City approves final payment in $800,000 sewer lining project

At the final meeting of the current Prairie City City Council Dec. 13, the town’s elected leaders closed the books on a two-year, $812,000 sanitary sewer lining project, approving the final two payments and voting to settled liquidated damages to project contractor Municipal Pipe Tool Co.

In a 4-0 vote, the council approved payments in the amount of $24,265 and $31,765 for work completed in the lining of nearly all sanitary sewer mains and repair of more than 200 residential service connections in Prairie City, north of Heartland Co-op.

The city also settled on MPT’s counter offer of $3,000 in liquidated damage claims for the Northside Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project, after initially requesting the Hudson-based company pay $10,500.

“We understand the city’s frustrations regarding this project,” Sharon Waschkat, MPT chief operations officer wrote in a letter to the city. “The dig caused by the grout bladder blowing into the resident’s lateral was definitely unforeseen. Our insurance company will completely resolve this issue.”

The blowout Waschkat was referring to was an incident underneath North Monroe Street where pressure built in a line, causing it to rupture and damage the street above. Waschkat went on to write the company’s $10,000 deductible will result in MPT paying for nearly the entire road repair out of pocket. But if the city did not accept the damages offer, MPT would require Prairie City to provide an items list of damages.

The final discussion over liquidated damages happened Dec. 13 in a closed session between the city council and city attorney John Judisch.

The project might be complete, but one lingering headache for city staff remains in a side affect from the sewer lining. During the process, crews capped several residential service lines which feed the main lines that appeared to be abandoned or connected to vacant buildings and empty properties.

This was meant to keep water infiltration in these lines from adding to heavier flows in the mains during high rain events.

At least two lines mistakenly capped might lead to buildings which are not vacant including the antique store Mud Pies and Sassafras Tea, a building owned by councilman Lyle Burkett.

“There are a lot of lines that were capped. A lot of them should have been capped and were meant to be capped, so it’s not a matter of going in a uncapping all of those. There is just a very small number that were capped which shouldn’t have been and we’re trying to remedy that situation,” Judisch said.

The city council approved a resolution 4-0 outlining a process for a citizen to request the city uncap their service line if it was inadvertently closed. The resolution states a property owner must:

• notify the city that damage has occurred.

• keep damage claims limited to service lines that were capped during the sewer rehab project.

• establish that the service line is a functioning and active line that should not have been capped. The citizen will need to televise the line and provide the footage to the city to ensure the line is up to code. The resident will be reimbursed the cost of the televising if the line is sound.

• the notice or claim to the city has to be made within one year of the completion of the project.

New city council members take the oath

Three new city council members and Mayor Chad Alleger were sworn in Dec. 13, preparing to be seated in January.

Christy Lindsay, Dianne Taylor and John Lee took the oath of office. They were the top three vote-getters in a five person field during the Nov. 7 city elections.

These three council members-elect replace Burkett, retiring city councilwoman Andrea Engle and councilman Dan Downey, who both decided not to run for re-election after each serving one term.

Burkett decided not to run for re-election in November and instead pursed his second challenge to Alleger in the mayoral race. Alleger won the race with more than 72 percent of the vote.

Lindsay is a service coordinator for WahlTek and WahlScribe in Des Moines, and an avid volunteer in Prairie City and the PCM community. Taylor is semi-retired and owns her own small consulting firm and Lee is the owner/operator of the Prairie City-based Green Acres Hay Feeders.

The new council members will officially be seated Jan. 3 at the fiscal year 2018 city budget workshop and will serve in their first regular meeting Jan. 10 at city hall.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@myprairiecitynews.com