water tank, which will serve Smithfield Foods and the surrounding area, is a complement to a $5 million project that will see the city’s water treatment plant expanded by 1.5 million gallons and the establishment of a redundant water line. The tank would provide a greater amount of water storage capacity for what would be the city’s biggest customer and will also, with the expansion of the water plant and job creation at Smithfield, allow for improved fire protection in the southeast side of Clinton and better service in that area as a result, city officials have said.
Last month, the Council awarded a bid to Jymco Development Inc. of Smithfield for the replacement and repair of the water and sewer lines in the alley behind Sessoms Jewelry and the West and Main bakery business, stretching along the Wall Street from Main Street to Sycamore Street.
Jymco Development was the low bidder at $108,640. Factoring in contingency funds, engineering fees and other costs, the project was close to $160,000.
Vreugdenhil has said the system is in poor shape and the repair of the lines was a critical need for surrounding properties. He recommended the Council accept the bid, which it did. “It’s very needed,” he said. The repair will take approximately 90 days. The transfer of funds from the Water and Sewer Fund balance of $157,685 was approved by the Council.
Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137 ext. 121 or via email at sicrime@heartlandpublications.com.
Post a Comment
