At 6:05 pm, the meeting was called to order by Mayor Hopkins. All were present with Council Member Hedrick arriving late. The smoke testing will locate areas where there are illicit discharges into the sanitary sewer. The town engineer provided copies of the notice that went out for similar project in Fircrest that can be used to notify residents of the upcoming work. The smoke testing will take about 4 days for whole town. Notice will be put in next newsletter with a goal to perform the work within a couple of weeks, probably the week of March 8th.
The cost for this investigation is within the estimated budget, but it's not listed in written scope. A change in paperwork will be needed and will be presented at the next meeting on March 1st. The costs break down for this work is two phases with $7,600 for the initial testing and $22,600 for the larger second phase, plus about $600 in other costs; for a $31,800 total budget. The overall budget for this work is $400,000. There may be other costs since the last tv survey of the lines was 14 years ago, and tree root problem in park that needs further investigation. Mayor Hopkins also wanted to find out what is causing problems with the roadway at 51st and Highland, and 49th and Winnifred.
The mayor was concerned about how to approach residents when a problem is identified with a lateral line, especially since the home owner must pay for the repairs from the main line to their home. There were some ideas discussed as possible ways to help property owners with funding/loans for this work. The mayor wants to survey the town on a block by block basis in case it may show some pockets of low-income households. Those low-income areas may qualify for more outside loans.
Problem lateral lines to homes may not be discovered until the line is dug up, so having a plan on how to address them needs to be in place before work begins. One approach on laterals is for the town contractor to replace lateral line, or the property owner could hire their own qualified contractor.
Council Member Hunt wanted to know if any dirt was expected to be turned over this year. The engineer said the goal was yes, unless solving the lateral line issue takes longer. The fire department needs to be notified this coming so they can be ready in case there are any panic calls. The engineer encouraged the town to find ways to educate folks that this is non-toxic smoke, not harmful to breathe, won't cause offensive smell to clothes, etc.
Connection fees were discussed since several homes are connected without paying a connection fee, and a few houses are on their own system with pumps to get their sewer discharge to the main line. This may be the time to require these owners to connect into the public system like everyone else.
The meeting adjourned at about 6:55 pm.
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