Valdosta council approves emergency culvert repairs and a package of equipment purchases

Valdosta’s mayor and council on the evening approved emergency repairs to culverts damaged during November storms and a set of equipment purchases intended to keep city services running during severe weather.

John Burton, the city’s motor pool superintendent, asked council to approve a low bid from ACRO of Valdosta for a combination tractor boom mower at $218,576.18 to help with right-of-way mowing and ditch work. "The public works department needs a new combination boom mower," Burton said, describing the machine’s reach for steep slopes and heavy brush. Council approved the purchase by show of hands.

City Engineer Ben O'Dowd reported that heavy rain on Nov. 6–7 caused substantial washouts at Country Club Drive and River Street. He said staff solicited emergency proposals in a manner designed to preserve eligibility for federal reimbursement and recommended awards based on low bids and schedule. "As you all know, we've got emergency repairs that are desperately needed at River Street and Country Club," O'Dowd said. He told council the field assessment found large organic material under the culverts and that staff expects to inspect removed sections to determine if many can be salvaged rather than fully replaced.

Council approved an award to JWA for the Country Club Drive repair and an award to RPI for the River Street work after brief discussion; both motions passed by show of hands.

The council also approved three backup generators to bolster utilities and laboratory continuity. Jason Barnes, who presented the generator bids, said the Mac Drive lift station’s 60 kW unit had failed and staff recommended PowerHouse Diesel’s bid of $26,045.48 because the company assembled the unit locally. Staff recommended PowerHouse Diesel for a 100 kW generator at the centralized laboratory ($50,522.88) to ensure uninterrupted sample testing and calibration, and for a 150 kW generator at the utilities building ($46,675.68) to power the department’s command center and SCADA systems during outages. Barnes told council the generator purchases are funded from user fees and noted combined savings of about $123,000 across the three purchases. Each generator award was approved by vote.

Finance staff presented bids for new audio-visual systems in council chambers; the evaluation committee recommended Accord’s proposal with a $106,464 base bid and optional upgrades totaling $4,719 (total $111,183). Council voted to accept the recommended contract.

All motions on bids, contracts and emergency repairs were approved by show-of-hands votes; individual roll-call tallies were not recorded in the meeting record.

The meeting moved on to citizen comment after the procurement votes. The council closed the meeting after brief remarks about debris and tree pickup schedules.