Emergency work on a malfunctioning pump that has been causing sewage to back up into a Gillespie Drive home for over a year has turned out to be more involved than originally expected.
During Tuesday night’s city board meeting, City Engineer Ron Cassada said the sewer problem on Gillespie came into better focus when Public Works Director Elvis Pernell told him that his crew hit a solid blockage under U.S. 82 near Moody Street.
Cassada said that he got a better handle on the situation when he tested the pump himself while city crews were addressing the blockage.
“I was at the pump station on Gillespie, doing an evaluation when I noticed that if the pump is on, sewage is blowing open the manhole covers and the cleanout caps in the resident’s house that is having the flooding issue in her yard,” Cassada said, “Her house is at the lowest point in the system, and it’s not rainwater in her yard, it’s sewage coming up through her cleanout due to the backflow pressure inevitably caused by the blockage under 82.”
The city declared an emergency two weeks ago when resident Rosie Stewart appeared before the board, pleading for help with the sewage issue. Raw sewage has apparently been coming into her home for over a year, due to the pump’s issue.
The pump was on a list of ones to be rehabbed as part of a future project, but the board opted to make it a priority, as the sewage continues to cause foundation and other problems for Stewart and her family.
Ward 1 Alderman Gary Fratesi wanted to know how Cassada planned on dealing with the new issue they discovered under the highway, and Cassada said Pernell and his crew worked on it for eight hours one day and got nowhere with it.
“So I got two estimates for the job, and the first one is Suncoast with a bid of $6,850 a day for mobilization and a 10-hour day, but they are three weeks out from getting to us,” Cassada said, “The second bid is Cleveland Plumbing & Gas, with a bid of $3,000 for a standard 8-hour day. The main difference between the companies is Suncoast does has a camera to run under the highway and see what the blockage is and Cleveland Plumbing does not.”
One of the other engineers with Cassada said Cleveland Plumbing does have access to a camera but the company doesn’t typically include that in his bids.
Right away, the $3,000 bid had Fratesi’s full attention and he wanted to tie the other two pumps the city is having problems with into the same repair.
City Attorney Kimberly Merchant said the 82 problem was just tied to the Gillespie pump emergency, and she didn’t think the other two pumps could be linked to it as well.
Cassada said the problem with the pumps was caused by all of the debris and leaves laying in the bottom of the wet pits and when they fill up with rainwater the pumps kick on and suck all of that into the impellors and clog up.
That statement sparked a discussion of the two broken street sweepers the city owns.
Fratesi said, “Those machines need regular maintenance, and we aren’t doing it.”
Mayor Ken Featherstone interjected that the newest sweeper was purchased from a company in Louisiana, and they had the option of having a maintenance worker come here to do the work, or us shipping the sweeper to them, but he said something needed to start being done concerning it.
The discussion returned to the sewer problem on Gillespie and the board made a motion to contract with Cleveland Plumbing & Gas to jet, vac, and repair the blockage and the pumps involved in the emergency.
Merchant advised capping the number of days the plumbing company could have for the repairs, and it was agreed that $15,000 should be the limit, suggesting that they should have enough time to do the work and maybe still have time to look at the two non-emergency pumps.
Cassada reminded the board of a prior repair that turned into a collapse that took weeks longer than Avis Construction had estimated time for the repair.
“You never know how long it’s going to take, or what you’ll run into,” Cassada said. “If we run into a collapse under 82, there’s no telling how long it will take.”
Ward 4 Alderman Marvin Elder asked Pernell if the city owned a camera and was told that it was a very old camera and it was designed for a six-inch pipe. He said it would probably not be adequate for this job.
Dr. Phyllis Rhodes, the city’s contracted accountant, wanted to know where the funds were going to come from to pay for the project.
Cassada explained that the funding should come from use tax money, which can only be used for water, sewer and roads.
Rhodes suggested that the city issue a bond on it.
“You already know this, but you have to spend it, or you lose it,” Cassada said, referring to the use tax money. “You have to spend at least half, not all of it, that’s where the bond comes in, and you all are letting it build up.”
When Rhodes said the city was holding $1.8 million in use tax money Cassada said, “You have to spend that, or you’ll lose it, and that’s what we’ve been telling you.”
A motion for Cleveland Plumbing & Gas to make the repairs, with a $15,000 cap, was eventually seconded and passed by the board.
