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Beaufort council authorizes city manager to sign MOAs with Beaufort‑Jasper Water and Sewer Authority for utility relocation
Summary
Council approved authorization for the city manager to execute two DOT‑form MOAs with the Beaufort‑Jasper Water and Sewer Authority to share utility relocation costs for downtown and Point drainage projects, with the city’s share capped at 4% under S.C. Act 36 of 2019; a council member pressed staff to tighten inspection, permitting and change‑order language.
Beaufort City Council on Dec. 10 authorized the city manager to execute two memorandum‑of‑agreement templates with the Beaufort‑Jasper Water and Sewer Authority to share utility relocation costs on downtown and Point drainage projects.
City staff member JJ told the council the agreements are standard templates from the South Carolina Department of Transportation and “limit the amount of funding that the city would have to put towards any design or actual utility relocation to 4%, a maximum of 4% of the total cost of the project.” JJ said engineers will insert updated bid estimates and that the agreement would allow engineers to finish utility coordination so projects can be put out to bid in early 2025.
The authorization prompted detailed questions from Councilman Scholeti, who read proposed clarifying language on several contract points. Scholeti asked for clearer protections for the city if utility work is accepted by the utility but later found deficient; for formal verification that required permits are in place before construction; for remedies or compensation if errors in utility plans cause delays or added cost; and for tighter rules on change orders and schedule failures. JJ said the agreements have been reviewed by the city attorney and noted the city’s engineers would sign off on substantial completion and permit closeout processes during grant closeout.
Council members discussed whether to delay authorization while attorneys edit language. JJ warned that renegotiating even minor changes could slow the timeline and potentially put bid schedules at risk because Beaufort‑Jasper and its counsel would also need to accept revisions. Council ultimately voted to authorize the city manager to execute the MOAs and directed staff to forward Councilman Scholeti’s suggested language to the city attorney and to Beaufort‑Jasper’s counsel for review.
The authorization will allow staff and engineers to proceed with utility coordination and finalize numbers for the King Street, Port Republic and Charles Craven Street projects so bids can be issued in early 2025.
The item was presented as an authorization; the council recorded a voice vote in favor and no recorded roll‑call vote appears in the transcript.
