Morganton approves storm‑recovery contracts, change orders and budget amendments after Hurricane Helene

Following Hurricane Helene, the Morganton City Council on April 7 approved several contracts, a change order for a critical pump station, and budget amendments to support ongoing storm recovery work at parks, wastewater infrastructure and other city facilities.

Council awarded Wildlands Engineering (referred to in the meeting as “Wildlands”) a $15,000 contract for design and construction observation to restore Bethel Park stream and floodplain areas damaged by storm silt and bank erosion. Rob Winkler, special operations, said Wildlands has been providing assessment work and will ensure restoration meets the city’s permitting requirements.

The council also approved a contract with Beanstalk Builders LLC to repair the Beanstalk Everyone’s Playground and the Wagon Wheel at Catawba Meadows Park. Sally Sandy, city manager, presented a quote of $153,000 for repairs and asked for a 5% contingency. The council approved an amount not to exceed $160,650, including the contingency.

For the Silver Creek sewer lift station, council approved change order No. 1 to the contract with Brushy Mountain Builders for $414,102.67 to raise electrical service and other storm‑mitigation measures; the new contract total is $6,409,832.67. Staff said the original elevation work proved insufficient after Helene and that the change order raises the station above the newly adopted flood elevation.

Council also authorized an award to Wildlands for a $15,000 scope and approved awarding a construction oversight contract for Buffalo/Bethel park silt removal and streambank repair (Baker Grading is the active contractor on site). Staff said Baker Grading is nearly finished with silt removal and that the city will submit the work for FEMA reimbursement.

On the budget side the council approved transferring $200,000 from the electric fund into the Helene storm project fund to provide spending authority for equipment replacement. The council accepted $538,465 in insurance reimbursements from the city’s flood insurer and placed the funds into the Helene project fund.

Sally Sandy reported two additional pending reimbursements routed through state emergency management: $844,274 to reimburse mutual aid payments the city made to outside utilities and $116,311 for silt removal work; staff said those checks are expected to arrive. Sandy described combined recoveries as “almost 1.5 million dollars” received or forthcoming, while noting the city still faces substantially larger project totals.

Council also approved a budget amendment to accept additional state appropriations and to increase the Silver Creek project fund by $148,933 to account for the increased construction cost tied to storm mitigation.

All of the above motions passed by voice vote.