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Council committee raises cap on routine drainage projects to $2 million
Summary
A TEU committee approved an amendment raising the dollar threshold that requires City Council approval for drainage projects from $1 million to $2 million, with supporters saying the change will speed work in older neighborhoods.
A TEU committee on an unspecified date approved an amendment to the drainage-projects bill that raises the threshold requiring full City Council approval from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000.
The committee voted on the amendment by voice and then approved the bill as amended 5-0. Councilman Jimmy Paluso, the bill uthor, offered the adjustment and framed it as a way to accelerate aging-neighborhood repairs. "I'm trying to fast track the process for us to get these drainage projects going, especially...in our neighborhoods," Paluso said, noting he would be absent for the Tuesday night full council vote because he will be on active-duty orders in Norfolk, Virginia.
The amendment before the committee would require projects with costs in excess of $2,000,000 to receive prior council approval and make minor scrivener corrections, according to Edward Linsky of the council auditor's office. Nina Sickler of Public Works told the committee that a $2,000,000 threshold "will allow a greater proportion of these projects to be able to be moved through more quickly beginning at the beginning of the fiscal year compared to the $1,000,000 by far."
Committee members said they had considered multiple thresholds in earlier committees: rules had discussed $2,500,000, finance had voted to reduce it to $1,000,000, and members traded views in the TEU meeting about where to land. Councilman Mike Gay and others said $2,000,000 is a practical compromise for many districts because $1,000,000 "is not gonna go far" on typical drainage work.
The committee recorded a voice vote approving the amendment and then a ballot vote on the bill as amended; the tally for the final ballot was 5 yays, 0 nays. Committee staff identified the amendment on the record as the "Apollousso Amendment to the Amendment" and then moved to adopt the bill as amended.
The bill's sponsors said the change aims to start projects earlier in the fiscal year rather than waiting months after budget adoption. No new funding amounts or project lists were adopted during the committee action; the change only alters the approval threshold and related text in the legislation. The full council will consider the measure on the next regular agenda.
