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Cumming pauses emergency sewer contract after staff finds sagging line is in Forsyth County service area
Summary
City staff showed CCTV evidence of a sagging sewer line near Highway 369 and the council instructed the mayor not to execute the emergency repair contract, directing staff to notify Forsyth County that the line lies in the county service area.
Cumming City Council instructed the mayor not to execute an emergency sewer contract after city staff presented CCTV footage and engineering findings suggesting the sagging sewer segment is located in the Forsyth County Water and Sewer Service Area.
Heath Martin, utilities staff for the city, told the council that further investigation showed the majority of the sag is north of Highway 369 and therefore inside the county’s service area. Martin presented video footage showing the inspection camera going underwater as it traveled north in the pipeline; he described the camera submerging at about 180–190 feet of footage from the south manhole and noted an approximately 187-foot distance between a south manhole in the city service area and an abandoned manhole north of Highway 369.
Kevin (city staff; last name not specified) reviewed project records and cited earlier intergovernmental agreements. “The project plans themselves call for the line to the north of 369 to be owned, maintained, and operated by the county,” Kevin said, and he referenced a service-delivery strategy agreement (2012) and a 1997 wastewater agreement describing county responsibility for lines north of 369. John (city staff; last name not specified) confirmed Kevin’s summary: “That’s correct.”
The city had previously received a letter from Ken Gerard (Forsyth County) disputing county responsibility for the line after the city announced plans for emergency repairs. Martin said the city was prepared to perform a repair but that county records and agreements indicate the line lies in the county’s service area.
Council members voted to instruct the mayor not to execute the contract (the city had not issued a notice to proceed); they also directed Kevin to send a letter to Forsyth County stating the city’s position that the line and responsibility fall to the county. The motion carried unanimously, 5-0. The contract had previously been the low bid award to JDS, approved on an emergency basis at the prior meeting, but the council paused execution pending county response and potential reimbursement discussions.
