By Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council last week approved a project to abandon an old 2-inch water main along the eastern end of Elm Street and move service connections there to a previously installed replacement line.
Decades ago, when the city installed 4-inch and 6-inch water mains in the area around the eastern end of Elm Street, it didn’t move service connections from the older 2-inch lines.
The city has about 170 service connections to 2-inch lines that were replaced but not abandoned at the time of construction, said Public Works Director Greg Springman during the council’s regular meeting on Sept. 11. Those connections should be moved, and “this project is a first stab at that.”
As part of the city’s leak maintenance repair program, engineering staff identified 2,800 feet of 2-inch waterlines on Elm Street, Fir Street and 17th Avenue with 24 service connections the city needs to move to the newer lines.
The 2-inch lines were installed in the 1940s, Springman said. They’re in poor condition and have a history of leaks. The city installed 4-inch and 6-inch mains during the 1960s through 1980s.
The water services were not switched over to the newer mains at the time they were installed, Springman said. They continued to be supplied by the leaky 2-inch main.
That was a practice Springman told The New Era that he has not encountered during his career in water utilities.
Staff Engineer Joe Graybill told The New Era the most effective option is to replace connections when new lines are installed, and no one is certain why the connections weren’t made at the time.
“We don’t have good records from the ’60s,” Graybill said. “There’s no good reason for it, but we believe they were looking at the lowest possible dollar amount to get a transmission line through the neighborhood.”
The reason was likely to improve flows into the existing 2-inch line and new fire hydrants in the area, Graybill said. The 2-inch lines were not that old at that point.
They’re 80 years old now, he said. They’re leaky, and a number of the leaks are likely undetectable. The most effective option is replacement of the connections and abandonment of the 2-inch line.
The project will eliminate a substantial portion of leaky pipe without requiring main line replacement, Springman told the council. The project also connects existing mains and dead ends to improve system flow, pressure and fire protection.
Contractors will submit sealed bids for the project by Oct. 10, with work tentatively scheduled to begin in November, with an estimated Jan. 31 completion date.
The engineer’s estimate for the project is $204,000.
Councilor James Goble was concerned about additional pavement patching as part of the project, noting the patchwork on Elm Street left over from a sewer main and lateral replacement project.
This project won’t require full trenches, Springman said. The contractor will use directional boring from a pothole dug at the main line.
Previous patches on the road turned into “sinks,” Goble said.
Contractors are typically on the hook for that for about a year, Springman said, and the city will hold them accountable for making good patches.
The council voted 7-0 to send the project out to bid.
Present were councilors Bob Briana, Susan Coleman, Lisa Gourley, Mayor Greg Mahler, Dave Trask, Goble and Diane Gerson.
In other business, the council:
n Approved an ordinance authorizing Sweet Home Sanitation to raise prices by 8 percent to offset higher recycling costs after the third reading of the ordinance. The ordinance took effect immediately upon passage with the mayor’s signature. The increase is retroactive to Aug. 1. Sweet Home Sanitation began billing with the increase in August.
The council voted 6-1, with Trask voting no.
n Approved a lease agreement for a new patrol vehicle for Sweet Home Police Department.
The department has maintained a patrol fleet of seven vehicles, said Police Chief Jeff Lynn in a request for council action. That provided four patrol vehicles with two for sergeants and one for a school resource officer. The department is transitioning to a fleet of six.
It last replaced a patrol vehicle in 2017. Prior to that, it replaced three in 2013 after they were totaled in a pursuit in the area of 3rd and 4th avenues.
Lynn said that forced the department onto a more aggressive replacement schedule, and recently, the department began leasing the vehicles with the option to buy them after three years for $1. The department budgeted $39,500 for vehicle leases in the 2018-19 fiscal year. Currently, one vehicle is on a lease. With the new vehicle, the department will have two under a lease.
The department typically puts 18,000 to 23,000 miles on each patrol vehicle each year, Lynn said.
The current fleet includes two 2010 Ford Crown Victorias with 121,000 and 93,000 miles respectively, both used by sergeants; a 2012 Dodge Charger with 123,000 miles used for patrol; two 2013 Chargers with 113,000 and 132,000 miles, both used by patrol; and two 2017 Ford Interceptors, with 22,000 and 25,000 miles, used by patrol.
The department plans to remove the Crown Victoria and Charger with the highest mileage in the near future.
n Opened a discussion about allowing utility task vehicles, side-by-side all-terrain vehicles, to be used on city roads.
With proper lighting and equipment, it’s something that other cities are allowing, said City Manager Ray Towry. Where he came from, Ephrata, Wash., they were allowed, and they caused no issues.
Briana said he was asked by a citizen to look at allowing people to drive their UTVs to town.
“We’ll do some homework, steal someone else’s ordinance and bring it to you for your perusal,” Towry said.