City seeks $661,428 stormwater repair at Central Avenue after pipe collapse; emergency PO issued

Deputy City Manager Denny McPhaik presented Ordinance O-26-15 seeking to waive competitive bidding and ratify emergency actions by the city manager to repair a partially collapsed 42-inch storm drainage pipe at 3545 Central Avenue (the Burger King location). He said heavy rains revealed the collapse, which blocks flow and causes Central Avenue to flood and close during major rain events.

McPhaik said part of the failing system is on private property and part is in the public right-of-way; with the establishment of the city stormwater utility, staff may make repairs on private property with board approval and available funding. He said staff issued an emergency purchase order for $50,000 to mobilize Coakley Company and place bypass pumps to prevent future flooding during heavy rains. Coakley’s estimated total repair cost was reported as $661,428; McPhaik said roughly $93,000 of that total is attributable to required water-main relocation because multiple utilities occupy the work zone.

Directors asked whether the state highway (R Dot) work at adjacent sections had been resolved; staff said the city repaired an earlier section in 2004 and that the current work responds to a different portion of the same piping system. McPhaik said the repair requires utility coordination and a fund balance transfer from within the stormwater utility to cover the contract amount; the ordinance would ratify using the city’s annual service contract with Coakley Company to expedite repairs.