Council gives OK to sewer project

DUNKIRK — Contracts were awarded for a sewer project on Barbier Street at city council’s Monday night meeting.

Council also heard a pitch to digitize the city’s maps and approved funds to install a new tank for the city pool’s backwash system.

At its last meeting, council opened bids for two projects to add lining to the sewer lines underneath Barbier Street. Mitch Hansel of Fleis & Vandenbrink presented the low bids for the two projects. Council awarded the contract for the lining of the main line to Culy Contracting, with a bid of $58,035.05 after council waived the $1,438 performance bond. The second project, to line the lateral lines, was awarded to Humbard Contracting, with a bid of $124,740 after council waived a $250 performance bond.

The losing bids on the main line totaled $64,200.95 from Inliner, $85,408.11 from Insituform Technologies and $76,534.25 from Humbard Contracting. The other bids on the lateral line project were $143,215 from Performance Pipeline and $130,805 from Culy Contracting.

The lining of the sewer lines will create a new sealed line within the already existing pipes, reducing the diameter slightly but helping prevent leaks and extending the life of the lines.

“We originally had $268,000 in 2016 budgeted for the full project, and we came in at $222,000 for the engineering, the bids, all of it,” Hansel said. “So we’re $46,000 under budget.”

Council also heard a presentation from David Ralston of Elevate, the company that manages the county’s GIS system.

Ralston presented a new product called Bivvy that would allow the city to digitize its paper maps. According to Ralston, the digitization process is typically too expensive for a small city to pursue, but Elevate has a special that would minimize costs for Dunkirk.

Council members suggested Ralston speak with the city’s department heads to discuss the feasibility of the service.

Council member Tom Johnson presented a series of bids for work to replace the storage tank for the city pool’s filter backwash system. Currently, the backwash system can overflow and drain into the nearby creek, an issue the county health inspector wants the city to address. Council members Jesse Bivens, Lisa Street, Jack Robbins, Bryan Jessup and Johnson approved spending $5,844.92 to purchase a new tank, install it and tie it into the city’s wastewater system and lay cement on top of it. Johnson said he will ask the city Park Board to approve the expenditure from its funds.

In other business, council:

•Transferred deeds on seven blighted homes to Dunkirk Industrial Development Corporation for a total of $700. The development corporation will apply for additional Blight Elimination Program funds to tear the houses down, and if everything isn’t removed in two years the properties will return to the city’s ownership.

•Approved the closing of an alley off Orange Avenue, where property on both sides of the alley is owned by the same individual.

•Decided to add speed bumps to an alley near Westlawn Elementary School, where council was concerned about the possibility of vehicle accidents.

•Heard from resident Michael Moore about a high volume of truck traffic on Center Street heading toward Ardagh Glass. Council said the city has ordered new traffic signs and Street said she will speak with the plant manager about directing drivers to the correct truck route.

•Heard from Robbins that water draining off the city hall building was causing damage to Jim Roysdon’s property. Robbins said he will bring bids for council’s approval to resolve the issue.

•Heard Mayor Gene Ritter present a proclamation honoring local law enforcement during the week of May 1 to May 7. The proclamation was suggested by Jay County Optimists.

•Approved claims totaling $369,178.61.