Kristina Norman
Streets in Greenville will soon be less pothole-ridden.
Public Works Committee members on Friday recommended City Council members authorize Mid-Delta Equipment, LLC to crush 5,000 tons of concrete for $55,000, which equates to about $10 a ton.
The 7,000 crushed tons of concrete stored at the Greenville Mid Delta Airport from Stein Mart Square are now gone, and more is needed to fix roads, bases, and potholes, said Donde Baldwin, project manager for ClearWater Solutions.
Councilman James Wilson, who sits on the Public Works Committee with Councilwoman Carolyn Weathers and Mayor Errick D. Simmons, said the hundreds of potholes throughout the city should be a priority.
“We need to move fast because we’ve got some serious problems,” he said.
Baldwin also requested authorization to purchase two sewer pumps in the amount of $12,761 and $4,800 from Hydra Service, Inc. for Hernando and Elm streets and Oxford and Essex Place.
Committee members had postponed granting Baldwin permission to replace the pumps until the money could be found within the city’s budget. Baldwin said he spoke with the city’s external financial consultant Steve Osso who said funds were available in the budget.
With the pump on Oxford and Essex Place not functioning properly, a city-owned bypass pump is being used, but it can cost about $2,000 a month in fuel and maintenance, making it cheaper to replace, said Donde Baldwin, project manager for ClearWater Solutions.
In addition to cost, using the bypass pump poses safety hazards for motorists as it lies in the roadway and can be noisy.
CDBG project
Also at Friday’s meeting, engineer Mark Hooker requested a change order be added to the award for the Community Development Block Grant sewer project to Avis Construction, the lowest bidder.
The change order will reduce the total contract construction project cost from $1.2 million to less than $1.03 million as well as the scope of work.
Last week, Hooker said he was contacted by the Mississippi Development Authority regarding when the project would begin.
“That is going to be within our construction budget, but we do need to move forward with this because we got a request and we sent a letter to MDA. They are ready for us to get it under construction and want to know how soon... and when we anticipate issuing a notice to proceed,” he said.
The 50 percent matching grant awarded to the city from Housing and Urban Development will cover sewer and pump station rehabilitation in the Archer, Bookertown, Riverside and Southside additions as well as Shelby and Percy streets.
With so many neighborhoods in need of sewer repairs, Weathers asked Hooker if the city can submit another CDBG application while the current project is under construction.
“I just want to know if we will be able to do two CDBGs instead of just one? Are we going to miss the date?” she asked.
In order for the city to get a second CDBG in a calendar year, it would require the project to be complete by the first week in May, which is unlikely, Hooker said.
“Unless you had a very small project, it would be impossible to do them back-to-back and this is a pretty good project," he said.
Other agencies involvement, such as South Delta Planning and Development District and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History must submit paperwork and conduct environmental studies.
Even though the city will miss the May deadline, there is another grant opportunity later this fall, Hooker said.
