City OKs water main repair
DECATUR — Mayor Bob Tharp summoned the city council for a special meeting on Monday, Jan. 23, to address the immediate repair to the water main line on Ivan Street. The city must consider how it should pay for the project and whether the bid proposal from Land Development Group is reasonable.
Present at the meeting were Tharp, recorder/treasurer Kim Wilkins, police chief Steve Grizzle, fire chief Joey Gunter, public works director James Boston and council members Randy Boone, Sandy Duncan, Danny Harrington, Linda Martin, David Johnson and Mike Price.
Schuber Mitchell Homes is currently building a subdivision and, while excavating the gravel road to build a blacktop street, ran into an issue with topsoil underneath the roadbed.
According to Tharp, “The problem was that the city of Decatur, 40 years ago or something, put a waterline real close to the road. … So, when they started digging, they found the water line and (it) had to be repaired.”
The city received a bid contract from Land Development Group LLC to repair the broken water main line on Ivan Street for $105,207.69.
This amount will cover all the expenses, which will include “materials, installation, the whole thing. They’ll take care of all of it.”
Tharp wanted to reiterate that this project won’t be replacing the water main line but repairing the damaged spots in the pipeline.
“We’re going to repair about 1,600 feet. We can’t get the road built without tearing a hole up. We’re fixing the bad spot in the waterline, and that’s all we’re doing is just repair.”
Members of the council raised a few questions concerning where the funds would be to finance the project.
“The $105,000 would come out of the contingency (fund) because we have about $300,000 for emergencies,” said Tharp.
Some members asked if this is a water department or street issue, should not the funds from those departments be used to finance the project?
Tharp said: “I was thinking contingency because that’s what it’s there for. It’s emergency money; it just seemed to be the smoothest (way) to explain … to people who want to know.”
The contingency funds come from the “city’s sales tax.” And to recoup those funds, Wilkin says the city puts $1,000 every month into the fund. This is just a rough estimate and not the actual amount.
The contingency fund can finance any emergency project, but funds from other departments can’t be transferred to finance another, such as from street funds to water.
The questions on everyone’s minds are: Since this is a matter of urgency, should we tap into a fund we know can address the problem immediately even though it will require time to replenish? Or do we wait and see whether we have better options to fund the project?
Tharp says: “The longer we wait, the longer the people are out there without a road. And we don’t want to do that. We want to get this done.”
Ultimately, the mayor called for a vote, and the motion passed unanimously to have the funds from the contingency account be used to repair the water main line on Ivan Street for the amount of $105,207.69.
Land Development Group, LLC will work immediately to get the water main line repaired and going.